DIY Sew: Elastic Waist Skirt

Yay! So excited to share my journey in creating my very first skirt! I found this video on pinterest, and followed along to make my creation.

Here's what you'll need:

1-2 yards of cotton fabric
elastic
safety pin
scissors
thread
iron
sewing machine
measuring tape

Take your hip measurement, add 8 inches to this measurement, and divide by 2, this will be your width
Cut 2 pieces of fabric equal to your width by 20 1/2''(adjust to your length liking)

Pin fabric right sides together

Sew up both 20 1/2" sides using a 1/2'' seam allowance

Press seams flat

For the waistband, fold from the top 1/2''; press

F

old down another 2'', press

Pin in place and sew all the way around leaving a 4'' opening (for the elastic to go through)

Measure elastic around your waist and cut(I wanted mine to be snug on my waist so I shaved off two inches from my waist measurement)

Attach safety pin to elastic and thread through skirt gathering as you go, use another safety pin to pin the end of the elastic to your skirt

Sew elastic together overlapping by a 1/2'', sew back and forth a few times

Close opening, begin where seam starts and sew closed

The only thing left now is to hem the bottom!

Fold bottom up 1/2'' press

Fold bottom up another 1 1/2'' press

Pin, and sew

Finished!!

DIY Sew: Fabric Belt

So, although my sewing class advertised that we'd be making a fabric covered belt, we never did! I was so determined to make one, I decided to attempt one on my own.
Tops this should take you about 15 minutes

Materials:
fabric
2 D rings
scissors
tape measure
Safety pin
sewing machine

Measure your waist, then add 10 inches; next measure the length of your D ring and multiply by two and add a 1/2 inch; take these two meausrements and cut out your fabric

Fold fabric in half and pin

Sew

Turn the fabric right side out, to do this pin a safety pin to the end of your fabric and thread it through

Fold in fabric a 1/2 inch on both ends and sew

In order to maintain the straight shape of the belt, I decided to sew two lines into the fabric longwise, each a 1/2 inch from the ends

Next, string in both D rings, fold over by three inches and sew

Complete!

DIY Sew: 15 minute Infinity Scarf

I extremely over bought this fabric, (as you can probably already tell because every project is in this pattern!), so I decided to use some extra to make a scarf. The project only took about 15 minutes once the pattern was cut; really really easy.

Here is how I did it:

Materials
2 yards of cotton fabric
Thread
Scissors
Sewing Machine

Process: Cut two pieces of fabric 12'' X 60''

Hem the width of each piece of fabric by a 1/2 inch (4 in total; top and bottom of each piece of fabric)

With Right Sides together sew down both long sides of the fabric, use a 1/2 inch seam allowance

Turn right side out

Overlap the two ends by an inch and a half, and sew

Wear!

Spring Clothing Inspiration: GAP

So, I know I just started sewing and I'm still a novice, but I saw all these amazingly cute dresses on gap.com, and I can't help but wonder if I can possibly make a few myself(different patterns of course, I don't want to run into my mirror image all over nyc). I haven't even attempted a sleeve yet, but some of these don't look too difficult.


My new goal is to make one or two by the start of the summer

DIY Sew: Envelope Clutch Purse

Project 2 of my March Sewing Class is an Envelope Clutch Bag

Inspiration:

Tori Burch

BCBG

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 yard upholstry fabric for the outside

1/2 yard satin fabric for the lining

1/4 yard heavy interfacing

magnetic snap

To begin: Make a pattern using the following measurements:

Use the pattern to trace 1 outer fabric, 1 inner, and 1 interfacing

Place the inner and outer fabrics good sides touching and then place the interfacing on top of the inner fabric

pin, and sew all three sides, leaving the bottom unsewn

turn right side out

Fold ends in an inch and pin on both sides on the bottom

Fold up the bottom to where you want your bag to hit, pin on both sides to mark

Install the snap, place your washer on where you want the snap to be on the top and mark with a pen, take scissors and cut tiny holes, place top snap in, stick your hand under first layer and push in washer, push down ends

Fold bag over with washer on snap, see where it lies, then mark, cut holes, stick bottom snap in, put your hand under the first layer of fabric and place washer on the back of snap and fold snap into place

sew bottom across

Fold up, sew sides as close to the edge as possible

Complete!