So this week I have been slowly working on Gracie's cowgirl costume. She pretty much loves it. She is sad I wont let her wear until Halloween. She also says she is not a real cowgirl because she does not have a cowgirl hat. I will hopefully be finding one I like this week.
Here it is all finished.
I think for Halloween we will have her wear a white shirt instead of a pink.
What I Bought for this costume.
1 yard of the printed material
1/2 yard of the pink
that's it I already had the rest
Pink/white shirt
Elastic ( I actually used elastic from a skirt I made last year that was to short but still fit around the waist.)
Vest pattern
Velcro dot
Black thread (although I should have used pink)
1 yard was way more than I needed I ended up making a bag and still have about 1/4 of a yard leftover but I love have left overs.
About 2 months ago Gracie decided she wanted to be a Cowgirl. I love the idea. I was looking on Etsy for some Ideas and came across this skirt
I love it. I decided I would make it and a cute little matching Vest. It was actually hard to find the material I wanted I actually saw some a while back but when I went back it was gone.
I found this and Its pretty cute.
So the first thing you do is measure how big around the waist is and then how long you want the skirt. I wanted it just above the knee. The waist measurement was 19. You double that I just did 40 inches. The waist to knee was 10 inches (I believe) I take notes but they are all the way in the room next door. I added 1.5 inches to that for the top hem. For this skirt I don't need to add a bottom hem since I will be making some Bias tape out of the alternate material. I cant seem to find that link now but I read somewhere for this skirt it was about 3 inches hanging out the bottom of the skirt. So I cut the bottom (solid pink) 11.5 inches by 40 inches then the top (printed) 8.5 inches by 40 inches. Then of each material I cut one piece 2 by 40 inches. This will be the Bias tape. I like to use french seams they look nicer to me and they aren't that difficult so I figure why not. If you do use them I will add a extra inch to my measurements. This particular skirt it does not matter since it will be gathered up so much. For the french seams you sew it wrong sides together first
Like so.
I normally sew with the foot right at the edge of the material. Then you flip the material inside out. Its completely up to you where you iron it at this point. Sometimes I do sometimes I don't. then you sew. Making sure that while you are sewing you are not catching any underneath material.
Then you sew. Making sure that while you are sewing you are not catching any underneath material.
From the back it should look like this
and this from the front.
I hope that makes sense its kinda hard to explain.
I did that with both the top and bottom piece. Next I mad the Bias tape. I took the 2 by 40 piece and ironed it in half
Then opened it up like so.
Then folded the ends into the middle
It looked something like this. I ironed it down.
then I folded it in half and Ironed it again. I should look like this now. The Bias tape is finished. Time to attach it to the skirt.
Fold over the edge like so.
Line it up so that the edge of the material meets the creased edge of the Bias tape. Then sew all the way around and Fold over the edge again before sewing down the edge.
It should look like this now.
I know you are thinking if I cut the main skirt piece and the bias tape the same length then when I fold the edges over it will make the bias tape to short. It wont since you put the seam in the skirt and not in the Bias Tape. Do that with both the top and bottom piece. So remember I read that it should be about 3 inches hanging out of the bottom piece well I did not like the way it looked. I thought it was to much and made the top look way to short. So instead of cutting more material, I did it the hard way. I will explain I how I did it and the way I will do it next time. The way I did it was I put a small hem in the top of the bottom piece (pink)
Its about 1/4 of an inch. then I folded it over again and sewed it for the elastic. This fold was about a inch. The same width as the elastic. Remember to leave a hole big enough to thread the elastic. Next time I will just keep the top and bottom piece together. Sewing The hem hem and the space for the elastic onto both top and bottom pieces. Back to the way I actually did it. I pinned the top piece to the bottom piece. Right over the top where you See the stitch from the elastic hole. Try to get as close to the stitch as possible. Don't go to high over it or your elastic wont fit in.
This is what it looked like once I got it all pinned. I sewed it down. I left the hole from before ( where the elastic will go in.) Then I added the elastic. Using a safety pin to hold the elastic as I threaded it through he material. I sewed the elastic. Make sure you don't have any kinks in the elastic. Also when I sew the elastic together I don't use a back stitch it always seems to mess up my sewing machine I do sew in the pattern of a X. I sewed up the hole. Now all I have left is the cinched up part. I took a piece of material it was about 2 by 2. I sewed it in half. Then I flipped it right side out and ironed it. I took one end of it and put it underneath where I wanted the cinch to be and then bunched up the material and folded it over and sewed it down.
It looked like this. I was not a huge fan of the way it looked.
So using a thread and needle I hand stitched it to look like this.
Its good enough for a costume but if I am going to make another one I need to find another way of doing this part. Any Ideas?
Now I am totally finished and tried it on my little cowgirl.
The back. Its so cute and I love how you can see her cute little bo-legs in this pic :)
Then I made the vest. I had a pattern that I used for this. I made my own bias tape for it and followed most of the directions for the vest.
Here is a pic of it again. I think it might be a little big but its fine for a costume.
Then I made her trick or treat bag. I cut the material 12 by 26 folded it in half and sewed it together and added straps they were about 13 by 2. I made 2 of those of course. Sewed them in with the top hem of the bag and Viola a matching bag.
Her is the only pic of the bag I have.
Well I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. I promise one day I will be good at these things. Have a happy and Safe Halloween.
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