Vintage Gathered Skirt Tutorial

I don’t think this post needs much of an introduction. I wanted a new skirt, I had this great fabric (from budulina), I was inspired one evening - I sat down and made it.

I made an attempt to make a skirt a few months back, and it was great until I had to install the zipper. I made a crucial mistake somewhere along the road and the zipper wouldn’t close! It wasn’t my first zipper, so I’m not sure exactly what went wrong, but I was not about to make the same mistake on this skirt, and I must say I’m very proud of the result. I don't have a serger, so I decided to go with french seams for a perfect finish.

This skirt is relatively easy to make, and apart from the zipper (which can be intimidating) and the button hole (which can be annoying) it’s all sewing in straight lines - no fuss no bother. The design is classic and sweet and can be used for little girls as well as grown ups. Choose fun and unique fabrics to get that wow effect!

If you follow my tutorials you may have seen this before - where possible I make my instructions to your size. Simply enter your waist measurement and the desired length (top of the waist band to the edge of the skirt) and I will calculate the fabric pieces you need. Go ahead, try it yourself!

Waist measurement:
cm

Final length:
cm

GO

Materials

• 2 fabric rectangles 88cm X 48cm for main skirt pieces. Make sure the pattern matches on both pieces, it will be quite obvious if they don't.
• 1 long fabric strip 95cm X 10cm for waist band
• 1 long interfacing strip 93cm X 4cm for waist band
• 1 18 cm zipper
• 1 button
• Basic sewing notions

Instructions

1. Iron your interfacing on to the waist band fabric, 1 cm from each edge for seam allowance (it will be 5 cm from the opposite long edge). Fold over short edges 1cm and press. Fold over the long edge without interfacing 1 cm and press.
   
   
   
2. Place your main fabric pieces together wrong sides facing (yes, wrong sides - remember, we’re doing french seams here). Align the top of the zipper (including the allowance past the zipper pull) with the top of the skirt. Mark the edge of the zipper, and pin from that point to the bottom. Pin along the other short edge (all the way from top to bottom). Sew pinned edges 1/2 cm from the edge. Remove the pins, turn inside out. Fold over the edges where the zipper will go to match the seam you sewed and press all seams flat.
   
3. Repin the seams, same as in step 2 (this time the right sides will be facing). Sew 1 cm from the edge (to ensure that the raw edges are incased in the second seam). Same as before, fold over the edges where the zipper will go to match the seam you sewed and press all seams flat.
   
   
   
   This is where the zipper will go:
   
   
   
4. Turn the skirt right side out. Pin the zipper into place behind one of the folded edges. Using the zipper foot, carefully edge stitch the fabric to the zipper, moving the pull out of the way as you sew. Do the same for the second edge. Sew across the bottom edge of the gap to secure the zipper bottom to the skirt. Turn skirt inside out. See how the raw edge of the fabric is under the zipper?
   
   
   
   Zig zag stitch the zipper and the folded fabric together for a clean finish.
   [By the time I got to this step it was very late and I stopped taking pictures… sorry]
   
5. Hem the bottom edge of the skirt (fold over 1 cm, press, fold over 1 cm again, press, sew around). Turn skirt right side out.
   
6. Prepare gathers: Set your sewing machine on the longest straight stitch it has and sew around the top of the skirt. Do not backstitch at the start and end! Pull the bottom thread gently to create gathers. Distribute them evenly around the skirt, using the waist band as a guide for the final width. Note that the waist band includes 7cm extra for the button tab and seam allowance.
   
7. Align the folded short edge of the waist band with the zipper edge and the long interfaced edge with the gathered skirt top, right sides facing. Pin into place and sew around the skirt 1cm from the edge (stopping at the other side of the zipper). Fold waist band upwards along sewn seam, fold over the button tab to match and press.
   
8. Fold the waist band down over to the wrong side of the skirt top, so that the raw edges are sandwiched between the folded long edges. Pin into place, making sure that the folded edge on the wrong side is slightly lower than the sewn edge on the right side. This way, you are sure to catch the inside edge when you sew from the outside. Make sure the button tab and short edges are nicely aligned and that the zipper raw edges are hidden inside. With the skirt right side out, top stitch as close to the edge as possible, starting from the bottom of the waist band, continuing on the button tab and ending back where you started.
   
