Dotty Scrunchy-Banded Skirt

After my terrible attempt at making pants (waste of pretty fabric...sigh), I had one rectangle of this batik-y, blue-with-spots fabric left. It wasn't even enough to make a sling bag--and I definitely did not want to waste it--so I searched around for possibilities.  I am too lazy for zippers but thought a skirt with a scrunchy, elastic waistband would be perfect. 

I found some great tutorials (mostly here and a little bit here) but was afraid that my piece of fabric wasn't big wide enough.  At first I was like "I guess I can begrudgingly make a skirt for my size 00 sister" and started to sew.  Then I figured out two things

The first was I didn't need two side-seams. Of course, getting rid of one side seam meant I only had one pocket but no biggie. That's what sling bags are for!  In other words, this skirt is cut from one piece of fabric, rather than the two that the tutorial suggests.

The second was"Ha! I can just make my skirt less scrunchy than the tutorials specify!" And so here I am, grinning wildly because I didn't have to give away my skirt!

showing off my skirt's pocket :)

Scunchy-waisted skirts kind of blimp you up, but this one is cleverly designed to curb that a bit. (Please note I am not at all responsible for this cleverness.) The elastic does not entirely circle the waist; rather there is one strip of elastic in front and another strip in back.  This leaves 4 inches on each hip to lie flat to minimize the poof factor. 

All in all, a straight forward project that does not require much fabric or expertise. In other words, perfect for poor noobs like me :)

Shirring on a Brother CS 6000i

Shirring  is tricky on a brother!  You have no idea how frustrated I was trying to figure out how to make my shirring nice and tight.  After plenty of googling and reading dozens of discussions, perusing many blogs, and watching a few youtube videos, I finally have the answer.

Here's what you do: buy elastic thread. Wind the elastic thread on the bobbin using the machine. This will make the bobbin tightly wound (other brands differ, but this is what worked for me).

Take the bobbin case out of the machine (you will need to pop off the gray plastic piece from the arm). There will be two teeny screws on the bobbin case: one on the right and the other on the left. Mine has green paint on the left screw. Take an eyeglasses screwdriver (bought an eyeglasses repair kit on amazon for 2.50) and tighten the screw. Put the bobbin with the elastic in and place the bobbin case back in the machine. (There will be a white arrow on the bobbin case that points to a white dot. line those up!) Replace the plastic cover and thread it as usual.

The top thread will be normal thread (cotton, polyester, whatever you use) and this should match the fabric you're shirring. Thread everything up as usual.  Turn on the machine and set the stitch length to 5 (max) and increase the upper thread tension. I set my wheel (on top of the machine) to 8. Then sew! I used a straight stitch (00) and it was incredible! Very nice and scrunchie. Before I figured it out, the shirring looked horrrrrible. Not scrunchie at all. But after all these steps, it's perfect! Just what I wanted.

Reversible Sling Bag

Three things in my life I have sewn: hideous pair of shorts in 8th grade home economics, a pair of mittens made from an old sweater, and a lovely reversible sling bag pictured here:

just look at how happy I am!!

Isn't it just great? I am so proud of myself. I won't let myself brag too much once I am no longer a novice, but I think that newbies have the right to shove their products in everyone else's face.  I am not going to go into all the gory details of how to create a bag like this, but I'll point you to the link that I carefully followed right here.  I bought extra fabric to be safe, but you probably only need half a yard of each type of fabric. The side that is currently the exterior is obviously gray with pink and green bikes.  The side that is currently the interior is (not-so-obviously) white with a red, purple, and yellow pattern that is not quite stripes and not quite plaid.  Like the title suggests, this bag is reversible which means double the fun!