Sequin Holiday Skirt Tutorial

We are less than one week from Christmas friends! You can't see me right now, but I'm dancing a little jig in my heart. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! Christmas is my favorite holiday, and this year I'm hosting our family Christmas dinner on the 25th. As you can imagine, I'm pretty busy getting ready, so I'm bringing this tutorial post home today. I hope you enjoy it!

Let me know if you make your own sequin holiday skirt! I'd love to see your pictures in my Flickr group! 

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Thank you for having me, Heidi! I'm so excited to be here today doing something I really enjoy: knocking off a commercially made outfit! When I was first considering this project I went straight to the Mini Boden online catalogue for inspiration. Can't go wrong with Mini Boden, right?? I fell in love with their winter skirts immediately, so all I had to do was pick my favorite.

I always think it's fun to "window" shop in expensive shops knowing that I can go home and make the items for a fraction of the price. It's so satisfying to know I can give my girl beautiful things without going broke. (Although, my husband and the growing pile of fabric in my sewing room might say otherwise...)

I chose to knock off the new Mini Boden sequin skirt. Abby LOVES pink and I am really digging the gold/shimmer/sparkle trend I'm seeing this holiday season.

Source

Their sequin skirt:

My sequin skirt:

The Mini Boden version is made with a button closure, but Abby is two so I try to make things she can put on herself. Elastic is a girl's best friend. My version has an elastic casting in the back, with a flat waistband in the front.

I brought the sequins into my look, of course--that's the best part!--and it was the first time I've ever sewn with sequins. I wasn't quite sure how to attach them without punching right through the sequins on my machine, so I sewed them on by hand. I spent the time watching Once Upon a Time (yes, amazing show) with needle in hand and wouldncha know, the time flew by. 

I think my favorite feature of the Mini Boden skirt is the hot pink little ruffle on the waistband. It's almost like an afterthought, but when you look closely, brilliant. It gives a little more fun to this elegant skirt. I had some dupioni silk ribbon laying around which turned out to be the perfect color. I just couldn't resist adding it to the bottom hem as well. 

I'm glad I went with my instincts on the trim, because it's Abby's favorite feature besides the sequins. Come to think of it, this was my first experience sewing with dupioni silk, too, so I covered a lot of new bases with this skirt. Yay!

Don't you love the way the sequins sparkle? Why have I never noticed before how much I love sequins??

SEQUIN SKIRT TUTORIAL

By CailaMade

Materials

I made a point to buy these materials at my local fabric store, Joanne's. I want everyone reading this to know they have easy access to these materials if they live near this kind of store. Of course, you can also get the supplies for this skirt anywhere you choose. :)

1. Fabric for your skirt. I used a little less than 1/2 yard for this 2T skirt.

2. Lining fabric in the same amounts

3. Hot pink trim. I used dupioni silk ribbon for a fancy feel, but you could even use a small strip of knit!

4. 1 yard of single-strand sequins

5. A piece of 3/4" elastic. (To find the correct length measure your child's waist, divide by 2, and add 1 inch).

6. Coordinating thread

Tutorial

STEP ONE: Cut your fabric.

Lay your fabric out folded selvage to selvage and cut it 12 inches long for a 2T skirt. (Or, for a custom length, decide how long you want the skirt to be and add 2 inches).

Now fold it another time, fold to selvage, like shown below. Make a cut along this side angled so that the top is 1 inch in from the bottom. Open up your fabric and you will have two pieces--a front and a back--roughly the width of your fabric times 12 inches or whatever the length of your skirt is.

Now take your front skirt piece and cut 1 1/2 inches off the top. This is to make room for the front waistband.

Repeat this process for the lining, but make your lining only 9 inches long for a 2T size, or 3 inches shorter than your main skirt pieces. 

STEP TWO: Prep the front waistband.

Measure your child's waist where you want the skirt to sit. Then divide the number by two and add 1/2 inch. This number is "X." Cut the piece for your waistband 9 3/4" by X. Abby's waistband was 9 3/4" by 9 1/2." 

