I've had the skirt of
this dress in my head for a while now. It's simple, too. Three pleats in the front and three in back.
So for Easter I drafted up a pattern for the skirt and I thought I'd share the tutorial with you.
The skirt itself is really simple, pretty much straight lines.
I used
this fabric from Kollabora. I love the tie dye, mottled look of it. It's a cotton twill, perfect for heavy projects. It may be a bit stiff for this kind of skirt, but I couldn't help myself. I will be making some pants for Felix out of this and I think those will be perfect.
This was my second invisible zip insertion and it went even better in this than the last. Probably because this fabric is much more responsive than chiffon. Perhaps? I then thought how I could make it out of jersey. And I love my jersey version, too.
I made it out of a stripe jersey, it's soft and wears totally different. This was easier to sew up as I didn't have to work with any fasteners because of the amount of stretch.
It's still pretty cold around my neck of the woods, so I'm not about to wear shorter skirts without stockings any time soon. But I couldn't help myself. I'm just itching for warm weather!
Click the read more button for the full tutorial.
First Outfit Details:
- top: H&M
- belt: thrifted
- skirt: handmade
- shoes: thrifted
- earrings: etsy
Second Outfit Details:
- top: handmade
- skirt: handmade
- shoes: thrifted
- bracelet: handmade
Oh! And lookie, I just found a skirt you can purchase that's very similar, but much less expensive than the Kate Spade dress version. Check out the
awning stripe pleated skirt.
You'll need:
- ruler
- pencil
- butcher paper
- 2 yards fabric
- invisible zipper
- clasp
- sewing machine
Get your measurements. Use the above chart for those measurements and chart them out on a large sheet of paper.
All seam allowances are 5/8 inches.
Find the center. This is the center point of your middle pleat. Measure 3 inches to either side. Then measure a 4 inch (or if you have a really tiny waist, 2-3 inch) gap on either side and mark out the next bank of pleats. Bring the pleat edges to the centers. Center the excess behind the sewn pleat.
This is what it will look like when those pleats are sewn and pressed.
Sew one side, right sides together.
Cut your waist band at 5 inches tall and 1 1/4 inch wider than your waist measurement (2 seam allowances). Fold the seam allowances in and fold the waistband in half lengthwise.
Sew right sides together.
Add your zipper (I just used zipper insertion instructions).
Sew right sides together of your skirt and add the clasp at the top of the waist.
Hem your skirt with a rolled hem. Fini!
NOTE: If you're using a stretchy knit (40-60% stretch). . . Before you add the waistband, sew both sides of the skirt together. Then sew the waistband together (use a negative 1 inch seam allowance here). Then pin the waistband to the skirt (right sides together). You'll have to stretch the waistband a bit as you sew. Then finish the garment with hems.
This tutorial is free for personal use only.
Blue twill fabric was provided by Kollabora.com.
Nagging in the back of my mind, I've had an idea for a tasty cake. Not knowing it would work out, I decided to give it a try. Divine is the only word that comes to mind.
Coffee cake batter + the best berry jam I could find at the grocery store + lemon zest frosting = the perfect blend of tart, sweet and mellow.
Currently, I'm a little tired of all the cupcake/dessert places that make "the most amazing insert dessert here" that are all coma-inducing sweet with no substantial flavor. Maybe this explains why the whole "put bacon on it" is a thing? Which, by the way, is totally delicious. I love the bacon maple doughnut place just down the street from me.
Using my tried and true coffee cake recipe for the cake part added a neutral base for the flavored frosting and jam. And this frosting is tart and sweet. Had I made a lemon cake, it would've been completely overboard. The other nice thing about making coffee cake as a base: it's a known quantity. I've made that recipe hundreds of times so I know it works. And it works well in cake form.
I spread a jam between the two cake layers (I didn't have time to make my own - so I bought the fanciest stuff we could find). It was a blueberry blackberry blend, which pairs deliciously with lemon. The lemon frosting is my mom's melting moments frosting recipe multiplied by 2 and a half. YES. I wanted to make sure I had enough to cover the whole cake. And I had just a little bit left over.
Below is the whole franken-recipe put together for your convenience, should you ever choose to make this. And you should.
See the drawing above, the girl on the lower right? Penelope wants me to make me a dress with see-through sleeves and a button down front. Who is this girl? The next big designer.
And I need that dress in my closet.
She also made this rad creature. The ears all over her head are awesome.
And speaking of ears, we're up to our ears in all of her awesome artwork. The dilemma we're having is what to keep, how to keep it and how to clean out the extra art without hurting her feelings.
