Ruffled Skirt Option

I made this little skirt for Ells. I had seen a cute little nearly 2 year old at church in a darling, ruffled, drop waisted skirt with a cute bow that I wanted to duplicate.  This was to match a sage(ish) green sweater that I made for her last spring to go with a little summer outfit. The new skirt would extend the wearing of that sweater through the cooler months, but the skirt was to tiny for her so I had to make it a little shorter and give it to her baby sister.

It barely goes around li'l Coco, but it works and the lightweight chiffon strips that make up the underskirt, are perfect for making it pop out as she moves.

The flower that I appliqued to the little onesie had previously been cut out with my Big Shot (Sizzix) and others like it were used for a hair accessory,

so I hardly even had to plan for the easy iron on.

I then set off to make one just a little larger for the original intended target.

It turned out just as cute, and I added a different color ribbon (Katz chose the blue) for accent.

I'll quickly give some general directions for this easy skirt. Sized for a 2 y/o. Skip to next picture to avoid boredom.
Materials: 1/4 yard contrasting fabric
                 1/2 yard main fabric
                 1" elastic tape to fit around waist +2 inches.
                 1 1/2 yards ribbon for underwaist embelishment
                 approx. 10 yards 4" wide chiffon fabric

     *  Cut 7" x 27" rectangle of contrasting fabric
     * Sew right sides together on 7 inch sides leaving 1 inch open at 3 1/2 inch till 4 1/2 inch. (this is for elastic waistband insertion)
    *  Fold and press waistband circle in half with wrong sides together. Sew 1 inch down from fold for elastic casing.
    * On inside of skirt (where the waistband hole is)  gather the first row of chiffon and sew to bottom of inside waistband right sides together. A ruffling foot on your sewing machine is ideal for this step, but basting, gathering the thread, pinning and sewing works well too. I gathered about 3 times the length to the waistband.
     * Sew a second 4 inch row to the top one again gathering 3x the bottom ruffle to the straight bottom of the first. (if your waistband is 27", you should use about 81" for the first tier and 243" for the second)
     * Make 5 - 2"narrow contrasting belt loops of fabric or ribbon and sew right sides to front of waistband 1.5 " from bottom. Space 4" apart across the back of skirt, and leave open in the center front.Fold down to bottom of waistband and baste in place
     * Cut 2 - 7 inch strips of your 45" main fabric. Sew them together and gather them to the front of the waistband right sides together. (Using the ruffling/gathering foot I sewed my final seam after the gathering was finished, but if you don't have a the foot just gather 2.5 - 3 x the amount (80") sew the seams then gather and sew the one large ruffle onto the front of the skirt.
     * Finish hem seam with rolled hem foot, or turn up twice in .25 inch increments and sew for hem.
     * Draw elastic through waistband casing using safety pin to lead the way. Sew elastic to fit child's waist, then finish off original seam of waistband.
     * Draw ribbon through belt loops and tie a bow to side front.
EASY PEASY !!

When I came home yesterday, the little cuties were at my house starting a little laundry. Their mommy had them all decked out in the new little outfits.

I found this little hedgehog applique on a fun blog the other day and thought it was perfect for this outfit.

Ells likes it too.

She also likes singing "Itsey, Bitsey Spider".

At all times.