Three New Ballet Skirts, or, It's So Fun To Sew with Slippery Fabrics /s

 

The world of children's ballet is a Whole Thing, y'all. And I'm not even talking about the body politics or the stresses of casting or the superb posture training. My teenager has danced in the same pre-college ballet program since the age of approximately four, and so you'd think the uniform would be pretty standard. Leotard, tights, and shoes, and you can even skip the tights if you're dancing Russian-style.

But no. Every year, and sometimes every semester, is just a new, annoying way to spend my money because these people cannot seem to make up their minds about how they'd like the children to dress! At one point in time, several ages wore the same leotard color, so that switching to a new leo color was a momentous achievement. Then they decided that every level should have its own color. Annoying to buy all new leotards each year, but at least there was something of a resale market. Then they decided that kids could only wear camisole-style leotards, so we all had to go buy new ones. Then they kept everything the same for a year, which was cool, but in the last month of classes decided that the kids should wear a completely different color of leotard and ballet skirt just for the recital--here, by the way, is that white leotard and skirt that my kid wore exactly once. Then they decided that you could wear any style of leotard you wanted as long it was the right color, but they had two different levels wearing two different colors of green, and do you know how hard it is to tell online if a leotard is more mint green or forest green (this one is neither mint NOR forest, it was determined)? And don't even get me started about the level that had to wear "grey"--Friends, there are a lot of greys in the world! Then there was a year in which they did uniform by ages but grouped several ages into a single class, and that's how we discovered that my teenager is the only teenager exactly her age in the program, because she got to be the only black leotard in a sea of burgundy, and guess how much she did not love that.

Over the years we've gone from kids can wear ballet skirts to every class (everyone bought SO MANY skirts) to kids can never wear them ever (after, of course, everyone had bought and owned and loved 4-6 different skirts) to now kids can wear them on Saturdays. I think. For now.

My teenager is, as you might imagine if you've ever known somebody who submitted daily to a strict dress code, thrilled by the upcoming Ballet Skirt Saturdays. Because I can never just buy something and be done with it, I found this pattern for an asymmetrical SAB-style ballet skirt from DsSewingPatterns on etsy, ran it by the teenager, she approved, and then I bought it and we went fabric shopping.

Because fabric shopping is the funnest part!

Four-way stretch isn't really my jam, nor is sewing thin, slippery mesh and tulle, but the teenager had a fabulous time picking out a few fabrics to try, and she was so excited to have me sew them up for her that she literally stood next to the table as I worked, just, like, watching me stitch while listening to my Dolls of Our Lives podcast. I felt very attended to! 

Luna helped, too:

Fortunately, this is one of the best, easiest, and most straightforward patterns I've ever used. The magic is in the cut, which, as you can see if you look closely at the template below, IS asymmetrical!

This means that you can wear it truly asymmetrical, with one side longer, or the way my teenager likes it, with the longer part at the booty for a little more coverage.

The photo below is technically my muslin, although I have a Depression-era fear and loathing (thanks, Mamma and Pappa!) of wasting fabric, so I got the teenager to choose something on clearance that she would still reluctantly wear. She's got those October Saturdays pinned down now!

I did alter the pattern quite a bit in length after sewing this muslin, which is why you should always sew a muslin. Fortunately, the saving grace of this thin, slippery, asshole fabric is that at least it doesn't ravel, so I could just trim the bottom to my preferred length and didn't even have to hem it, hallelujah.

That spiderweb fabric also worked out perfectly when turned inside-out to make the black waistband on this, the most glorious of all ballet skirts:

My teenager and I are absolutely enamored with this skirt. To be honest, she's probably not gonna wear any of the others as long as this one is around. It's a sheer black mesh with these flowers and sequins appliqued on it, and it. Is. Stunning. Now imagine it in motion!