Fold the waistband in half lenghtwise and press. Now fold the raw edges in 1/4" along the long edge and press. Iron the ends in 1/4 inch.

Reinforce the waistband with interfacing if you wish.

STEP THREE: Sew side seams.

Ignore the ruffling in this picture. This step will come later.

Right sides together, stitch your side seams together for the main skirt and lining pieces. Please note: make sure the main skirt pieces are even along the bottom. They will not match up at the top because the front skirt piece is shorter than the back piece. Finish the seam by overcast stitching, zigzagging or serging.

STEP FOUR: Ruffle the front skirt piece.

Using a long running stitch (do not backstitch), sew approx. 1/8" from the top edge of your front skirt piece. Pull on the bobbin thread (back thread) to ruffle the skirt until it is the length of your waistband piece. Repeat with the lining.

Now slip your lining inside the skirt, wrong sides facing.

STEP FIVE: Make the elastic casing.

On the back of your skirt, fold the top edge down 1/4" and press. Now fold it down 1"encasing the top edge of the lining and press. Pin and sew as close to the edge as possible. It should look like this:

STEP SIX: Add the waistband and elastic.

On the wrong side of your skirt, pin the waistband to your ruffle and pin. 

Make sure the ends match up with your side seams. You should be able to slip the ends of the elastic casing inside your waistband when finished with this step. 

Stitch along the crease you created when pressing the waistband (this should be 1/4" from the raw edge). Now flip the waistband over to enclose the raw edge and press. Pin and sew it down using an edgestitch. 

Here is a picture of how the edge seams should match up at this point:

Now, using a safety pin, slip the elastic inside the casing on the back and feed it through to the other side. I like to secure the free end of my elastic with a pin to make sure it doesn't get away from me. Your elastic should now reach through the back of your skirt and stick out on either end by 1/4" to 1/2."

Carefully slip the elastic into the front waistband AND slip the front waistband over the raw edge of the back casing. Pin the two together with the elastic secured inside. 

Stitch them all together along the seam, like this:

Your basic skirt is now done! The elastic back should look like this:

STEP SEVEN: Embellish!

Using a random ruffle, I pinned my pink trim to the top edge of the skirt and then stitched it down with an edge stitch.

Wrong side view:

To add the two rows of single-strand sequins I just kind of lined them up and sewed by hand. I secured the first sequin with a few sitches and then sewed on each sequin by coming up through the middle of one and then down through the middle of the next, and so on. At the end I secured the final sequin with a bunch of stitches, cut off the extra sequins and tied off the end. 

You can add your hot pink trim to the bottom hem if you want, or leave it plain like the Mini Boden version. Either way is cute! If you do a normal hem, fold the raw edge under 1/4" and press. Then fold another 3/4" and press again. Stitch it down and you're done!

I think this is the perfect holiday skirt and I definitely plan to make more! Please visit me at CailaMade--I love making new sewing friends!  Thanks so much for having me today, Heidi. This is such a FUN series! 

Yarn-Wrapped Christas Trees

Just in case any of you are still adding last-minute Christmas decorations (like me!) I have a quick and easy craft for you today! These yarn-wrapped Christmas trees are so simple, your kids could easily make their own.

Yes, you read that right--this is a DIY CRAFT.  Now don't worry, I'm not about to go all crafty on you. Sewing is still my thing. But something about Christmas brings out the glue gunner in me and I can't help but start stamping letters, wrapping yarn, and spray painting things. It's just in my blood, so I might as well share some of it with you here! Anything crafty you get from me will be simple with few supplies, because that's the way I roll.

So, you wanna make some yarn-wrapped trees before the family comes over on Christmas day? It's easy!

