The Hills Are Alive!

My favorite movie of all time is "The Sound of Music."



You don't even want to know how many times I've seen that movie. I still love it as much now as I did as a little kid-- I still think Julie Andrews is the best singer in the world, the song "Edelweiss" still makes me cry, and Captain Von Trapp is still the most handsome movie character ever. So when I see fabric that reminds me of something Maria would wear, how can I pass it up?  This floral voile is SO "Sound of Music":

Surely Maria Von Trapp would have worn a skirt or dress made from this material!

I decided to make a bubble skirt for myself. I love the poofy, gathered look of a bubble skirt, and it is something different than the plethera of straight or a-line skirts hanging in my closet.  For me, comfort is key, so I cut the bottom band off a pilled t-shirt and used it for a fold over waistband.

Since the fabric is pretty thin and I'd prefer to not have a Princess-Diana-see-through-skirt moment, I used two layers of fabric for the skirt and gathered the top of both layers. I then attached them to the band.  To make the bubbled bottom, I simply trimmed the underskirt shorter than the top layer, gathered the bottom hem of the top layer, and folded the top layer under and sewed it to the underskirt.  And voila-- a Sound of Music bubble skirt!  Bet there has never been one of those in existence before!





Here Comes the Sun!

On Saturday, we had our first spring-like day here in Seattle. It wasn't all that warm-- the high was probably in the upper 50's-- but the SUN was out! It was quite entertaining to drive around and watch Seattleites venture outside. I saw one couple walk out of their front door, squinting their eyes, holding their hands and faces up to the sun, as if to say, "Welcome back! It's been a long time, and we've missed you!" The sun definitely inspired me to sew something spring-y, and I was feeling very spur-of-the-moment today, so I decided to just make something up rather than use a pattern. A bit scary for a new sewer to attempt such a feat, but I had a vision in my head and wanted to attempt to make it come to fruition.

It seems to me that high waistlines are back in style, whether it's the waistline of a pair of pants or a skirt. I had some cheerful Spring fabric
I've been wanting to use, so I decided to make Harper a high-waisted wrap
skirt. I know that it seems like I make quite a bit for Harper... I promise that I'm not neglecting my other 2 children. She just happens to be the
most cooperative lately about trying garments on and modeling them for my blog! Georgia has a recent aversion to cameras and Mason is usually busy inventing something in his bedroom. So, ta-da--a Spring skirt for my Harper!

Here is the fabric:

I made a waistband first out of the flowery material. I then gathered both the striped material and the bicycle material while they were layered on top of each other. It may appear in the photos like the materials of the skirt are bands sewn together, but the bicycle material is actually an overskirt for the striped material. I love the prints of quilting cotton, but it can be pretty thin, especially for a light-colored skirt--hence my reason for double skirting! I love how it looks with her white shirt tucked in-- and my favorite part, which I failed to take a close-up of, is the 4 vintage lemon yellow buttons that hold the skirt together at the side. Harper wants to wear this to school tomorrow, but I better check the forecast... it might have to wait for a warm and sunny day!