I'm just going to show you a few more close-up photos of it, I'm so proud of it:

Y'all aren't going to believe this, but over winter break the pre-college ballet department reorganized the levels AGAIN, so after having all the kids in my kid's class wearing black leotards all semester, even the ones who were technically supposed to wear burgundy, and me thinking that my kid was going to be wearing black leotards six days a week for the next two years and therefore buying her even more black leotards for Christmas, now they've decided that everyone should go back to... BURGUNDY. You know, the color that LITERALLY NOBODY WORE LAST SEMESTER. BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL WEARING BLACK. A CLASS FULL OF KIDS WHO NOW OWN SEVERAL BLACK LEOTARDS THAT FIT, AND THEY WANT THEM TO BUY SIX DAYS' WORTH OF BURGUNDY LEOTARDS INSTEAD. JUST FOR THE SECOND SEMESTER OF THE EXACT SAME CLASS FULL OF THE EXACT SAME CHILDREN.

I participated in the Great Burgundy Leotard Scramble of 2019, and I am not going back to that nightmare scenario of battling every other parent in the class for the, like, five burgundy leotards, total, that exist in the world--burgundy is not a popular leotard color for the ballet world at large!!! They can put whatever they want on their dress code, but they have pushed me, personally, too far. I bought my teenager a shit ton of black leotards back in August, and a shit ton more black leotards over Christmas, and two shit tons of black leotards is what she will be wearing to class next semester whether they like it or not. 

Sigh. Do you want to make bets on how many classes until I cave?

A Dragon Quilt for a Dorm Room Bed

 

I almost had this quilt project well-organized.

I mean, I started it in July, with the intent to give it as a Christmas gift!

And then I finished about 90% of it, still in July! I did all the taxing piecing, and basted the batting and backing fabric to the quilt top. All I had left to do by the end of the month was applique/quilt the dragon to the quilt, then stitch the back-to-front binding.

So obviously that's what I was doing in a panic on December 24th...

Why, yes, completing a project in the same month that I begin it IS one of my 2023 New Year's Resolutions! I'll keep you in the loop about how it goes!

I got so much done in July because I was able to take advantage of Matt and one teenager swanning off to Peru for two weeks and the other teenager having, you know, an active social life and a part-time job, etc., leaving me, with no social life and no part-time job and no vacation out of the country, home alone in silence. 

Mental note that when my second kid leaves for college, as well, I should probably try to make some friends.

It was good, though, that I had so many uninterrupted hours to work, because some of these techniques were new to me. Here's the link for my dragon quilt inspiration. This was my first time using fusible interfacing as a template--

--which involves cutting pieces from my fabric stash--

--then ironing them to the interfacing--

--then zigzagging them in place--

--and then cutting and ironing some more!

Spots was, as usual, of great help:

She's pissed off because it's a drive-in night so she wasn't allowed outside. That's where the mean cars live!

My photo editing software automatically organizes my photos in chronological order, and it must have access to the timestamps for each photo, as well, because a funny thing happened with my catalog of these photos. I lent Matt my nice camera for their trip, so when he got back all those photos just fed into my program along with all the shitty cellphone pics I'd been taking, to such an extent that when we were clearly taking photos simultaneously, our photos interlaced in the catalog!

So while I was finishing up piecing the dragon's body onto my template--

--my teenager was sitting on a curb somewhere in Peru and eating an ice cream cone:

By the time I got that wing finished, several hours later--

--she was standing on the shore of Lake Titicaca!

And late that evening, when I'd finally gotten all of those interfaced scraps pieced together and had only the dinosaur's spikes left to cut out--

--she was enjoying a delicious dinner:

Here is exactly where I was in the process on the day they came home from Peru:

And there the project remained until December 24th. In other news, WHY does my sewing machine always do some random funky wonky thing every single time I'm panic sewing on a deadline? Do not look at the stitching that I used to quilt this dragon, because from the backside it looks like shit. I kept adjusting the freaking tension, I rethreaded the needle forty times, I changed the needle, I did everything but pray to the goddamned sewing machine, and I still have no idea why it wouldn't give me nice stitching on the back.

