April 2012 - Z's World

The finished skirt!

The Shirt Skirt tutorial provided on Instructables was my inspiration for this project. Rather than purchase a t-shirt for it, though, I thought I’d try my hand at creating the skirt using cotton fabric. One of the stores nearby was having a large sale last week, so I purchased a yard of fabric for about $5, hoping it would be enough. Considering I was going from a tutorial that used knit to using cotton, I knew things would turn out a little differently.

I pre-washed my fabric, mainly so that once I wore and washed this, it wouldn’t end up too small for me! (It’s happened before.)

Using elastic thread, the fabric naturally shirs as you sew. I was nervous about this, because I had cut the material wider than in the tutorial I was working from, and didn’t know how the material I was using would react. Thankfully, it worked out beautifully!

I LOVE the result! I’ve typically only made skirts from stretchy knits before, since I don’t have to be too accurate with measurements, and love the fact that I can gain or lose weight and have the skirt fit me fine throughout! But this project opened up a whole new world for me!

Here’s my tutorial for making this skirt with a yard of cotton fabric. Next time I make one, I’ll take more pictures than just the finished result! (I was nervous about this, so I didn’t take pictures along the way in case it didn’t work out. Silly Z.)

Tools:

Elastic bobbin thread
Regular thread for top thread (use a matching color or contrast for your fabric)
Scissors
Ruler/measuring tape
Iron
1 yard cotton fabric

1. Fold the material in half, selvages on bottom, cut (and now frayed from the washing process) portions on the sides. Cut 28 1/2″ long, and then cut along the fold at the top. Since most fabric is about 45″ wide, this leaves you with 2 rectangles about 28 1/2″ long by 22 1/2″ wide.

2. Press a 1/2″ seam along the bottom, folding twice for a nice hem. NOTE: I left the selvages on, so the selvage ended up being folded up into the hem.

3. Press a 1/8″ seam along the top, folding twice for the top hem.

4. Sew both top and bottom hems on both pieces of fabric.

5. With fabric right sides together, sew along the sides, allowing about a 1/2″ seam. You should now have a nice tube about 55″ in circumference.

6. Wind an empty bobbin with elastic thread and load the bobbin.

7. Starting about 1/8″ from the top hem seam, start sewing on the right side of the fabric, so that the elastic stays on the wrong side of the fabric. (I did this wrong for my first line of stitching.) I secured each line of stitching with a little backstitching; keeping the elastic thread on the inside of the skirt makes for a cleaner look on the outside. Go all the way around the skirt.

8. Stitch another line about 1/4″ from the first, securing at the end of each line. Continue stitching until you’ve completed 8 lines.

9. If desired, press the stitched area. This will shrink the stitching just a little more.

10. Wear your new skirt!

I saw a pattern for a robot quilt a few weeks ago that caught my attention. That pattern ended up being my inspiration for this quilt. (Note: This is my very first major quilt project. I’ve made a lap quilt, a couple of wall hangings, and a pieced table runner, but never a big quilt. Until now, that is!)

For this quilt, I decided to create a pattern that would allow the robots and rockets to be mostly pieced, rather than appliqued like the pattern I’d seen online. For a queen size quilt, there are 6 robot blocks and 6 rockets. The completed blocks ended up roughly 20 inches square.

Some Basics

For quilting novices, let me explain a few basic concepts.

1. Piecing refers to sewing pieces of fabric together to make the front of a quilt (top layer).
2. Batting is the stuff that goes in the middle of a quilt. It comes in different varieties – thick, thin, cotton, cotton/polyester blend, polyester, fusible (meaning it can stick to your fabric using heat), white, or natural.
3. Backing is the back of a quilt. Sometimes it is also stitched together (pieced), or extra-wide fabric can be purchased for this purpose (most fabric, especially quilting fabric, is 45 inches wide; extra-wide fabric can go up to 108 inches wide).
4. Quilt are either quilted or tied. This is the process of doing something to keep the top, batting, and backing together. Most quilts purchased in stores are quilted by machine, or, machine-quilted. This is simply using a very large sewing machine to sew designs onto the quilt. (Sounds easy, but it’s not quite as easy as it sounds. It’s definitely fun, though!)

The Robots

Each robot is constructed using the following:

Head: 4.5″ x 4.5″
Body: 8.5″ x 6.5″
Arms: 2.5″ x 4.5″
Legs: 2.5″ x 4.5″
Feet: 2.5″ x 2.5″

White fabric:

Head: 2, 4.5″ x 4.5″ squares
Feet: 2.5″ x 2.5″ square per foot
Arms: 2, 2.5″ x 6.5″ strips
2.5″ x 20.5″ strip for top of block
2, 4.5″ x 14.5″ strips for each side
4.5″ x 20.5″ strip for bottom of block

Misc. colored pieces were used for decorating the robots. I sewed the decorations onto each piece (head, body) first, then assembled the robots.

One robot in pieces.

To assemble:

1. Sew feet to 2.5″ white squares.
2. Sew foot strips to legs.
3. Sew legs together.
4. Sew legs to body at base.
5. Sew arms to 2.5″ x 6.5″ white strips.
6. Sew arms to body+legs piece.
7. Sew one 4.5″ square to each side of the face.
8. Sew the head to the rest of the body.
9. Sew one 4.5″ x 14.5″ strip to each side of the robot.
10. Sew the 2.5″ x 20.5″ strip to the top.
11. Sew the 4.5″ x 20.5″ strip to the bottom.

(Note: all seams are 1/4″ seams and are pressed between each step.)

Completed robot before the top, sides, and bottom were sewn on to make the full 20″ block.

I had fun mixing colors for each robot!

The Rockets

Each rocket was made using:

Nose: 8.5″ x 4.5″
Body: 8.5″ x 10.5″
Fins: 2.5″ x 4.5″

White fabric:

2, 4.5″ squares for the nose
2, 2.5″ squares for the fins
2.5″ x 8.5″ strip for the bottom of the rocket, between the fins
2, 2.5″ x 12.5″ strips for the sides of the rocket, attached to the fins
2, 2.5″ x 20.5″ strip for the top and bottom
2, 4.5″ x 16.5″ strip for the sides

Misc. color pieces were used for embellishing the rockets. Just like the robots, I sewed these on the rocket bodies before assembling the rocket blocks.

To assemble the rockets:

1. Sew one 2.5″ square to each fin along the diagonal. Cut 1/4″ away from the sew line and press open. Be sure to sew on opposite diagonals for each fin, so that the white triangle opens to opposite sides for each fin.
2. Sew the 2.5″ x 12.5″ strips to the fin pieces, attaching at the top of the white triangle on each fin.
3. Sew the 2.5″ x 8.5″ strip to the body.
4. Sew the 4.5″ squares to the nose on the diagonal, so that there will be a point to the nose when the pieces are opened. Trim 1/4″ away from the stitch line and press open.
5. Sew the body to the nose.
6. Sew the fin strips to the body + nose, one on each side.
7. Sew the 4.5″ x 16.5″ strips to the sides.
8. Sew the 2.5″ x 20.5″ strips to the top and bottom to complete the block.

Doesn’t look very rockety, does it?

I just folded the fins and nose along the stitching line.
Voila – rocket!

A couple of finished rockets before adding the extra white fabric to make the 20″ blocks.

I just loved the way these turned out!

Z's World

The story of a sailboat navigating the ocean.

Monthly Archives: April 2012

Tutorial: The 1-yard Skirt