9. Make the button hole on the waist band (about 1-2cm from the edge). Attach the button to the button tab.
   
10. Enjoy!

[This pattern is for personal use only. Items made with this pattern may not be sold without my explicit permission]

How to: Upholster Bar Stools in a Jiffy

Nowadays everybody has an work island in their kitchen, or if you’re a carefree bachelor - a bar. With these pieces comes a great responsibility: bar stools. If you’re anything like me, by the time you’ve got to picking out bar stools you’re at the stage where your budget has run out and you’re looking for the cheapest option available. For me that means IKEA. Unfortunately, the simple stools are boring, and not easy on my aching tail bone either. So if IKEA it is, IKEA hack is coming up (in fact, even the fabric I used was from IKEA)!

We’ve had these bar stools for a while, and I’ve already posted their upholstered pictures when I posted about my home makeover. However, they’re so easy, cheap and fast to make - I decided that I must share.

The upholstery can be done with or without a sewing machine. If you do choose to use a sewing machine, you will get a cleaner look, and can even add piping for a more professional finish. But, if you just want to get it over with - go ahead with the no sew version.

Materials:

• Staple gun and staples
• Fabric marker
• Scissors
• About 1/2 meter of fabric for each stool
• Foam (enough to cover the seat)
• Batting (optional, it will soften the edges of the seat)
• A baby sitter for the kids (if you have them. Working with a staple gun when there are children around is a bad idea)
• Sewing machine and notions if you plan to make the sewn version.

Instructions:

1. Spread the fabric on the floor and place the batting over it. Place the chair seat upside down on the fabric. Mark a circle around the seat. Do the same with the foam.
   
   
   
2. Cut the foam on the circle mark you made in step 1. If you don’t have a good craft knife, use scissors. They cut foam well, and any uneven edges will be hidden by the fabric.
3. Mark a second circle around the first circle on the fabric and the batting, still together: If you are planning to make the sewn version, make the second circle about 1.5 cm larger than the first. Otherwise, make it about 10 cm larger (it should be long enough to cover the foam, seat and overlap enough to staple onto the seat bottom). Cut around the larger of the two circles.
4. If you are sewing: Measure the diameter of the seat. Cut a strip of fabric and batting 4 times that length by 12 cm wide (make sure that it will be enough to cover the foam and seat etc.). With fabric and batting held together, fold over one short edge 2 cm and pin.
   If you want to add piping, sew in on to the strip now, stitching very close to the long edge of the strip.
   Pin the strip to the circle, right sides together (batting on wrong sides…), starting with the folded edge. When you complete the circle, pin your raw edge behind the folded edge and cut the excess fabric and batting.
   Sew all around the circle. When you are done, edge stitch the folded edge of the strip to finish it nicely (any raw edges will be on the inside). Cut excess fabric and turn right side out.
5. Place fabric with batting on the floor. Place foam in the center of the circle. Place chair upside down on the foam. Fold over one side of the fabric and staple in place. Do the same on the opposite edge. Do the same in the center of both other edges. Start stapling around the entire seat, the closer the staples are to each other - the better the upholstery will hold, and the less loose ends will show.
   
   
   
6. Trim excess fabric.
7. Turn over and enjoy!

You could use easy to clean vinyl fabric for the upholstery, but I figure these are so easy to make, if they get dirty - I’ll just replace it with a new fabric!

Partly Cloudy: Crochet Pillows for Kids Tutorial

I’m never sure when we can officially declare “summer is here”. Even though I’ve been carelessly sunburned twice already (I should really be more careful), there have been many days when it was quite cloudy, or even worse - sand stormy (yuck!). Given that the weather hasn’t stabilized yet on “hot, humid and unbearable”, I have to check what the weather will be every day, so I can decide if it’s long pants or shorts for the kids. And there it was that inspiration struck me and I HAD to make a partly cloudy set of pillows.

As usual, I started with no specific recipient in mind, and my children took them over as soon as they possibly could. So I guess we’ll have another set of pillows to fill the kids’ beds (as if we don’t have enough junk dolls in there already).

In order to make the partly cloudy set you will need basic crochet-in-a-circle skills, so while making all the pieces might take a while, it shouldn’t be very difficult.

Sunburst Granny Blanket: All Done!

I’m finally done. And it’s not even May yet, I might still have a chance to use it this year on a cold evening!

Sunburst Granny Blanket - previous posts

So, in conclusion:
1. I missed slightly on the amount of yarn I needed. I ran out of yarn before the last two circles and had to go get a refill on two colors, probably because I had two yellows and they weren’t distributed evenly across the other colors. I was left with some extra yellow and ran out of the other colors.