Right now we call her stash place (a flat storage drawer in my studio) her collection. We have her put her completed art projects in her collection and then we'll typically sort it all out from there. A few pieces (like Penelope's monster above) goes straight in a frame. Goodness I love this girl's style.
I started teaching Penelope how to use my dip pen (top left). I love seeing her experiment with holding the pen different ways. It's hard to see her scratch and pull the nib on the page, but she's so willing to learn and I'm more than happy to teach her.
It's a few days past her birthday, but I still plan on turning one of our utility closets into a special studio for her. I can't wait to see that excitement on her face.
The fit turned out practically identical, but it was a bit loose to begin with. I quickly zipped around the sides to get a better fit. Admittedly, I wasn't too nice when he commented about how tight the new fit was.
Of course if Penelope were to complain I wouldn't have been nearly as offended. If I didn't know better, I would assume I was pregnant. Chris lovingly deals with a lot of my emotions, he should at least get a nice tee shirt out of it.
I used paper thin leather on the shoulders as a fun detail. I didn't want to go to all of the work to make just a plain tee. I love what the leather patches do.
Drafting and sewing took about 3 hours for this shirt. I'm sure another shirt would take less time. The fabric used is a waffle thermal knit in olive I scored on a fabric destash. I got about 3 yards of fabric and used about a yard and a half, so I have just enough for a few tees for the kiddos. I think Felix needs a hoodie out of this knit. It's super soft!
I feel pretty proud of myself for making something manly for my man. I now have a pattern I can use to make more of these tees for him. Maybe a V-neck pocket tee is in his future.
And to celebrate Mother's day, I'm doing a giveaway. Not of a kit, but a hand-lettered card set. 10 hand lettered cards on black with an assortment of white, black and teal envelopes.
The 10 lettered cards say:
In our San Francisco living days we went to an awesome, tiny pizza-by-the-slice place (can't remember what it was called, but it was somewhere near Market) that sold the most delicious potato pizza. Penelope was about 6-7 months at that time, Chris kept feeding her whole cloves off the pizza despite my nagging to stop. She loved them. I hated that diaper the next day.
The next best thing to that potato pizza in SF is in Provo (I go every time I get the chance) at Slab. But I can't always go there when I'm craving a tasty slice. So I tried to duplicate it. I think I got close. You should give it a try.
Potato Pizza Recipe
I'm participating in tomorrow's SLC Pop-Up Shop in Downtown Salt Lake! I'll be there with so many great artists and crafters, I can't wait!
I'll be there with 40 calligraphy kits, and my pens and inks! You can purchase a kit with the accompanying 
I'll be available to hand write little things like above on the kit as well. Cash and credit card are accepted.
Here's a preview of what the kit includes:
Gift it to a mother this Mother's day or for yourself! I hope to see you at the Pop-Up Shop this weekend!
Miss out on the pop up shop? You can order your 
So I made a circle skirt. I scored this fabric at the fabric swap a few weeks ago. It's a light-weight rayon jersey. I wasn't too terribly excited about the pattern, but I loved the feel and stretch of the knit. But as I looked at it more, I fell in love with it. It's got little stripes of blue, white, tan and teal that make it quite easy to style with my wardrobe.
I keep thinking, I need an awesome oxford/chambray shirt to style with this. Now I ask you, where have you found such shirts? I'm looking for something very light weight. Any good recommendations?
I based the pattern off of 
I drafted the pattern as a simple circle skirt, but then opted to do a high-low as I realized how much fabric was left. I sort of winged the measurements along the bottom, so I ended up cutting it twice to get the hem more even. Lesson learned for next time: don't eyeball a hem.
As for sewing the hem itself, I serged along the bottom with a slightly rolled serged hem. This took very little effort on my part. And considering the time saved on that hem alone - the serger just paid for itself. 
Outfit Details:
Yes, make an awesome, hip, trendy, amazing wrap bracelet in a matter of seconds.
Find the skinniest skinny belt in your closet.
Wrap it around your wrist a ton of times.
Fasten.
Mind blown? I sure hope so. The gold belt above I scored as part of a sweater set at H&M. I made the hot pink one from leather cording and a lever-back clasp.
I measured the leather cording to my waist and glued the leather into the end cups. Each wrap took 2 minutes to make and an hour for the glue to dry. So I can wear these as itty bitty skinny belts or multi-wrap bracelets. I like these as bracelets as they're flexible, comfortable and don't get in the way.