Whatever. It's far from perfect, but it IS finished!

Syd thinks it's cheezy that I chose a piece whose print looked like the dragon's eye, but I love it!

...and that's all the photos you get of just the quilt without the dog walking all over it.

She is very helpful, yes?

Fortunately, she only walked all over it in snowy paws, not muddy paws, so all I had to do was toss it in the dryer when I was done.

And that's the last big project until I drive my kid to Ohio, unless I get around to sewing her the matching laptop and ipad and phone cases that I bought the zippers for back in October... which I'm NOT going to get around to doing, ahem.

After all, I'll need something to fill my lonely hours while she's gone!

Team Mouse on the Christmas Tree

 

The Nutcracker battle is fought not just on the stage, but also on the Christmas tree this year!

And Team Mouse is finally winning!

I bought these super cute felt Mouse and felt Officer patterns thinking that they'd make adorable gifts for the other Mice and Officers in my teenager's Nutcracker casts. I only thought that because I sew by hand so rarely that I had completely forgotten how time consuming it is, oops!

First, you cut out all the tiny pattern pieces:

Then you figure out what color you want everything to be. I still have plenty of felt wool scrippy scraps (I just checked my gmail, and I originally bought this felt way back in 2017--definitely time to finish using it up!), and this kind of small felt figure is the exact perfect use for them. Wool felt is much more beautiful than acrylic felt, and has such a nicer texture, that it's worth it to use it in a project where both of those features are really highlighted.

Cutting out all the little felt pieces wasn't super fun because I was too cheap to go out and buy a proper pair of tiny scissors, but I did get to use my favorite heat-erasable Frixion pens to trace most of the patterns, and that's never not thrilling:

Finally, just spend a million hours hand-stitching the cutest little Mouse Soldier in the world!

Um, I did NOT end up making felt Mice and Officers for every kid in my kid's casts. I did make a different present for just the Team Mouse kids, but it was a lot quicker and easier than hand-sewn felt ornaments!

I do think this sewing would go a lot more quickly the second time, now that I know what I'm doing, and I DO have another Mouse and an Officer already cut out and ready to go. Frankly, though, I think I need to have an appointment with my optometrist first, because I'm not sure I've got the eyes for hand-sewing anymore...

Upcycled Hair Accessories: Stashbust a Scrunchie

This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World.

My favorite stashbusting projects are the types of useful accessories that you can never have too many of. You can never have too many zippered pouches, cloth napkins, fabric baskets, or pillowcases, and once you're used to making them, you can whip them out quick as lightning without having to refer back to the instructions. 

Scrunchies are one of my favorite stashbuster projects. Like the other projects that I mentioned, scrunchies are very forgiving, so you can fudge fabric dimensions as needed to fit your scraps. Scrunchies look cute in a wide variety of patterns and prints, from the classic to the novelty. And, for those of us with long hair, scrunchies are EMINENTLY useful! Toss a couple in every bag you own (bonus points if you store them inside a zippered pouch!) and a couple more in all your glove boxes, and you'll be set for any scenario. I lead a Girl Scout troop, and I keep spare scrunchies in my troop first aid kit and my troop campfire kit, too. Long hair will never keep MY Girl Scouts from adventure! 

To make a scrunchie from your stash fabric, you will need the following:

• fabric piece, approximately 24"x4". Remember how I said that you can fudge fabric dimensions as needed with this project? I did not lie! I've gone as short as 18" to use up the last bit of Halloween print, and as narrow as 3" to squeeze one last project out of a favorite dinosaur print.
• elastic, approximately 1/4" by 7". Again, though, use what you've got! I've made scrunchies using everything from FOE to 1/2" elastic to buttonhole elastic. You may need to adjust the length of the elastic if you've altered the length of the fabric piece. If your elastic can be tied by hand, reserve an extra inch for knotting it. If your elastic is too wide to hand-knot, you'll use that inch to stitch the two ends together.
• measuring, cutting, and sewing supplies. Don't forget the safety pin!

Step 1: Measure and cut your fabric and elastic pieces.

Novelty prints are the best for scrunchies! My teenagers think that scrunchies are so silly (I lived through the 1990s, and I know that they're right!), and they're happy to lean into the silliness when I surprise them with scrunchies made from the last bits of their favorite novelty prints. But other types of fabrics also make surprisingly successful scrunchies. I adore using thrifted sheets to back quilts, and the folded and hemmed top of a thrifted sheet makes an excellent scrunchie. Dress shirts and skirts are other good fabric options. 

My favorite dimension for the perfect scrunchie is, as I mentioned in the Materials section, 24"x4". But I'd go as short as 18" to use up a good scrap, and I'd absolutely rather go longer than toss a couple of inches of fabric in the trash. 

Cut your elastic to about 7", which allows for a .5" overlap on each side to either tie or sew the two ends of elastic together. I'm using up the last of some stash FOE for the scrunchies in this tutorial, but any elastic approximately 1/4" wide should work well.

Step 2: Make a fabric tube.

 Fold the fabric in half lengthwise, and iron to crease.  Sew the open long edge shut using a 3/8" seam to create the tube.  

Iron the seam open.  

Fasten a safety pin to one end of the tube. Use the safety pin as a bodkin to turn the tube right side out, then iron again so that your tube is tidy and flat.

 

Step 3: Insert the elastic.

 Fold one end of the tube to the inside about 1/2", and iron to crease.  

Fasten the safety pin to one end of the elastic, and use it as a bodkin to pull the elastic through the tube. Scrunch the fabric as you go so that it's scrunched into the middle, leaving both ends of elastic clear. 

If the elastic is narrow, you can sometimes get away with tying an overhand knot to connect the two end pieces. Otherwise, overlap the two ends by .5" and sew them together with the stitch of your choice.

 

Step 4: Close the tube.

Overlap the two ends of the tube, with the cuffed end on the outside. Sew them together with a sturdy straight stitch. 

Fluff up the scrunchie until all the scrunches are evenly distributed around the circle. 

DIY scrunchies make fun additions to Christmas stockings and Easter baskets, and care packages to your favorite young adult. Out of the six scrunchies that I made in this short afternoon's work, two are for my teenagers to wear as Halloween accessories (in my family, Halloween season starts in September!), two are going into their Christmas stockings, and two are going to hang out in my secret bin of presents, waiting for a special occasion yet to come.

My Hallway Bench is Much Improved

Mind you, it's still not very cute.

But to be fair, it was never created to be cute. It was created to be somewhere to sit whilst putting on one's shoes, and to host plenty of storage for annoying cold weather accessories during the annoying cold weather.

And it works great at both those jobs!

It didn't even need a cushion added to make it comfortable, because it was fine. It was just your bog-standard bench, you know? Anyway, you only sit there for a couple of minutes at a time, and then off you go to sit somewhere more interesting.

HOWEVER, Matt made the bench seat from 2x4s, arranged as slats with just the smallest bit of spacing between them. The spacing is just wide enough for every spec of crud in the known universe to wedge itself between them, and just narrow enough that I could never for the life of me figure out how to clean it all out.

Therefore, in true Southern Gothic style, I figured that if one can't fix something, one should instead simply cover it up and just pretend like the rot doesn't exist.

Enter this equally disgusting piece of high-density foam that I have been hoarding for several years!

I don't really know why it's this gross--it's literally just a surplus piece from a giant piece of foam that I bought once upon a time to remake the cushions on our old dorm sofa. 

Okay, wait. I actually might have a bit of an idea...

Whatever. You know what I always say: just cover it up!

And now my hall bench still isn't the cutest, but it IS tidy and guests can sit on it without worrying about getting a staph infection.

Also, I have too many aloes and inch plants. Do you want some?