2. I missed not so slightly on the amount of white yarn I needed - I ended up using 2 entire extra balls of white yarn.

3. At the end, I decided to finish the blanket with 4 rows of 2 hdc, ch 1 (2 hdc, ch 2, 2 hdc in same space for the corners). I did 2 rows in white, 1 row in yellow, and 1 row in darker yellow. I think it really added a nice touch. But, I had to get two extra balls of yarn for the yellow finish (I didn’t have any left).

4. I didn’t weave in the ends as I went, and ended up working very hard to weave in the ends for 96 squares. If I ever make another granny blanket (I’m definitely taking a break for now), I will definitely weave in as I go. I recommend that strategy for everyone!

Sunburst Granny Blanket: Joining as I Go

Those are all 96 circles for my granny blanket, in their final arrangement.

I made 16 groups of 6, each group included all 6 variations of 3 colors. I arranged the first two rows to include one representative of each group, in an eye pleasing manner (making sure that adjacent circles didn’t have too many colors in common). Then, for the next two rows I chose circles where the outer color was the same as the second color in the first two rows, and for the third set of two rows I chose circles where the outer color was the same as the center color in the first two rows, while keeping the same order of groups. This made the color matching much easier (I only had to do it once for the first set of rows), while still keeping a lot of variation. For the last 6 rows, I simply copied the first 6 rows. I was afraid of how long this process might take, but I was done in no time, and am quite happy with the result.

Then I got a whole bunch of stickers, and marked each circle with its row number and position so I would know in which order to attach them.

I’ve already completed two entire rows, yey!

I couldn’t take a good panoramic shot, so you’ll have to suffer with my bad pictures. I have no idea how I’m going to take good pictures of it when it’s done…

Sunburst Granny Blanket: Revised Pattern and Choosing Colors

After last time, I started to realize that this project was going to cost me a lot of money and time. I thought how I could save some of both, so I decided to revise the pattern slightly.

One square doesn’t really photograph well, but all in all, much better than the brown experiment, don’t you think?

Here’s my modified pattern:

Materials:

• Super bulky yarn, 3 colors + border color (I’m using white)
• 6.5mm crochet hook

Abbreviations & Notations

• ch – chain
• dc - double crochet
• hdc - half double crochet
• st – stitch
• yo - yarn over
• [ ... ] - repeat instructions in [ ] as many times as specified.  
• double cluster stitch - [yo, insert hook in indicated st and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops] twice, yo and pull through all 3 remaining loops on hook. For first st in round, the ch 3 replaces the first yo and pull through.
• triple cluster stitch - [yo, insert hook in indicated st and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops] 3 times, yo and pull through all 4 remaining loops on hook. For first st in round, the ch 3 replaces the first yo and pull through.

Notes:
I like to join as I go, which means that I stop after round 3. Then, when all the semi-finished squares are ready, I crochet the 4th row and join as I go. I will explain about this technique later in the series. If you’d rather complete the 4th row and then sew the squares together, that’s just as acceptable…

Instructions:

Round 1 (requires 3m of yarn): With 1st color, make magic loop, ch 3 (this counts as first dc). 15 dc. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Cut yarn.

Round 2 (requires 5m of yarn): Join 2nd color with sl st between any of the dc in the 1st round. ch 3, complete double cluster st, ch 1. [double cluster stitch between next dc, ch 1] around. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Cut yarn.

Round 3 (requires 8m of yarn, instead of 11m): Join 3rd color with sl st in any of the ch 1 spaces in the 2nd round. ch 3, complete triple cluster st, ch 2. [triple cluster stitch in next ch 1 space, ch 2] around. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Cut yarn.

Round 4 (requires 8.5m of yarn): Join 4th color with sl st in any of the ch 2 spaces from the 3rd round. ch 3, 2 dc in same space. [3 hdc in next ch 2 space, 3 times. 3dc, ch 2, 3dc in next ch 2 space]. When you reach the first ch 2 space, 3dc, ch 2, join with sl st to top of first ch 3 (to complete the corner).
This round turns the circle into a square.

I’ll spare you the calculations (you can to the first post in the series to see how I calculated the amount of yarn I would need of each color) and get to the final numbers: I would need 1536 meters of colored yarn (all colors) and 986m of white yarn. Originally, I was going to get 4 colors, but when I got to the store I decided that 8 colors would be much more fun!

Yes. That is a pile of 26 balls of yarn. Incredible. Each ball contains 110m of yarn, so I have plenty to spare (assuming I didn’t make any gross calculation mistakes).

