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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Shamrock Circle Skirt

As some of you may know, I purchased an embroidery machine a few months ago.  At first, I thought I could recoup some of the cost of the machine by making reversible a-line embroidered dresses and t-shirts for sale, and while I have sold a few, the orders aren't pouring in.  I can only make my daughter so many embroidered t-shirts and reversible dresses of her own, so I decided to embroider a shamrock onto a circle skirt for St. Patrick's Day instead.


This was my first time making a circle skirt.  It was super easy!  I used this popular tutorial over at Made. First, I took Ella's measurements and followed the formulas for computing the radii of the inner and outer circles, then using my fabric pencil, marked the fabric accordingly.

For a circle skirt this small, you can cut out the entire skirt and have absolutely no seams to sew!  All I had to do was finish the raw edges at the top and bottom, sew on the elastic, and hem the skirt.

I only had a piece of 3/4" wide elastic on hand instead of the 2" wide elastic recommended in the tutorial, but I was pleased with how it worked out for Ella's skirt.  However, the waistband was much too big, so I ended up cutting about 2" off the length to make it tight enough to stay up on Ella's waist.  The trickiest part of making this skirt is sewing the elastic waistband on!  Glad when I was done with that step.


Since I wanted this to be a cute skirt for St. Patrick's Day, I used my Brother PE770 embroidery machine to stitch a shabby four leaf clover onto the bottom of the skirt.


The embroidery design is from Planet Applique.  I used the exact same design on a t-shirt I made Ella.  Read about it and the ruffle bottom pants I made to go with it here.

This embroidery design took literally less than 10 minutes to stitch out.  Since it is a shabby design, I opted to use a piece of white flannel under both the pink and green fabrics to help give the shabby edges more fluff once they are clipped.  I've used white muslin or white cotton fabric in lieu of the flannel before, but I much prefer how the flannel added both stability to the overall design as well as more shabbiness to the edges!

With the four leaf clover design stitched in place, I felt like the skirt needed a little more pop of color to complete the look.  I found some bubblegum pink ric rac in my stash and proceeded to stitching it onto the edge.  This made hemming the bottom of the circle skirt a cinch!


I used my little sewVery label folded in half to cover up the ugly seam where the ric rac ends connected.  I barely had enough of it to finish the skirt!

Circle skirts are so much fun to twirl in, but I think I need to make her a pair of bloomers to wear under it now!  At full twirl, you definitely see her underwear, and that's why you don't see a picture of her twirling in it!



Now we just need to find a St. Patrick's Day sock hop for Ella and Connor to attend!  Don't they look cute all dressed up?


And in case you are wondering, I made my son's pants and vest, too.  They are the Little Gentlemans Pants and Vest Pattern from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop.  Read all about them here.




Happy St. Patrick's Day!  

5 comments:

  1. The circle skirt is precious! And your son's trousers and vest are wonderful pieces, too. Great job on both!!

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    1. Thank you so much! I wish his outfit had been as simple and fast to make as hers!

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  2. So cute! I was given an old embroidery machine, it scares me a little and I haven
    t tried it yet. :) I totally should give it a try. :)

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    Replies
    1. I was pretty scared of my embroidery machine (and still am most days), but it can be fun. I still prefer just to sew, but some people love putting an embroidery or applique design on just about everything! Hope you try yours, but I recommend you be very patient!

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  3. That skirt is ADORABLE and the vest and pants are so impressive. It was great to meet you at quilt guild the other day -- hope you decide to get into quilting! Gonna sneak around here a bit and check out your bags. I've never made one and I keep trying to talk myself into it.

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