Circle and Twirl

I absolutely love this skirt! I think it is one of the most darling things I’ve made so far, and I’m looking forward to giving it a good home, courtesy of my new Etsy store, The Be Market! (More on that in a future post.)

Circle skirts are pretty straight forward to make, though their simplicity means that you can get very creative with them. For this skirt, I love the free-floating hem embellishment I made (above), as well as the ribbons I inserted in the side seam (below).

If you’d like to make your own circle skirt, here’s a a great tutorial to get you started!

Just Call Me Goldilocks

As mentioned before, my first attempt at a Floral Bag by Sue Kim was too big. So I went ahead and made the smaller version … only to find it fits my laptop, and not much else. Too small! On the plus side, I still love this bag pattern.

I didn’t put any pockets in, both to speed up construction and because a gathered interior encourages pockets to tip over, spilling everything out of them. But for my intended usage, pockets are really a necessity. I could always wear one of those new-fangled cross body bags which are coming into vogue, but I like my bag to be my purse as well.

Nonetheless, I’m going to make another Floral Bag, in a size halfway between the large and the small, and I’m going to figure out a way to make effective interior pockets, too. And maybe some subtle exterior ones, too! I’m envisioning something country and rustic, like little blue flowers on a red and white gingham background. Maybe with a cheerful yellow lining? We shall see.

Release the Hounds

Fun factoid about me: I am horribly, intensely allergic to dogs. I’m so sensitive it’s embarrassing! So this houndstooth check scarf is as close to man’s best friend as I can safely get. (“Hounds” tooth … get it?)

I absolutely love this scarf, and look forward to wearing the heck out of it! I’m also proud of it because it is my first attempt at doing a two-pass baby (rolled) hem on the sewing machine. I do have a rolled hem foot, but it frankly never occurred to me to use it! I’m a bit analog, what can I say.

If you want to make a scarf like this, all you need is 3/4 to 1 yard of fabric that is at least 50 inches wide, and some thread. You can use a rolled hem foot, or do a two-pass rolled hem (i.e., stitched, trimmed, and stitched again), or even do a rolled hem by hand, to neaten up the four sides of your rectangle. Et voila, you’ll have a scarf!

I am the world’s slowest sewer *and* I used two colors of thread for the hemming because I thought it would look cool (and it does, thank you very much), and the whole project took me less than two hours. So if you want a cheap, instant gratification project, definitely give a scarf a try!