Reversible Baby Skirt

If you’ve been reading my blog for a bit, you will know that I love fat quarters! I love their prints and how cute they are – the colours and the different patterns. I love the cute animals and the comical ones – basically all the ones you buy when you have no idea what exactly you are going to make with them! I’ve been having a bit of a tidy up of my craft stash of late (trying to make space for my new serger on my tiny Ikea table!) and I realised that I really do need to do something about my fat quarter stash!

I saw a little Ra Ra skirt recently to purchase for soon-to-be-here niece and thought they are a great choice for new babies, but you had to be able to sew them yourself in some cute prints. Luckily this amazing free pattern and tutorial for a reversible baby skirt crossed my path and answered my baby ra-ra-skirt and fat quarter stash dreams. I loved how simple it is and the different effects you can get by combining prints and decided I had to give it a go!

While tidying out my stash, I picked out these two cute prints along with some contrast bias binding I had been gifted and had waited to find the right project for. This project seemed just the one!

I purchased the fat quarters during Tschibo craft week and have been super positively surprised by the quality of the cotton. I love the contrasting prints! So perfect for a newborn baby girl gift! Hearts and polka dots, what’s not to love?

This pattern is ridiculously simple – I didn’t even print the free pattern as it was a bit of a spontaneous make this evening, so I just improvised by drawing round a plate to get a good curve on the waist. You pin the two donuts of fabric right sides together and stitch the inner circle and you are already on your way to skirt cuteness!

After that you turn them the right way out and sew around the circle again to create a channel for the elastic. Once the elastic is in, all you have left to do is bind. The binding is a little fiddly and seems to go on forever (but aren’t all circle skirt hems that way?!) However, it was good practice for me on using bias tape, so that was good. I was proud that I just worked out by myself how to attach it.

Overall I am delighted with my finished make. There is nothing on it I would change for once! I can’t believe it only took me an hour from start to finish – such a great project for when you have an itch to stitch but you don’t want to start anything major. Now I am ready to make a whole package of these to gift to friends and relatives. I can picture a matching set of three in a little gift box tied with a cute ribbon. What do you think? What a great way to use a fat quarter!

Oh also, I forgot to mention the best bit, the skirt is reversible! Two skirts for the price of one!

Unfortunately I don’t have a baby to help me model this skirt in all its cuteness, so I called in a friend to help …. meet Dave, our friendly household Minion!

Dave and I wish you a great rest of the week filled with stitching and crafting!

Make Your Own Scissor Pouch

   
This week I started my first sewing class and the lady sat opposite me had a rather attractive scissor pouch. On deciding that I too need an attractive scissor pouch (like having a cool pencil case on your first day at school!), I set about making one! 

Seeing as I feel all autumnal at the moment, I decided this would be a great time to use my owl fabric and this lovely tree print … I was tempted to use some lovely catch kidston style florals, but I’d sort of promised those to my mum so I showed some restraint! 

  
This is a great project for using up any cute prints that you have and suitable for quilting cotton or even an old pillow case. 

If you would like to make your own tie scissor pouch (owls optional), you will need: 

• Two fat quarters in complimentary prints or colours or two pieces of fabric 18″ x 22″
• Matching or contrast thread (let your creative juices run wild)
• A hot iron
• A chopstick (or similar long instrument for poking and turning) 

  

1. Give your two fat quarters a good press to remove any creases
2. Lay your two fat quarters right sides together 
3. Place your scissors on the bottom right hand corner of your fat quarter one and half inches from the selvedge. Measure one and a half inches to the other side of your scissors (got to make sure they will fit in your finished pouch!) and draw a straight line along this measurement
4. Cut straight up through your two fat quarters – you should now have two matching rectangles! 
5. Pin your two rectangles together and then sew carefully all the way around the edges with a 3/8 seam allowance in straight stitch. Don’t forget to leave a gap for turning in the top of the pouch and to back stitch whenever you start and stop sewing! 
6. Turn your square of fabric inside out through the opening and with a chop stick poke out the corners and seams so they are nice and square. 
7. Give your new double sided fabric rectangle a good press with a hot iron.
8. As if you were folding an A4 sheet of paper in to thirds for posting in a letter envelope, fold up the bottom third of your fabric. Press along the fold.
9. After pinning this third in place, stitch a row of straight stitching down each side, one inch from the edge of the fabric. Don’t forget to backstitch at both ends! 
10. You now have a cute fold over pouch! Next step – making the ties! From your remaining fat quarter fabric, lay right sides together and cut two long strips by cutting from the bottom of your fat quarter to the top. They should each be about 18inches long and about 4 inches wide.
11. Pin each set of strips right sides together and sew all around the edges as you did with your main pouch, using 1/2″ seam allowance. Leave one end open for turning.
12. With the aid of your chopstick, turn your ties right sides out and give them a good press. 
13. Fold the open end in on itself (as if you were sewing a hem) to hide the open seams and press to secure in place. 
14. Attach your ties to the pouch. Open your pouch and place your ties on the inside of the flap in the middle. Make sure to use the tie ends which you have just pressed (where the opening for turning was). Pin in place. From the outside of the pouch, stitch in place. Back stitch and forward stitch on this line of stitching to secure tightly.
15. You’re done!! Put your scissors and any other bits and bobs in your new pouch and tie in a bundle like so ….

  
 
16. Feel smug about your pouch making prowess! Feel free to share your pouch and tag @amyjune2015 #makeamymake #scissorpouchbonanza

I hope you enjoy making this one as much as I did guys! Let me know how it goes if you do decide to make one and any improvements to the instructions that may be required. Next time there will definitely be step by step pictures for starters!