Tutu Cute!

Elle was invited to her good friend, Maya's, Princess birthday party. The girls were supposed to dress in a Princess dress, so Elle and I designed hers. Elle picked the color of tulle she wanted, the ribbon, and the flower. Putting it all together was super easy (it's no sew!)here's how:

1. I used 125 yards of 6" wide tulle. You can find the tulle on spools in the wedding section of Jo-Anns. Elle picked purple and pink and I added some ivory.
2. Cut the strips of tulle 2 times the length of the dress plus an inch and a half. So if your Princess is 26" from underarm to ankle, you would cut the strips of tulle 80 1/2 inches long.
3. Stretch a piece of 1 1/2 inch wide non-roll elastic around your little one across their chest and just under their arms. Cut the elastic and stitch it into a loop (if you're sewing challenged you can even staple it closed instead).
4. I found it easiest to tie the tulle on when the elastic was stretched around something that was the right diameter... I used the back of a chair, but you could try a lamp shade or a garbage can maybe?? Stack two strips of tulle on top of one another. Fold the strips in half and place the folded part of the tulle under the elastic. Pull the ends of the strip up, in front of the elastic, and through the loop created by the fold. Pull tight.
5. Repeat a bajillion times until you can't see anymore elastic.
6. Unroll a bit of satin ribbon from the spool (don't cut it). Wind the ribbon around the elastic and between each of the tied strips of tulle. Cut it when you've made it all the way around the tutu and tuck the starting and ending bits into the ribbon.
7. Cut a length of ribbon, fold it in half and tie it around the elastic in the center front of the tutu to create the halter tie.
8. Cut a length of wider ribbon for the belt.
9. Snip the stem off a silk flower, drill a hole in the plastic cup that holds the petals and thread the belt ribbon through the flower.
10. I also found some crystals with adhesive backing. I placed them randomly throughout the tutu by sticking one crystal to the front side of a piece of tulle and placing another crystal on the back side of the tulle in the same spot, creating a crystal-tulle-crystal sandwich.

There you have it... go make the little girl in your life the happiest Princess ever!

Super E!

It's an adorable little girl, it's the smartest 3 year old I know, it's SUPER E!

I made most of Elle's costume this year. Here's the run down on how each of the pieces came together.

Circle Skirt: I found this great white star print for the skirt at a really neat old school fabric shop in St. Pete, Jay's Fabric. I conserved fabric by buying just half a yard, cut it in half, and sewed it together to make a big square of fabric. To figure out the size hole to cute for the waist, I measured Elle's waist added 1 inch for seam allowance, divide it by Pi (3.14), and divide that number by 2, this is the radius of the circle to be cut. Then I folded the fabric in half length wise, and in half again width wise, used pins to hold it in place. With the 0 mark of a ruler on the center point of the folds I made little tick marks at the radius measurement several times at different angles and then connected the tick marks and cut along the line. Unpin and unfold the fabric, waalaa a circle :) Next I Sewed a little hem around the circle and fed a piece of elastic just a half inch shorter than Elle's waist measurement into the pocket, sewed the elastic together, and finish the hem. Since my fabric was a stretch knit I hung it from the waist elastic on a hanger with clips and put it in the bathroom so that it could "relax" in the steam the next time we took showers. Then I put the skirt on Elle, marked where I wanted the hem, laid the "skirt" out on my foam cutting/measuring/pattern board thingie, measured from the center of the cut out circle to the mark I made for the hem, cut a piece of sting that length, tied a piece of chalk to one end of the string and stuck the other end of it into the board at the center of the circle with a push pin and drew a chalk line all around the skirt. I cut along the chalk line then folded the skirt in half and could see any parts where I needed to trim one side or the other to make it a perfect half circle. Hemmed it up and she had an adorable little skirt, no pattern required!

Tutu: Elle has worn a tutu every year for Halloween and I thought she was gonna get away without one this year, but when I put the circle skirt on her there was just something missing... all things little girl are better with a tutu right?! Tutu's are super simple to make, but I made her one last year and learned a few things, so here's what I think is key. 1)Don't scrimp on the tulle. Even good quality tulle is pretty cheap, so buy nice soft tulle. 2) use a wide elastic, like what you would find in guys boxers. All you have to do is cut your elastic 1/2 inch shorter than the waist measurement, stitch it together. Then cut the tulle in strips as wide as you want (Elle's were 3 inches wide, but you can make them skinnier if you want, it's just a matter of preference... I don't think I'd go any wider than 3 inches though)and twice the length you want the finished tutu to be + 1 inch. Then you just tie the strips to the elastic by folding the strip in half, place it behind the elastic and pull the ends around the elastic and through the loop created by folding the tulle in half. Repeat until you've covered the elastic.

Vinyl Belt & Cuffs: Gotta love working with a material that doesn't fray! All you have to do is cut out the shape you want, stitch some Velcro to each end... instant super hero accessories!

Cape: So I've been crazy busy and decided to buy the cape from a shop on Etsy instead of making one myself. I'm glad I did because I bought a blank cape from Super Fly Kids with the intention of embroidering the Super E logo on it and didn't even get a chance to embroider it.

Creating the super E logo was a little challenging with the software I have, but I couldn't be happier with how it turned out... someday I'll get around to embroidering a bigger version of it on her cape because it'll definitely be in the circulation of most played with "toys". Elle loves running around in it and can't resist looking behind her to watch it flow in the wind!