Outfit details:
This recipe is from the 
I've had the idea of this skirt in my head for some time. I was going to make it a gathered skirt with a jersey underneath, but 
The pink color is my absolute favorite. So soft and romantic.
I used the same template as I used in my 
I added extra width in the waistband so I could attach a button (I'm getting much better at sewing button holes!) for the final enclosure. I didn't have a matching invisible zipper on hand, so I used a regular one. This just so happened to match perfectly.
I love the way this skirt flows. It's my new favorite!
Outfit details:
Did I tell you how proud of these women I am??
Alice now does custom 
Emily was using her awesome handwriting to address envelopes before. Now she's adding more panache with the thicks and thins of the pointed pen. See her 
Katherine 
Lindsay 
Some great friends of ours gave this sweatshirt to Chris. It's AMAZING. I love the geometric shape. Chris got some use out of it, then he started working out and gained a bunch of weight. The man is a beast, so I stole this from him.
It's pretty big on me. Mostly the pits and upper arms are the biggest. It's also too long in the sleeves.
So, I grabbed my favorite sweater and used it as a template for taking in the sides and shortening the sleeves. Once I pinned and marked the sides, it was a 20 minute fix. It made all the difference in the world.
I'm pretty stoked about this new sweater, the geometric lines are amazing.
Outfit details:
If you just so happen to be in a place that's warmer than 30 degrees (f) today, you should try this recipe out. It was sort of an experiment loosely based around this about.com 
I've had a few people ask via instagram and facebook if I would share my "recipe" for cooking asparagus.
I was introduced to the wonderful world of roasted vegetables when we lived in California and a woman from church taught us the best methods for cooking vegetables. Roasting is wonderful, it breaks down the sugars and brings out the sweetness and flavor in any vegetable. BUT. . . it's a pain to heat up your oven in the warmer months and it generally takes about 30-50 minutes to oven roast. Here's how you can do it all on the stove top in 5 minutes.
Cut your asparagus in thirds. Discard the bottom third (this is the most fibrous and bitter part of the veggie) and cut the middle in half lengthwise. Leave the top as is.
One bunch of asparagus is enough to feed about 4 people.
Heat a large pan to high heat. Since you're blackening these veggies, you cook them high and fast. You want to use an oil or fat that can withstand high heat. For natural oils, go with peanut or olive. Cooking sprays worked well, too.
Use a generous teaspoon of oil and spread over the pan.
Once pan is hot, reduce to medium high and add vegetables. I add half a bunch at a time, you want to make sure there's enough room in the pan for the veggies to get seared by the bottom of the pan. You'll want to have a lid ready, because it'll sizzle. A LOT.
Cover your pan for 5 minutes, turning the vegetables every minute or so. Season and serve.
Fun ways to eat asparagus:
I loved every bite of the above sandwich. It tasted like spring. I'm really craving spring right now, we've been stuck in a rain cloud the last couple days.
And I bet you have most of these supplies already on hand!
I had planned on making easter coordinating outfits for everyone, but I only got around to items for Penelope and Me. I still want to do for Chris and Felix what I had originally planned, it just may take a few more weeks. I'll be sure to share those with you when I'm done. We still managed to match perfectly for our photo!
We call this the Gene Simmons tongue. Felix does this regularly. Also, do you see the buttons on the back of Penelope's dress? Those are my first button holes. First ones with my current machine (it's been about 5 years since I've tried). I'm pretty proud of how they turned out. Having a nice new machine with automatic button holes makes a huge difference.
Getting these pictures for the family was a bit stressful - when are family photos not stressful? - but we got them. The photos aren't magazine perfect, but the most important thing was that we got together and took a picture. Last time we had our family photo taken was nearly a year and a half ago! I keep thinking to myself that we should do this more often, I do have this photo corner permanently set up.
I love this shot of Penelope. She was so excited to find her Easter basket and this was about the expression on her face when I showed her her dress and my matching skirt. She always knows when to make me feel appreciated.
At the same time, she's in this phase where she likes to manipulate Chris and me with her love (or in my case, the lack of). I'll take any of these sweet moments I can.
Felix is still not walking or talking, but we may have figured out the cause of his developmental delays. I don't want to get my hopes up, but it feels right. We will be visiting a specialist in a week and a half to find out for sure what's going on.
He's still so affectionate and cuddly at 25 months, I'm not sure what I'll do with myself if he ever grows out of it.
Penelope and Felix are getting along much better now. Now that the weather is nice they ride outside together; Penelope on her bike and Felix on his fire truck. It's so rewarding to see them interact nicely together.
I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend! And happy April Fool's (sorry no