Sweetie-Bell Sweats Tutorial

When I was in college, a girl on my floor described my style as "sporty chic."  I'm pretty sure that was just a euphemism for "Why the heck is Heather ALWAYS in her tennis clothes?"  One staple, for me, was the grey sweatpant(s?).  It was ludicrous to think of leaving without them.  I'm not sure how many pairs I had, but it was enough.

So now that we're into Spring, and we occasionally need a little more coverage than shorts give, I thought I'd whip the girls up some sweats that are comfy but also quite a bit cuter than the ones I sported during my college career.  Enter, Sweetie-Bell Sweats.  They have a fantastic big bell at the bottom and are made from ultra-soft knit material. 

Materials:
about 1 yard of knit fabric (depending on size you're making)
1/2 inch elastic
sewing gear

Instructions:
**Use a 1/2 inch seam allowance throughout.  You can also finish all the seams, which is not shown here.  It's knit and won't fray, so I chose the quicker option.  Hehe. :)

Grab a pair of well-fitting pants to make your pattern.  For the front pieces, fold the pants in half and follow the curve but only extend down to the knee area. Just go straight down on the outside of the leg.

**Note: give yourself an addition inch on top to account for the elastic casing.  I apologize for this misleading photo which is NOT showing that additional inch.

Flip your pants over and trace the back curve.  You'll see it goes a little deeper.

You'll have two pieces that look like this.

Cut two pieces of each, making sure they are facing opposite directions.  I fold my fabric and cut both at the same time.  Here are both of my front pieces.

Place your front pieces right sides together.  Now sew just the, er, crotch curve.  Do the same for the back pieces.

It might look funny to you because the bottom part of your pants is shorter than the top, but remember, you'll be adding the "bell" to the bottom of the pants later.

Open up both pieces and pin the outside seam and inside seam together.  Sew.

Flip the top over 1/4 inch then 3/4 inch and press.  Pin in place because knits can get a little finicky sometimes.  I also like to add a little ribbon for a tag in the back.

Sew around, leaving an opening for you to thread your elastic through.  Then go ahead and elasticize!

Close up the casing.

At this point, you have some pretty cute bermuda shorts, if you want to stop there.

But if you want that sweet bell, now cut two long strips.  The measurements are up to you, but here's what you need to consider.  You want them to be significantly wider than your current pantleg.  (My legs were 12 inches wide at the bottom.)  As for length, you're adding the length that will make them fit your little one.  So use those well-fitting pants to see how much longer you need to make them.

From the photo above, I needed to add 6 inches for them to be the correct length on Noelle, so I cut them 6.5 inches long and about 20 inches wide.

Sew them into a loop then run a gathering stitch along the top.

Gather until the width matches that of your pantleg.

Placing right sides together, pin and sew.  Repeat on other leg.

Flip and there you go!  Now you could leave them like this, or press them over to hem them.  

Or you could use the lettuce stitch (oh, I heart the lettuce stitch) like I did here.

Now you are ready to stake your claim on Spring!

Or run for the sheer fun of it!

Whatever you do, you're going to be stylish and chic. :)

Easter and What?! Pictures of ME??

 Wow.  What a gorgeous day we had to celebrate God's love for us!  He is good. 

We had a lovely day, too.  First, we snapped a few pictures since we were all gussied up.  We made sure we looked our best for the shots... :)

 I even took some pictures.  This rarely happens, either because I'm behind the camera or because I've either been pregnant or nursing the past four years, and neither of those things lends itself to me looking my best.  Hehe.  But lo and behold, I'm sharing a few pictures with you... of me.  Drink it up; it won't happen often.

Little Man is just so sweet.  I love having a boy.

So... can you tell how much I'm struggling to hold both girls?  Note to self: sit down when holding two growing girls.

We headed over to Grandma and Papa's after a wonderful service, and the girls got to spend some time with their cousins.

And they got to hunt for goodies!

In so many ways, a glorious day!

Riley Dress-- the best remix of all!

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I finished it!  I finished Riley's Easter dress!  And you'll never guess what I named it: The Riley Dress.  I am "that painting elephant of being awesome."  (Anyone know the reference?)  Well, even with a terribly un-creative name, I'm in love with this dress. 

Remember how terrified I was because I didn't want to mess up on such lovely fabric?  Well, now I don't have to cry myself to sleep!  It has plenty of ruffle-ness. :)

The overskirt is, yes indeed-y, another remix of Dana's circle skirt.  I wanted to do something else with her tutorial besides a skirt, to show off whatever skill(z) I may possess.  I split the front of the skirt, and I edged the entire skirt with a 3-inch ruffle that has both (finished) edges exposed.  That ruffle is about 400 inches long.  Yowza, that was a little work.

The underskirt is a hot pink ruffle fabric.  Ow ow! :)

Looks like I'm not the only one who's giddy over the dress.

We're just all-around silly over here. :)

Now we're ready for Easter!  But so we don't forget what's truly important... Praise the Lord!  Good Friday is dark, but Sunday is a-comin'!

