Sewing: Old-fashioned pieced long skirt

With all the scraps from quilt cottons and sarees, my mom decided to make this gorgeous full skirt for the 8 year old.

It turned out perfect for her pioneer peasant girl costume for her school play, when paired with the peasant tops I had made for her a couple of years ago; plus the apron and bonnet I quickly sewed the weekend before the play.

A uniquely lovely skirt that brings a certain vintage charm to her wardrobe.

Sewing: Fancy Hemline Skirt, Ruffle Strap Summer Tops

My mom, after making those fancy satin cushions, decided to use the same smocking-ish pattern for a skirt for Ana when we recently visited her.

It is gorgeous, of course!

Ana wanted her Pattee (grandma, my mom) to make a long flowing princess dress with that pattern for the chest, much like old-fashioned smocked dresses. But, lack of time made my mom put that on hold.

My mom used up the leftover tealish green fabric from this skirt to make a simple tops for Ana. Just ruffled shoulder straps and asymmetric cut.

Shocked by the price of thread here, my mom decided not to match thread with fabric and chose to use whatever she had handy. Pretty much the same policy I have when I sew.

Looks like it has been a long time since I updated this blog. Of course, as this corner of mine is just for sharing sewing/crochet/knitting/crafting/books, sometimes there is nothing much to write about until ongoing projects are finished.

Sewing: Tiered Skirt and Lounge Pants

Nothing new about these projects... Oggie loves Thomas and Friends™. Ana never cared for Thomas until Oggie started liking them. Just another way to compete with him for his toys, looks like. Anyway, Oggie wanted Thomas pants and rather than buying them, I decided to make one for him. I had enough fabric leftover for a tiered skirt for Ana as she insisted she loves Thomas too. If I don't indulge them every once in a while, when else can I, right?!

Measuring is good. While the intellect comprehends the Measure Thrice Cut Once school of thought, the lazy-bones in me interprets "measuring" loosely to mean "simply eyeball it" :)

Tiered skirts are fun. Ana has a few I've made over the last couple of years. For the skirt: Cut a 4-inch or 5-inch wide strip say roughly 1½ times the measurement of the waist for the first tier; then, for the next subsequent ones, make them potentially 1½ times the previous tier. Twice or 2½ times would naturally make a fancier, fuller skirt. A simple sort of running stitch by hand or basic machine stitch helps make the gathers - simply pull the thread and adjust the gathers to fit the circumference needed.

I was short on fabric so the skirt is not as frilly and full as I'd like it to be. No matter. Ana is happy with it. She wore it out pretty much over Summer, which is a good thing as she probably cannot wear it to school thanks to the new policy on recognizable characters and logos. A sound policy, no doubt. I wore School Uniform all the way till I graduated from High School. I liked that it eliminated tough decision-making every morning about What To Wear. And, it certainly caused less distraction as I wasn't coveting the lovely sparkling silk dress my friend chose to wear that day...

These pants are my preferred style for boys and girls - elastic waist for easy-on easy off and straight wide leg so easy to slip out of even when wearing shoes.