Shut Up and Sew: Ruffled Crib Skirt & Fabric Discount

The next step in my quest to get the baby's room ready and perfect was to find the right crib skirt. I had a bit of a sewing high from my successful crib sheet making experience, so I decided to find some lovely fabric options and make the skirt I wanted. I couldn't find a tutorial that I liked, so feeling confident and ambitious, I decided that I would just make my own pattern from my son's old fitted crib skirt and go from there.

I started off browsing around the beautiful shop, Skye Reve Fabrics. Natasha has the best selection of fabrics, so I wasn't surprised to discover that she is actually a freelance fashion designer. Pretty cool, huh?! I sent her several emails enquiring about colors (is this an aqua blue, sky blue or turquoise blue?) she responded quickly and helpfully, and sent me a few swatches to help me narrow down my options. Really, she is the cream of the crop, and one of the people who has converted me to shopping for my fabric online from an individual whenever I can!

(She's also been sweet enough to offer a discount to Lemon Tree Creations readers, so scroll down for more details!)

In the end, I went with this incredibly fun and bright polka dotted fabric, Ocean Ta Dot by Michael Miller, which you can find here.

Measure your crib

First I measured it at the highest mattress setting. I needed my skirt to be 13" long so that it would rest on the floor. (I didn't want my ruffles dangling in the air, I wanted them pooling on the floor a bit.) I added 1/2" to the top and bottom for seam allowance, which brought me to 14". I needed 6 panels to cover all 4 sides of the crib: 2 for each long side, and 1 for each short side. I used some muslin that I had on hand for the center panel of the skirt (the part that would be under the mattress and not seen.)

Cut the fabric

I wanted to ruffle my crib skirt, but many of the tutorials that I was looking at for a ruffled cribs skirt called for 5-6 yards of fabric, and I didn't want to use that much. I had a little over 3 yards of fabric and decided that I would give my crib as much ruffling as 3 yards could give me. Luckily it turned out to be the PERFECT amount! :)

Each of the panels needed to be 26" x 14", so I cut the panels to be 44" x 14" so that I had enough extra fabric to ruffle them. Cutting the fabric was a piece of cake since my 3 yards of fabric was already 44" across! I simply washed and ironed my fabric, folded the 44" length in half, in half again and cut. I'd been told that a sharp rotary cutter can easily cut through 4 layers of fabric and it did perfectly.

The the fabric covered most of my cutting mat and made it kind of hard to see the numbers on the sides, so I marked where I needed the fabric to start and stop with little post it pieces.

Then I could line up the little ruler more easily and make sure that each piece was perfectly straight.

Iron and Hem

Once I had my 6 panels cut, I ironed the bottom and sides down 1/2", and hemmed them. If I was making this for someone or being paid I would have folded and ironed twice before sewing it down, but since no one would ever know the difference on this item I was happy to take a little shortcut. :)

Ruffle

And now for the ruffles! Some sewing machines will have a basting stitch that is solely for this purpose, so if you have one of those you are set! My machine doesn't have this stitch option, so I simply set it to a straight stitch, at the longest length, and the strongest tension.

I sewed a straight stitch about a half an inch from the edge of the fabric. I left a long length of thread at the each end of the fabric and did NOT back stitch. (Most people will recommend doing 2 lines of stitching beside one another, just in case the thread from one of them breaks when you are pulling on it. I tried both methods and this just so happens to be the one I took a picture of. )

I then grabbed the excess string one of the ends of the fabric and tugged gently until the fabric started to gather.

Attach Panels

I laid the panel right-side down on the center of my crib skirt panel, adjusted it until it was flush with the side and middle of the panel, and pinned it into place.

I then sewed it onto the muslin. ***BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR SETTNGS BEFORE YOUR START SEWING!*** You don't want to attach your panel and then discover that you have sewed it on using your "basting stitch settings," and then have to pick out your stitches and start again.

