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iCandy Guest Post – Fun in the Sun{dress}

July 3, 2008 By Chie

Hello! My name is Chie, and I blog over at Vivat Veritas about handmade clothes, sewing and my various fashion inspiration. I also sell my handmade goodies at my etsy shop. I’m so excited to be able to participate in iCandy handmade’s “Fun in the Sun” {dress} series! Summer is my favorite season. During the summer months I am always wearing light weight sun dresses. I live in Japan, and the summer months here can get quite steamy!

Today I’m sharing how to make this easy sundress/tunic. This is great as a beach cover-up, something to throw on top of a bathing suit.

I found this cute fabric at Ikea the other day. It was 499 yen (about 6USD) per meter, and I just had to grab it! The fabric has pineapples, fish, lobsters, cherries and other fun sea animals all over the white background. It’s 100% cotton, which is great for hot weather, it both breathes and absorbs moisture!

This dress is really easy as you can make it out of two rectangle fabrics. I love easy projects using rectangles, and if you are interested, check out my other tutorials for reversible paper bag skirt and poncho top🙂

I can think of many different variations of this dress: use two different color fabrics for dress and ruffle, add lace at the hemline, make a sash in contrasting color…etc.

❤Materials needed❤
– Fabric: I used 1 meter to make this tunic. If you want it to be longer, you would want 1.5 meter to 2 meters.
– Thread
– Elastic band

❤Measurements needed❤
– Your hip measurement
– Your high bust measurement

❤Instruction❤

1) Cut fabric – You need two rectangles, one for the dress portion, and the other for ruffle portion.
Dress: The width will be your hip multiplied by 1.5. The length should be whatever length you want the dress to be. I made mine 24″.
Ruffle: The width should the same as the dress width (your hip multiplied by 1.5). The length should be 5″.

2) Hem the ruffle bottom line.

3) Place the right side of the ruffle on top of wrong side of the dress, and pin. Sew two parts together.

4) Turn so you see the right side of the ruffle on top of the right side of dress. Iron.

5) Sew a straight line from 0.5″ from the top to create a loop for elastic band to go in.

6) Cut an elastic band for your high bust measurement.

7) Insert an elastic band into the loop you created in step 5), using a bodkin.

8) Sew both ends of the loop openings to hold the elastic band.

9) Fold the dress with right sides facing in, so the side seams meet. Sew the side.

10) Hem the dress.

❤Optional 1❤
You can make a small loop and sew it on the middle of the top front so you can insert a neck strap.

❤Optional 2❤
Make a sash to tie around waist.

And you are done! Happy sewing!

xoxo

Chie

Guest Post at Jojoebi: Headband Tutorial

August 21, 2007 By Chie

Hello! My name is Chie. I’m thrilled to be able to participate in Jo’s new skills carnival!
I’ve been sewing since I was little, but it was not until 3 years ago that I really got into sewing clothes, especially woman’s clothes. When my friend lent me a basic sewing machine and I made a pillow case. With a little practice the next thing I knew, I was selling my creations on etsy.

Sewing clothes creates a lot of left over fabric. Those leftover pieces are usually so small that they can’t even be used to make a camisole or shorts. They are however, big enough that I don’t want to throw them out. I serendipitously came to find that those scraps are the perfect size with which to make headbands. This headband is super easy to make, and a great way to reduce your left over fabric stash! Once you get used to it, it takes less than half an hour to make one. The headband has a wire inside, so it stays on your head, and you can twist the end however you like.

Here is a tutorial on how to make this headband:

I hope you enjoy making the headband. Stop over at my blog to see my sewing journey and take a look at my etsy shop to find some really cute dresses 🙂

Chie

Grosgrain Free Pattern Month – Scallop Waist Skirt

May 16, 2004 By Chie

Hello Grosgrain readers! I’m Chie from Vivat Veritas, and I am happy to be able to share my creation for Grosgrain’s free pattern month. Grosgrain is one of my favorite blogs for sewing inspiration and I’m so excited to be part of it!

For my part this month, I am writing up a tutorial for a scallop waist skirt. I’m a big fan of scalloped edges in clothing. I was greatly influenced by 2010 Marc Jacob’s resort collection, seen here. The skirt is high waisted, and the upper part of the waist band is scalloped. I just had my daughter in April, and while I was pregnant, I wore a lot of jersey dresses and baby doll style dresses. I love dresses, so it was fun, but I did miss wearing some separates. Now my bump is gone, I’m all about wearing clothes that mark the waistline!

This was my first time making a PDF pattern, so if anything is unclear or if you have any suggestions, please contact me through my blog🙂

Pattern printing instructions:

Download the pattern here (vv scallop waist skirt pattern)
The pattern should be out on 15 sheets with a thin frame. The pattern is set for printing on A size4 paper. The 15 pieces will fit together and can be glued or taped together according to the triangle signs (1a, 1b, 2c…etc). ½”. Seam allowances are included, except for the top of the waist band (scalloped edge part) which has ¼” seam allowance.

Materials:

❤ 1-2 yards of fabric. I recommend using a fabric that is a medium weight polyester or rayon mix. I would avoid fabrics that are easily wrinkled (such as 100% cotton), very light and/or very heavy weight materials and jersey type fabrics that have significant stretch.
❤ 9” invisible zipper
❤ Thread
❤ Fusible (iron-on) interface for waist band

Cutting Instruction:

❤ Waist band – Cut 2 with center folded
❤ Skirt piece – Cut 1 with center folded

Sewing Instructions:

Cut 1 fusible interface, center folded for waist band. Cut the interface ¼” smaller on top, and ½” smaller on sides and bottom.
Iron the interface on one of the waist band pieces (you only need one interface piece).
Pin the bottom line of the waist band with interface and and the top line of the skirt piece with right sides facing together. Sew the waist band skirt piece together.
Place the other waist band (the one without interface) on the waist band with the interface with right sides facing. Pin, and sew the top of the waist band, where the scalloped edge is. Use a smaller stitch choice of your sewing machine, so you can skip clipping the curves. I used stitch setting “2” on my sewing machine.
Turn the waist band inside out, so the wrong sides of the waist bands are facing.
Iron the waist band. First iron from the inside of the waist band (wrong sides of the fabric), and then press the scalloped edge from the right side.
Sew in an invisible zipper. Place the zipper from the top of the waist band and sew, using an invisible zipper foot. Then sew the rest of the side together.
Pin the end of waist band (without interface), excess of the zipper, and the other waist band (with interface) together, and sew to the bottom end of the waist band. Turn the waist band inside out.
Hem the skirt. For this half circle skirt, I think narrow a hem (or baby hem) works the best so we won’t have to deal with easing in the fullness on a wider hem. Fold ¼” from the hem line and stitch the outer edge. Clip the excess fabric. Fold again for ¼”, and iron. Then top stitch on the stitch you just sewed.