TUTORIAL: How to sew a bubble skirt

Some Summer Sewing

TUTORIAL: How to sew a bubble skirt

I just love how poofy this bubble skirt is. It is playful and fun - perfect for some playtime in the backyard, a trip to the park or even dressy enough to wear to a birthday party. Just add an appliqued or monogrammed shirt and she is ready to go!

Want to know how to sew a bubble skirt? Read on!

Worried about ironing? The way this bubble skirt is made actually has elastic that keeps it poofy. The two layers aren't just sitting on each other. Also, when you pick out your fabric, always give it the "squeeze test." I squeeze the fabric as hard as I can in my hand about 3 times. This will show you if it wrinkles easily. If I can see wrinkles after the "sqeeze test" I pass up that fabric and look for another that does not wrinkle easily. Scientific, right? :)

**All the fabrics on this page are 100% cotton apparel fabrics from Hobby Lobby. They wash and dry easily and I have not had to iron them.

TUTORIAL: How to sew a BUBBLE SKIRT

**This is for a size 2T

 1. Gather materials: fabric, straight edge, iron, 3/8 inch elastic, fabric marker, pins, sewing machine, scissors and thread

 2. Cut a piece of fabric 19 inches long x 36 inches wide

 3. Cut a piece of elastic that fits around your child's waist snugly. I cut 20 inches of elastic for the waist.
4. Cut a piece of elastic that fits around your child's thighs. I cut 21 inches of elastic for the thighs.

 5. Lay your fabric open and right sides down. Measure up from the bottom 8 inches. Draw a horizontal line that is 8 inches below the bottom edge. (The bottom edge is 36 inches.) This is where we will sew the thigh elastic later.

 6. Pin the left end of your elastic to the left edge of the drawn line. Repeat for the right end of your elastic and the middle of your elastic.

 7. Sew your elastic down along the drawn line. Pull to extend the elastic as you sew. This is what gathers the fabric. You will pull it pretty firmly, so the fabric between two pins fits along that length.

 It helps to use two hands while you do this. Your left hand grabs the fabric in the back and pulls it firmly. Your right hand holds the elastic that hasn't been sewn yet (in front of the presser foot) and pulls it, guiding it along the drawn line.

 8. It should now look like this (above).

 9. Turn your fabric over. The right side faces up.

 10. Lay your fabric right sides together. Make the shorter edges match up and pin down the short side.
11. Sew down the pinned edge.

 12. You will bring the bottom layer of the skirt up to meet the top edge of the skirt. Now you will just see the right side of the fabric. Pin along the top edge.

 13. Serge or zig-zag around the top edge.

 14. Fold down the top edge one inch and pin all around. This will be the elastic casing for the waist.
15. Sew all around the pinned edge using a 5/8 inch seam allowance. STOP SEWING 3 inches before your starting point.

16. Place a safety pin through one end of your waist elastic.

17. Insert elastic all the way around the skirt's waist.

18. Overlap the ends of the elastic half an inch.
19. Sew the ends together.
20. Sew closed the opening that was left in the elastic casing of the skirt.
21. Turn skirt inside out and YOU ARE DONE!

Halter Top sewing pattern for Women

Now that it is soooo incredibly hot down here in the South, I thought it was about time to create a halter top pattern for women. So many women are sewing for themselves and the one request I get most for lately is an easy top for women. I drew up so many tops - ruffle tops, bubble tops, strapless tops, but wanted something that would be flattering to all body styles. Most of my sewing patterns have been sleeveless and straps can always be added of course, but this time I wanted to have a little variety and make something that could be worn through the Fall. So I created a halter top that also had gathering at the waist, to be more flattering.

Introducing The Sunni Halter Top sewing pattern for Women

sizes 0-18

 Halter top style (Looks great on you, Allison!!!)

 gathering at the waist - figure flattering

 You can show off a print fabric that you love. You can even wear it with capris and jeans in the summer and jeggings or jeans in the fall with a flowy or drapey cardigan when it gets cooler.

I love a shirt that lasts!