Ask me how I know! :)

When sewing your ruffled panel to the main body of fabric, try to take it slow. It's easy for the fabric to bunch a bit in front of the presser foot (above), so whenever this happens, just stop, lift the presser foot (below), tuck the gathered fabric under the presser foot, put the presser foot back down,

and sew on.

Sew to the end and backstitch to secure your stitches. And then you'll have lots and lots of beautiful ruffles.

Continue to do this with each of the other 5 panels.

Add to Crib and Pat Self on Back

You did it, you made a crib skirt!! I'm so happy with mine! :)

Not bad, huh?

In other incredibly fun news, Natasha at Skye Reve Fabrics has a new site full of beautiful fabric like this and is offering a 10% discount to you lovely Lemon Tree Creations readers!! Isn't she sweet?!

For 10% off of your order, simply enter the code BLUESANDBRANCHES at checkout.

Have a great week!!

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Boy's Onesie to Girly Dress & Silhouette Discount!!

I haven't really bought any clothes for our little lady just yet. (My exception being an amazing little swimsuit, because, let's be honest, in that 0-6 months size, ALL little swimsuits are just amazing!) Anyway, I have been sorting through my son's more gender neutral clothing and onesies trying to see which things can be turned from "neutral" to "little lady." I grabbed this sweet little "hug" onesie and decided to see just what I could do with it.

If you have not already heard, the Silhouette SD can now cut fabric!!! Incredible, right?! They have both sewable and non-sewable fabric interfacing that can be cut by your Silhouette machine!! (Lemon Tree Creations readers can receive a discount on the interfacing, so read on for details!!)

I love appliques and think they will be the best way to covert some of my boy onesies to girl onesies, and the fact that I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CUT OUT THE DESIGNS BY HAND, sigh. It just makes me so happy!

I found a cute little flower design from Silhouette's online store and duplicated it twice, adjusting the sizes to make each subsequent flower slightly bigger than the one before, and printed the screen onto regular printer paper so that I could compare the options on my onesie before I cut the fabric. (I also was testing the sizes of this "little sister" font, because I'll definitely be making one of those shirts now that I don't need to cut out the little letters!)

Once I found the perfect size, I cut out my fabric interfacing slightly larger than the design, ironed it onto the back of my fabric, and loaded it onto the Silhouette's cutting mat.

It cut my little flower beautifully!! I was a little impatient when I was removing the excess fabric from the mat and my flower's stem tore off...

but when it was ironed on you couldn't tell the difference. I straight stitched a thin white line of thread around the edge of the applique to secure it and to add a little more detail.

The flower was perfect, but to gussy the onesie up just a little bit more, I ruffled a thin strip of fabric and sewed it along the waistline.

Now I had a dress!

I wanted to play with the fabric interfacing a bit more, so I ordered this fun 3-D layered flower design from Silhouette's online store.

I ironed the non-sew fabric interfacing onto the same material that I used for the skirt, and ran it through the Silhouette machine.

I did the same thing with the blue fabric and ended up with several fun piles of petals.

I cut slits on a few of the petals and hot glued them so that they would have a slight cone appearance, much like I did in my Scrapbook Valentine Wreath. I layered them on top of one another, hot glued them down along with a strip of ruffle and a pearl button in the center, and glued them to a hair clip.

And I was done!!

A pretty plain onesie, into a pretty little dress...and a hair clip!

I'm sure I'll be tackling more onesies in the next few months, particularly after seeing these pieced jersey onesies last week over at KoJo Designs. Too too cute!

Have you been dying to get your hands on a Silhouette?! Would you like to try out the new fabric interfacing? Well now is the perfect time to get your hands on both!!

Right now Silhouette American is offering Lemon Tree Readers a great deal on these products!!!!

You can get a Silhouette SD, one of each of the fabric interfacing (clean cut & sewable), and a roll of white flocked heat transfer material for $229!