8 colors can be combined in 324 different ways, but I only have 96 squares, so I guess I’ll have to come up with some method of making sure I keep the colors well balanced and the amount of yarn from each ball even so  I don’t run out of too many colors… I’ll share how I decide how to do this when I know myself…

Until next time, happy crochet!

Monster Mushroom Crochet Doll Tutorial

After I made my daughter a rubber crochet ducky, my son got jealous and requested a monster. We’ve been playing Super Mario on our Wii, so I was inspired by the mushrooms when I designed this monster.

Well, as usual, I’m happy to share. So here goes:

Crochet Winter Hair Band Birthday Present

For my friend at Muffashionista. Happy birthday!

The flower was made using this tutorial over at LollyChops.

The head band was made as follows:

With worsted weight yarn and a 5 mm crochet hook, ch 12. hdc in 2nd ch from hook. hdc across (9 times), ch 2, turn. [10 hdc, ch 2, turn] until the band reaches the desired length. For a nice finish, ch 1, and sc evenly along the long side of the band. When you reach the end of the first side, bring both edges of the band together and slip stitch across through both layers to join. Continue sc evenly around the second side.

Keep your ears nice and warm stylishly during the winter!

Quack-Quack: Crochet Duck Tutorial

Do I really need to explain why I wanted to crochet a duck? They’re so cute, and my daughter loves them. I knew that she would love it, and I was right! She absolutely insisted to take it to day care and won’t let it go long enough for me to get a good picture. See?

This pattern took a little “figuring out”, because I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the curvy tail shape, and I really wanted to make it one continuous piece instead of making separate body and head pieces and sewing them together. Well, here goes:

Winter Hats 2011 (2): Easy Crochet Hat with Ear Flaps

Noam asked for and got a dragon hat. Hodaya can’t speak yet, so she got what I felt like making. Basically, the simplest crochet hat possible, made from such nice, soft, pink yarn (which has made several appearances in past posts).



The hat is super simple to make:

Winter Hats 2011: Crochet Dragon Hat Tutorial

Every year, around this time, I make the kids new winter hats. I’m always just a tiny bit late, because I think of it only when it starts getting cold, which is by definition too late. Hodaya’s hat is a pattern I tried last year, but the size came out wrong and ended up being too big at first, and too small later on (well, really too short). Hodaya’s hat is not quite ready yet, I’ll be sure to post it when it is…

Noam’s hat is a dragon hat of my own design, based loosely on Toothless from “How to Train your Dragon”. It’s really simple and I'm willing to share what started out as a general outline and turned in to a quite detailed tutorial, of how I did it (after the jump).

Mini Crochet Birthday Cake Tutorial

I just thought I’d make a small something for my mother’s birthday tomorrow (well, really – in about 30 minutes). I won’t be able to see her on her birthday, but a bit of cake would be nice, right?

Stuffed Toy Snake Tutorial

When we were in London, many years ago, we bought a stuffed snake. Years later, both our children love it and fight often over who gets to play with it. When my daughter went to day care, and I made her a snake to take with her. So, of course, my son wanted one too.

When I made hers, I still had a small amount of Etsuko Furuya Glasses fabric in pink (from our local fabric shop budulina), so I decided to incorporate that in the design – her snake got glasses. When I made the manly version (also with fabrics from budulina) I didn’t have any left, so I drew on plain eyes.

All the sizes given in this tutorial are appropriate for fitting a pair of glasses on the snake’s
head, but of course – you can make it any size you want!

Planner/Journal Cover Tutorial

This year, I decided that I would be organized. I’ve found that when I use online calendars, they tend to get out of sync – some things I put in my work calendar, some on my phone and I never had a full picture of what was going on. So, I bought a weekly planner (I used a coupon, so it even cost me next to nothing).

The problem was that the planner didn’t have a pocket for documents or a place for a pen. Now, that’s just not good enough! But wait – why don’t I make a cover with both features? This simple project takes less than an hour to make, and a very small amount of fabric (depending on the size of your planner).

What I learned and a jewelry organizer mini-tutorial (or: my adventures with a stylist part 2)

It’s been almost two months since my session with a stylist. After my previous post, the change had a little bit of time to set in, and I started feeling really bad. Look at all of those women crying on Trinny & Susannah or Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style and you’ll get an idea of what it felt like in the days and weeks afterwards. Even though I’ve gone through it, I can’t quite explain the feeling, I guess you just have to try it yourself to understand. Because it really is quite traumatic.