A little background:

This sewing pattern is named after one of my dearest friends, Sunni. She and I have been best friends since I was 17 and she was 15. We met when we were teaching gymnastics at a summer camp together and instantly bonded. It was one of those friendships that developed instantly and has lasted 17 years. We have lived in separate cities, the same city, each had long-distance boyfriends (and since we are girls of course we cried about it and encouraged each other through it), we both had
long-distance engagements, both of us married our high school sweethearts, both lived in Atlanta at the same time, were pregnant around the same time and we laugh at how much our lives mimic each other, though she always goes through what I do, just a few years later since I'm older. Once my husband and I moved away from Atlanta and back to our hometown I thought it was never going to be the same. But since she is soooo awesome we talk every single day and have for years! Sunni, I am so thankful for you! This is the halter top I named after you - since you inspire me to be a better person - it is the least I could do!

(I love this print on you, Laurie!)

I hope you all had an awesome 4th! What have you all been sewing? Besides this I'm working on a bubble skirt for my little girl. I had a blog post with a tutorial about a year or two ago and cannot find it for the life of me - so I'm back to searching for the easiest tutorial. There are so many ways to make them and if you know me, I want a very simple construction that will give you a boutique look. If you have a bubble skirt tutorial that you can pass along, leave it in the comment section. I'd love to take a look! My little girl, Catherine, has some special fabric already picked out for her bubble skirt. :)

Have fun sewing all your crafty projects this week!
Jenny

Seamingly Smitten sewing pattern SALE

Happy 4th everyone! What have you been sewing?

AND....to celebrate we are having a 25% off STOREWIDE SALE when you enter the coupon code: HAPPY4TH at checkout.

Offer is good today through Sunday. Enjoy!!

www.seaminglysmitten.com

www.etsy.com/shop/SeaminglySmitten

If you know me, you know I am a crafty procrastinator sometimes. Really? Oh yes! Tonight we are going to a 4th of July parade so during naptimes today I just sewed my kids some matching outfits. My little boy has been seeing my husband in his madras plaid shorts and he loves to match his clothes to Daddy's clothes whenever he can. After a few times of not having his own madras plaid shorts to wear when Daddy wore his, I decided today is the most perfect day to make them!

Sewing with madras can be a little tricky because of all the seams. The fabric is basically sewn together like patchwork, so there are seams on all four sides of every square that make up this fabric. I just used a longer stitch length and loosened my tension slightly, so it would be a bit smoother when I sewed over the bulk of all those serged seams.

I used The Classic Fit Pants sewing pattern to make these shorts. It was so easy to do! I simply traced the pattern and then stopped tracing 5 inches below the crotch. That way when I hemmed, they had a 4 inch inseam. Perfect fit!

For my little girl I made The Classic Pillowcase Dress sewing pattern with white ribbons to coordinate.

Happy 4th everyone! If you have a link to share what you sewed, leave a comment with it. I would love to see it!

Happy Sewing!

The Miss Mod Top in Sis Boom Fabrics

Do you ever go to the fabric store and just wander around looking at all the fabrics in the store searching for just the right fabric to jump out at you? Not literally of course, but I always look for the fabric that simply catches my eye. It's like love at first sight - the colors, the texture, the weight and drape - it just has to strike me as pure beauty or I will pass it by.

One of my most favorite fabric designers, Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom, has her own line of fabrics that is gorgeous. Jennifer designs apparel fabrics that are simply stunning and I love using them to sew clothing. They are vibrant, colorful and modern, which is exactly what I was looking for when I wanted to sew my Miss Mod Top sewing pattern.

I sewed this Miss Mod Top sewing pattern for Jennifer Blye - a winner of a giveaway I had done awhile back. Jennifer was smitten with her new Miss Mod Top and I couldn't have been happier to sew one for her. The sash was made with the same fabric, but it would also look great with a coordinating solid fabric or simply a wide belt. Jennifer I hope you love wearing your Miss Mod Top! You can see Jennifer's sewing creations on her Facebook page That's Sew You or her blog HERE.

I wanted to show you my latest women's pattern by Seamingly Smitten! I just designed and wrote the pattern for The Sunni Halter Top for Women sewing pattern. Can I tell you how many women have been writing me wondering when this one will debut? I LOVE that women are sewing so much for themselves!! Keep it up, ladies!!

This one will debut next Sunday, July 8th in our etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/SeaminglySmitten AND on our new INSTANT download website
www.seaminglysmitten.com

Keep in touch through our FACEBOOK page Facebook page and you will be the first to know!