If you already have a Silhouette and just want the fabric interfacing, you can get 25% off!

To receive these discounts, simply go to the website here and use the code LEMON at checkout.

I'll be linking to these amazing parties this week, so check them out!! See you next week!

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Shut Up and Sew: Ruffled Flower Brooch

After I got a sewing machine for Christmas from my wonderful mother and father in law, I couldn't wait to put it to good use! Unfortunately for me, first I had to figure out how to use it. I have always been a little scared of sewing machines, worried the thread would get tangled or I would break it some how. Once I figured out how to thread the machine (a task that definitely made me swear and almost made me throw in the towel), I practiced nothing but straight stitches for a good while. Once I felt pretty confident with those, I started playing around with small things, and this ruffled flower brooch was the first thing I came up with.

Now, I realize that by no means is this original. There are so many versions of fabric/ flower brooches out there and some MUCH cooler than mine. So, that in mind, this is DEFINITELY a tutorial for beginners like me. People who would love to figure out a quick and easy way to make a little statement piece.

Here is what you do:
1) Cut a piece of fabric at least 2.5 inches wide and 2 feet long. (The wider and longer the strip the fuller/ easier to work with the flower becomes.)

2) Fold the strip in half, inside out and long ways and sew a simple, tight, straight stitch along the outside edge to create a tube.

3) Flip the tube right-side out. (The purpose of these steps before you get to the actual ruffling is to create a finished, thicker ruffle. I hate having edges fraying on a finished fabric project. This creates a smooth, fuller edge as opposed to a frayed, unfinished look.)

4) Next, you will sew the stitch that will be used to gather the ruffle. (After attempting at least 4 other ruffling techniques, this is still the most consistent method for me. It requires a little more time and patience than others, but if done properly it works and produces great results each time.)

To begin, set your top stitch width the highest your machine will go. (My machine goes up to 5.0, I believe some will go up to 6.5 which would be even easier.) I still use a simple straight stitch.

5) Flatten your tubing out with the seam you created either directly in the center, or slightly off center. (Doing it different ways produces different looks. Centered gives you fuller edges, off center gives you and extra ridge and a little more texture/ visual interest. Also, off center can be easier to pull/ ruffle.)

Sew a wide, straight stitch down the middle of your tubing (no matter how you positioned your seam, make sure you are now stitching down the middle of your flattened tubing, to create equal edging on both sides.)

6) Tie your threads in a knot at one end of your tube.

7) At the other end, begin pulling one thread and cinching your tube slowly down the thread little bits at a time. (You will have to 'test' each thread to see which one pulls the easiest. This is how you know I am a beginner too! I have NO CLUE why one works better than the other, but I haven't found a consistent clue to hang my hat on yet.)

Remember, this will take time and patience. Your fabric should move pretty easily down the thread, but if you put too much tension on your thread you will break it. In the beginning, I broke 1 out of every 3 I made and I thought I might go CRAZY! I have gotten much better since then.

(You will want to gather this ruffle as much as you can until it starts circling around.)

8) Now that the work is over, the fun part begins: Styling your flower. Basically, there is no formula to this. Just fold over one end of the ruffle and begin twisting, gathering and wrapping the ruffle around the center. As you go, either secure your gathers with hot glue or hand stitching. I have used both and prefer the overall look of the hand stitching, but the hot glue holds extremely well, depending on what you are using your brooch for.

9) Cut a circle from a coordinating fabric and attach it with hot glue or stitching from the back.

10) Finally, attach an alligator clip with hot glue and another fabric circle.

And that is it! Now just clip it on to anything and everything, sit back and enjoy!

Despite the other great options for fabric brooches/ flowers out there, I LOVE how full and finished these look!

Thanks for joining me for my first attempt at a Shut Up and Sew post. I can't wait to come back and share with you other things I've been making with my new machine!

I'll be linking these parties this week. See you there!

Happy Thursday and Happy St. Patty's Day too!

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