However, I did eventually get over the shock. When I put on clothes that I thought weren’t that bad and looked in the mirror – I saw what the stylist was talking about, they just weren’t flattering. That’s when I realized I had internalized the change and cleaned out my closet. Nothing less than perfect is left, except for casual hanging around the house wit the kids clothes.

Then I went shopping. I knew exactly the shapes and colors I needed, and didn’t stray one bit. It made the whole process much more focused, easy and fun. I added two questions to the shopping process: Not only is this nice, but also 1. Is it flattering to me? and 2. Is this consistent with my style?

Crochet Cat Toy/Scarf Tutorial

A while ago I got a truck load of yarn from my mother. The black yarn is always useful, and the turquoise and light blue were used in a boy’s baby blanket I made as a gift. Here I am, “stuck” with about 5-6 balls of grey yarn, without an idea what to make. I asked some friends and readers, and everyone suggested various grey animals: mice, elephants and cats. I already made an elephant once and wasn’t happy with the result (I need to think of a better design than the pattern I used). Mice can be cute, but I really like cats, so I decided to go in that direction. Maybe I’ll make a mouse for the cat to play with next…
I made the body flat because I thought it was softer and more cuddly that way, but it can also be made into a cute scarf if you make the body long enough. You could also make it into a pillow by making 2 body pieces, stuffing them and sewing closed.



So, here’s how to make her (it’s definitely a she):

Tutorial: Semi quilted picnic set (part 2)

After we made such a nice blanket, we need a tote to carry it and other essentials (I never leave the house without baby wipes anymore).

I wanted to use the leftover fabric from the blanket to create a fun tote with a trim, but if you decide to make it without, simply ignore those instructions.

I remembered that I am also a web developer, so instead of providing absolute measurements and letting you calculate yourself if you decide to make it a different size, I’m proud to present a built in calculator. Simply enter the final measurements you want, click “Calculate” and all the measurements will be miraculously updated.

Final measurements:

height	cm
width	cm
depth	cm

Calculate

Materials:
Main pieces, cut 4: 32cm X 42cm
Side pieces, cut 2 & strap, cut 1: 106cm X 12cm
Trim, cut 2: 108cm X 4cm
Zipper pocket top, cut 1: 8cm X 42cm
Zipper pocket bottom, cut 1: 15cm X 42cm
Zipper at least 40cm long
If you’d like to use this tote on a stroller, you’ll need snaps or Velcro.

Tutorial: Semi quilted picnic set (part 1)

It’s summer, and we go out to the park almost every day. My oldest hooks up with other kids and runs around and up and down the slides, but my little one still needs me to sit with her on the grass. I used to have a water proof blanket we got as a gift from work at some point, but it disappeared a while ago and I haven’t replaced it. Until now. And what could be better than a matching tote for carrying all the outing must haves?



Before you get started, decide the size you want your blanket to be. If you want your stitched diagonal squares to be symmetrical in all directions, you should take this into account in your calculations. I didn’t and was sorry later… I used my ruler’s width as the size of the squares, it makes it much easier to mark and make sure they’re straight and all the same size.
If you care about it being symmetrical you can do the following calculation: So, let’s say my square size is X, I’m using 8th grade math to figure out the diagonal size: X^2+X^2=Y^2 ==> Y=1.41X. In other words, multiply X by 1.41 to get the length of the of the diagonal. The length and width of the blanket should be some product of this number (it doesn’t have to be the same for both).

Timmy the Lamb - Crochet Doll Tutorial

My son loves Timmy the Lamb. I agree. Stop frame animation is one of my favorite animation types, and this one is styled so nicely. The stories have little or no speech, so they are appropriate for younger ages, but the story has enough nuances to be interesting to older children and grownups as well.
Timmy the lamb is not to be confused with Shaun the sheep, who may or may not be related to Timmy. They are similar, but Shaun has wool on his head and Timmy does not.
No sheep were harmed during the making of this project. The Timmy doll is made entirely with synthetic yarns.

So, let's get started.

Knit Teddy Bear Tutorial

Equipment:

1 set 4mm double pointed needles (called sock needles in Hebrew)
About 1/3 ball of yarn (33 grams)
Some black yarn for the eyes and nose
Tapestry needle
A ribbon for the neck.
Polyfil (or other) stuffing

Abbreviations:

K: knit
Kfb: knit front back: knit in the front of the stitch, and another in the back of the stitch to increase.
K2tog: knit 2 together
[…] instructions inside the [..] should be repeated as many times as specified.