Lace Skirt Tutorial

In August, I had the great opportunity to make bridesmaid skirts for a wedding.  The Mother of the Bride is a friend of mine and she brought me the fabric she'd picked out and asked me if I could make some skirts with it, to her specifications.  The Bride's sisters were going to be in cute green Downeast skirts, and the Bridesmaids were to wear pink skirts that were to be similar to the Downeast skirt, but a little longer and a little poufier.  

Cute Kylie, one of the sisters of the bride:

The bridesmaids were super-cute girls, too!  

I made the skirts out of a beautiful white lace the bride's mom found, layered with a pink lining and a top layer of light pink tulle, all attached to a black elastic waistband.  

They were pretty simple to make, though making 5 at once took a bit of patience.  All that tulle to cut!  :) 

I didn't have a pattern, so I figured out a mathematical formula to have each skirt look the same as the rest, but still fit each bridesmaid.  I took each girl's waist measurement and calculated what the hem should be.  

For the lining layer, which was a little narrower than the lace and tulle on top, I multiplied the waist measurement in inches by 1.12.  The lining was 24.5 inches long. 

(Waist Measurement x 1.12) + 1 = Hem Width for Lining

For instance, this piece of lining was 33.6 inches by 24.5 inches, for a girl with a 30 inch waist.  Make sense?  (And yes, the fabric in the below picture was cut a little crooked.  Oops!  I straightened it up before sewing it, though. :) )

The lace and tulle were the same size as each other, and slightly larger than the lining.  The equation for the lace and tulle is: 

(Waist Measurement x 1.36) + 1 = Hem width for Lace/Tulle

The length for the tulle/lace was 26.25 inches, so the scallop on the lace would be more visible over the solid pink lining.  So, for a girl with a 30 inch waist, the lace and tulle was 40.8 inches by 26.25 inches.

Who says you don't use math in every day life, right?

For each skirt, I cut two lining pieces, two pieces of lace, and four pieces of tulle.   

So, here's how I made the skirt.  

After everything is all cut out (the biggest part of the whole process), sew the two lining pieces at the sides (using half inch seam allowances), with right sides facing together.  Trim, finish (I zig-zagged) and press the seams, then sew a narrow hem on the lining.  

Next, sew the two pieces of lace down the sides (right-sides-together).  Trim, zig-zag, and press the seams.  I didn't need to sew a hem on the lace because it had a lovely scalloped finished edge.

Then, sew the 4 pieces of tulle together on the sides.  (I didn't get a picture of this step...oops!)  The tulle layer is doubled up so the pink would show (with only one layer, it was nearly invisible).  Trim, and press the seams.  

After your 3 skirt layers are sewed together and hemmed if needed, prep the waistband.  I think the elastic I used was 3 inches...it may have been 2.5 inches wide.  The length of the elastic was the girl's waist measurement + 1 inch.  (So, for a girl with a 30 inch waist, that would be 31 inches of elastic).  

Fold the elastic in half lengthwise, with cut ends together, right sides facing each other.  Sew together with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  

Press open the seam in the elastic (on a cool iron setting so you don't melt it!) and stitch the sides of the seam down.

Layer your tulle layer and lace layer together the way you want them, matching up side seams where possible.  (Put the lace inside the tulle "skirt").  Machine baste the top of the lace/tulle skirt.  Pull threads to gather the fabric to the size of your waistband.  Adjust gathers the way you want them to look and pin the lace/tulle skirt to the waistband.  Sew the skirt to the waistband, pulling slightly on the elastic as you sew, so your threads don't break when the elastic stretches as you wear the skirt.  

As the lining is slightly smaller than than the lace/tulle layer, I gathered it separately.  Repeat the above process with the lining, making sure that when you pin the lining to the waistband that the side seams match up with the side seams in the lace/tulle.  Sew the lining to the waistband slightly above the stitches where you sewed on the lace/tulle, again stretching the elastic a bit as you sew.  

 

Trim the excess fabric inside the waistband (I wish I'd gotten a picture so this makes more sense--there will be a ton of fabric above your stitches on the inside of the waistband, because the fabric was gathered.  Trim it close (like 1/4 inch) to your stitches so it looks nice.  Zig-zag it if you want (or serge it if you've got one of those fancy sergers!).)

Clip all your threads, shake it out, iron it, and you've got a pretty layered lace and tulle skirt!

Black and White Polka Dot Dress

If it seems I've been a little MIA lately, it's because I've been traveling. Among those travels was my cousin's wedding. And, of course, a wedding is a perfect excuse to make a new dress! My cousin's colors were black, white, and red. So, I made this cute black and white dress (and a red headband to go with it!).

While looking for black-and-white-dress inspiration, I came across this lovely from ModCloth:

I loved the scallops on the neckline and hem, and decided it was the one to recreate.  Using my trusty Simplicity 2591 pattern (from which I also made this dress) and Michael Miller's Ta-Dot fabric, I set out to make a dress with a similar look.

Last time, I used view C.  This time, I used view A, but with a slightly altered neckline and different sleeves.  I lowered the neckline a bit and put on full sleeves rather than cap sleeves.  Cap sleeves and high necklines do me no favors!  :)

I also added scallops to the skirt hem, neckline, and sleeves.  I don't have a machine that will do the scalloped embroidery the way I wanted, and there was no way I was going to hand embroider all of that.  So, I got a little creative and used black piping instead of embroidery.

Front view:

Back view:

It's basically a simple dress, but I think the scalloped edges make it a little more unique than if I'd just done a plain polka-dot dress.  I really like my new dress.  :)

Wedding Gift Idea: Family Home Evening in a Box

Are you tired of hearing about the wedding yet?  Just one last wedding-related post...  My brother-in-law and his bride were pretty well set up with household items, so I had an opportunity to get a little creative with their wedding gift.

My church encourages families to have an evening at home with their family each Monday, where they learn and have fun with their families.  It's called Family Home Evening, and usually includes a lesson, music, activity, prayer, and a treat. 

When my husband and I got married, I found it a little hard to do Family Home Evening with just the two of us.  One usually thinks of Family Home Evening as something you do with kids.  But, all families (even newlyweds or retired couples) are supposed to do it.  Years later, I came across this book:

It's called Family Home Evening For Newlyweds, and has a bunch of lessons that work for just two people, specifically a newly married couple.  It was exactly what I had needed as a newlywed.  But, of course, by the time I found it, as a mom of twins, I no longer needed it.  But, I thought it was a great idea and started occasionally giving it as a wedding gift. 

This time around, when giving this book as a gift, I made it into a little kit of sorts, a Family Home Evening in a box. 

I got a cute sweater box from Target and filled it with the Family Home Evening for Newlyweds book (the lesson), a board game (the activity), and a mix to make a treat with.  Then, I tied it up with a pretty bow.  The box was so pretty, I didn't even need to wrap it!

Pink Linen Skirt

My brother-in-law got married last weekend.  My new sister-in-law had all of her sisters and sisters-in-law make skirts out of the same pink linen fabric to wear for the wedding pictures; sort of a bridesmaid-esque deal. Here's mine:

I used McCalls 5591 for the skirt. I think the box pleats worked well with the drape of the linen, giving the skirt a little life.

We were supposed to wear it with a white top.  I fudged it a little and wore this white cardigan over a gray undershirt.  I thought the necklace was perfect for tying the whole look together!