SUPPLIES:

• Foam cone. These can be found at Joanne's or Michael's in the floral section.
• Yarn
• Hot glue
• White felt
• Small Christmas ball (mine was about 1 1/2" in diameter)

STEPS:

1. Secure the yarn to the bottom of the foam cone with a drop of hot glue.
2. Wrap the yarn around the cone until all the white is covered. Rather than wrapping it in neat little lines, let the yarn criss-cross. Add little dabs of hot glue occasionally while you wrap to keep things in place, if necessary (optional). Do not wrap the tip of the cone with yarn. Do not cut or tie off the yarn yet.
3. Dig a little hole in the top of the foam cone for your Christmas ball. Insert the top part of the ball into the foam cone. Secure with hot glue if necessary.
4. Wrap more yarn around the base of the Christmas ball until all the white is covered, then either tie off the yarn and cut, or secure the end with a drop of hot glue. 
5. Cut a circle of white felt to cover the bottom of your foam cone and secure with hot glue. 

Done!

So far I've made two trees: one with red sparkly yarn and one with an awesome pom-pom yarn I found on sale at Joannes. The pom-poms turned this into a snow-covered Christmas tree:

I didn't even need to use hot glue on this pom-pom tree because the yarn stuck to the foam, making this a five minute project. I just love quick and easy projects!

My kids reeeeally love these trees. They are the perfect little decoration to add some variation or color. For example, my color scheme this year is white and gold, which is beautiful for the most part. But for a little pop of Christmas color, this red tree came in handy. Plus, it's a fun way to use these little sparkly Christmas balls I love so much. Win win! 

Tomorrow or the next day I'll have some child-proof ways for your to display those glass Christmas balls you love so much. Mine are always being pulled off the tree (and thrown across the room, ahem) so I had to get creative this year. 

Merry Christmas and happy crafting! 

Making Memories: 26 Acts of Love

As time moves forward from the horrible tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook elementary school last Friday, I am still shaken. I think I will tear up at every mention of those 26 killed--20 of them children--for the rest of my life.

I can't help myself. I'm a mom, and I've always been empathetic. I'm grieving with the bereft mothers, because if these women could tell us one thing, I'm sure it would be how special and unique their children were. They are children worth grieving over.

In response to this horrible act of evil, a number of bloggers are celebrating the ABCs of Love: 26 ways to remember the 26 lives lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. Each letter of the alphabet represents another way to infuse your family and community with love. You may be doing these already, but it's never bad to encourage each other toward love, right? :)

A number of us are writing about these today, but we invite you to participate, too! Just pick a letter, perform an act of love, and either share about it or hold it quietly in your heart--it's up to you.

Since our last name begins with "M" I chose to celebrate MAKING MEMORIES with my family. Perfect for the Christmas season, yes?

I've been holding my children closer lately and I'm not alone: countless mothers are holding their children dear these days. Family Christmas rituals have taken on even more meaning, and memories are all the more precious.

Instead of imploding in fear because of this tragedy, I'm allowing it to remind me to:

• Do my best to appreciate my children for who they are and who God made them to be;
• Embrace the mundane details of my life, because this is the only life I get;
• Cherish (= to hold or treat as dear) this time with my children, knowing they will grow up and away;
• Make memories out of the little things;
• Be purposeful to make special memories as a family (during vacations, etc.).

Christmas is a great time to make memories. This year, we will decorate Christmas cookies, tell the story of Jesus the King who was born in a manger, attend a Christmas Eve service and open one present on Christmas Eve. These are some of our traditions, and they lend structure and comfort to our children's lives. Building memories as a family also increases our togetherness and sense of unity.

My goal over Christmas is to store up these memories and talk about them together throughout the year. This way I won't miss one bit of this season with my children, and we can keep reaping the benefits over years to come.

I wish you a wonderful Christmas with your family, and many good memories to come. As the celebration of Christmas approaches, let us all remember:

"Truly He taught us to love one another

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother,

And in His name all oppression shall cease."

Excerpt from O Holy Night

I can barely keep it together when I sing that last line. 

Merry Christmas friends! I love you!

(To read the rest of the ABC posts, click on the links below).