Sneak Peak of an Easter Dress

I know, I know... everyone else in the crafty blog world seems to have had their Easter clothes made and ready to wear for the past few weeks, at least.  But not me.  And you know what's sad?   Not only have I not made Riley's dress yet, but I hadn't even thought about it.  I mean, like, I hadn't thought that I should.  But clearly, I should.  And now I am.


"What's the big deal, Heather?" you ask.  Well, here's the big deal: I used some gorgeous fabric that I've been hoarding.  I think I actually gulped before cutting into it because it's some of the most gorgeous fabric I've ever seen, and I'm terrified of wasting it (even though I suppose I could always buy more, but I could only do that after weeping some serious tears over the lost stash).


However, I finally manned up and cut into it, and so far, so good...


The other thing is that if I'm going to use this fabric, this dress has to be awesome-sauce.  I really hope it will be.  It's not finished enough yet to tell.  But here's a sneak peak, nonetheless, so you can get a glimpse of the beautiful Anna Maria Horner goodness I'm using.

This is just an iPhone photo, and it still looks luscious, right?  Oh man... the kids better take long naps tomorrow, so I can finish this sucker up! :)

Chevron-esque Circle Skirt

 I mentioned, in my last post, how I was more than happy to try my hand at the Project Run & Play pattern remix of Dana's Circle Skirt.  I love me a circle skirt: they're twirly, they look adorable, they're easy on-and-off, and they're simple to make.  And it doesn't hurt that Riley adores all her circle skirts-- I think it's the 2" elastic waist?  Not sure, but it's as good a guess as any.

So here's the deal with this circle skirt.  It actually is for Riley, but my girls (though 20 months apart) have the same waist and chest measurement.  I call Noelle my little barrel, and Riley is my skinny-mini. :)  When they got up from naps, Riley had absolutely zero desire to wear her new clothes, even after she told me she liked them and that her favorite color was pink. :)  So I asked Noelle if she wanted to model.  She did.

The skirt has an ever-so-slight Chevron feel, which is what I was going for (phew!). 

I used my (shock of all shocks) polka dot fabric stash, opting for the black and pink.  After I made the skirt, I needed to make a coordinating top.  I heart shirring, so I shirred away (say "shirr" a lot, and it sounds weird... I'm shirr of it.  Bwahahaha!).  It has a V-tie that makes a nice little bow in the back, with the tails hanging on down. 

Tangent Alert!!  This is only the sixth french braid I've ever done in my life (all on Noelle).  I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.

 

Back to the clothes... Actually, if you untuck the top, it looks adorable with leggings.  I'll have to get a shot of that later.  

And how about this for a rocker chick look.  Sidenote: my girls don't usually sport tattoos, but Riley's birthday was a special occasion, so they got inked up... temporarily. ;)

Coming your way: MORE polka dots!

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The newest season of Project Run and Play is starting soon.  I'm pretty excited.  I love seeing (and being ridiculously inspired by) the talent there.  And I think that I may try to submit some things for the sew-at-home portion, too.  I mean, why not, right?  I'm already going to be sewing something for the kiddos, and PR&P will help point me in a certain direction.

And here's a confession: I already finished one Pattern Remix of Dana's Circle Skirt, the first week's challenge.  



You're going to find this hard to believe, but it features polka dots. :)  And if you haven't been following me lately, just know that my last two project have been polka-dotty.  Here's a sneak peak...

I stuck with the skirt, making one for Noelle.  I want to remix it for Riley, too.  I'm just trying to decide if I want to make it into a dress or do another skirt with a coordinating top.  I'm thinking I'll go the separates route since she'll probably get more use out of them.  I guess time will tell. :)

Birthday Favors

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Riley-girl turned FOUR this past Friday, and her party was on Saturday.  I'll get some pictures up of the party soon, but I have to admit-- one of the things that I was most excited about was the favors that we gave to everyone.  On Pinterest, I had seen this idea of putting every kid's name on a pillowcase for a sleepover party, but we're years away from a sleepover, so I thought, "Hmm... What about shirts?"  And with the help of my fantastic cousin Sam, her Cricut, and some of my fat quarters, here's what we gave out:

 The girls' shirts...

...and the birthday girl got a special peach-colored one.

The boys' shirts...

By the way, little brother Brooks got one, too, but he decided to explode all over it right before the party.  That a boy. :)

Here's the best group shot that I got (you have to move FAST!).  One of my favorite things in the world is group shots of small children.  They are always hilarious and rarely disappoint.  :)

And this picture of Sophia was too cute to pass up.  We went outside to play with bubbles (another part of the favor) after everyone had sat so nicely for the picture.  Hehe.

Okay... so I forgot to take a picture of the cake with the candles in it, but here it is.  How unimpressed are you?  My husband laid down the base frosting and I decorated.  You can see why I stick to fabric. :)

 
But at least the shirts were a hit! :)