Patchwork skirt

Recently we were given a bag of fabric scraps.  Beth wanted to make a skirt or dress from some of the browns but there wasn't enough of any one color and it had odd angles. Finally, I had an idea of making patches and sewing them together.  

First, I cut rectangles 7"x11"  (Next, time I think I'll do 7"x10")

Then I pinned the patches together.

 Next, I let Beth and Hannah sew them.  This was great practice for them.  It is a short straight line.  They enjoyed it, and I saw an improvement in their ability to sew straight.

 

 After they finished sewing, I serged all the edges.

  Instead of doing gathering stitches, I put in little tucks semi-evenlly around the skirt.

 To finish it, I hemmed the bottom, and made a casing for 1" inch elastic.

 I have a large safety pin that I use for pulling the elastic through the casing.

 

The finished product!!!!

 

This was a fun project and Hannah is already planning to make a similar skirt with blue material.  Have you ever done a similar project?  What do you do with leftover material?  I'd love to hear your ideas.  Please let me know in the comments.

PS. To see more of what we are creating, please visit CreatedByOurClan on etsy.

Creative evenings

I have been using my long evenings to start creating things again.  I know I've been spending too much time on gadgets. I find that when I put the gadgets away and sew, crochet, or some other craft I am having more conversations with my husband and children. This past week I even played games and crocheted at the same time. 

I love the challenge of creating something new and different, especially from the jeans that my boys keep wearing the knees out.  Hannah even wants to sew along with me.  Beth loves to use her knitting looms and create baby doll stuff.  Abby is a wonderful artist and is constantly drawing instead of doing her schoolwork.

I opened an Etsy shop to hopefully sell some of the things I create.  I don't like to hang onto every thing I make.  It would be too overwhelming.  We also could use some extra income to help pay bills.

My husband's work has slowed down so much that he frequently doesn't even get 40 hrs a week.  We have our house on the market, but we have mixed feelings about moving.  One day I want to move, have new friends, new home, and new adventures.  Then the next day I see everything I love about where we are now and I really hate the idea of moving. 

Any ideas or tips about selling on Etsy would be appreciated.  Also I'm open to other legitimate work at home ideas. I am an introvert so marketing/selling things is not appealing at all.

I'm back

Well, maybe I'm back.  I haven't done anything with my blog for over two years. We'll see how it goes.  With homeschooling, mothering, cooking, cleaning, ect., I'm not making any promises.  My newest venture is trying to sell on Etsy.  I love all kinds of crafts, but stopped doing them because it was creating a lot of clutter.  I struggle with clutter.  We probably all struggle with it.  I know that the more clutter I have the more stressed I become.  I'm hoping to turn what I love into something profitable.

I feel like I need to relearn how to blog.

What kind of posts would you, my readers, like for me to write?

Sewing a new skirt

Friday I had a yard sale so in between costumers I worked on some of my sewing projects. Most have been setting for months, even years, waiting for me to find time and motivation to work through the pile. After a few repairs I picked up a project for Abby. I was given a skirt for her that was too short. The top was denim and the bottom was camouflage. I am not fond of camouflage on girls, so I cut that part off. I had some left over material from other projects – I have a hard time throwing out material. I took the left over material and cut rectangular pieces out of it, gathered it and sewed it on the denim part of the skirt. Abby is so happy because it comes down to her feet, and I’m happy because I got rid of some left over fabric.