Good Saturday morning to you! Good
early morning...it's pitch black outside, my favorite Christmas piano CD is playing softly and I've turned on the Christmas tree lights, aaaand nobody is
bugging me up just yet. (Well, one is up but at least he is semi-quietly reading in his room. Sigh.)
A couple of weeks ago I began wondering what cute holiday-inspired outfit I could make for Isabelle this year, and I finally decided on a festive appliqued shirt and embellished jeans. Poor girl is in that in-between size, where the pants are a little too short and they hang a little too low on the backside, but the girth fits perfectly, where the bigger size seems to swim around her waist. I tell you this because my practical-minded self figured it wouldn't be that big a deal if I completely messed up and ended up tossing or recycling the jeans since she has a few pairs that fall in this sort-of-awkward bracket.
Since I've just spent an entire paragraph on jeans, let's start there. This is easy peasy!
First up, trim the hem. The larger the ruffle, the more material you'll snip away.
Next, decide on the size of the ruffle. Cut a rectangle (mine was about twice the width of the pant leg and 8 inches), sew the narrow ends Right Sides Together, press open, and then press entire ruffle in half (Wrong Sides Together).
Typically I gather ruffles on the machine by turning the stitch/tension settings as high as they go...but things were slightly askew on the day, and that is the only pitiful ruffling the machine did for me. Who knows? No big deal- simply line up the ruffle seam to the pant leg inner seam and then distribute ruffle evenly.
Notice that you're pinning to the wrong side/ inside of the pant leg. Stitch along entire opening, adjusting gathers as necessary.
Now we'll add the ribbon trim. Starting at the "bump" by the seam, lay the ribbon flat over the layers (
jeans and ruffle facing left), extending the end of the ribbon beyond the seam. It also gives you a more stable starting position since you aren't stitching right onto that bump. Stitch as closely to the edge of the ribbon as you're able to.
When you get near the end, take a moment to figure out how much ribbon you'll need- with the needle in the down position in the fabric, pull the ribbon towards you-
it needs to be long enough to be turned under at the seam. Cut the ribbon after determining the right length, fold under, and stitch in place.
Sewing the ruffle on this way gives you a perfectly neat inside as well as eliminates the tricky bulkiness that results when sewing with denim.
Now for the shirt...
There were so many cute ideas floating around Pinterest, and I had it narrowed down to a reindeer or this JOY, using the "O" as an ornament, which ultimately won out. (I made an easy reindeer barrette
here.)
I used an iron-on bonding agent for the letters- follow the directions and you'll be good to go. One hint: I draw my shapes on the rough edge of the adhesive paper before ironing in because they'll be backwards otherwise.
Determine the placement of the letters on the shirt, then iron them on. Because of the bonding, you don't have to edge-stitch, but I chose to because I like how it looks. I made a small bow and stitched it in place over the ornament "O" - so cute!
Someone wanted Santa to meet her new birthday friends! =)
Sorry for the blurry photos- she was pretty jumpy/bouncy, and since our days are now dark by 4 pm....
Santa told Isabelle how special her Mommy must be to make her special clothes like this. Aww, Santa! He was a total sweetheart- we all just loved him!
sharing with:
Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom
