Baby Girl Skirt

I am in love with little girl clothes...and I am not necessarily talking about lace and frills.  I am just talking about all of the possibilities to take something simple and make something oh-so-cute.  Maybe it means I am having a girl.  Maybe it is because I already have a little girl (and she loves her little girl clothes...every time I dress her she wants to show Daddy her "bootiful outfit").  Whatever it is, this is my latest creation for my girlfriend Julie's little baby girl, complete with the how-to.

For an infant skirt, you will need:

• Main fabric that will be the skirt, 1/2 yard should do it
• Trim for skirt bottom, about 45" long (I used the bottom of a knit shirt I plan on re-purposing and it was less than 45".  You want to be able to gather it a bit...)
• 10 inch piece of 1/2" elastic
• Buttons, beads or other embellishments
• Sewing machine, matching thread, etc...

1.  Cut the main fabric into 2 pieces, 6 1/2" x 15 each or one piece 6 1/2" x 30...or so (exact science, right?).  With right sides together, sew a seam down the short side(s) of your fabric, to make a tube.  Press in 1/4" inch around the top, then press in another 3/4" inch around the top to make what will be the casing for the elastic.  Press up 1/2" along the bottom to make the hem.

2.  Measure and cut the trim (I started with 1 1/2" off the bottom of the knit fabric but ended up cutting off another 1/2" because I liked the raw edge and wanted a little less length at the bottom.)  Cut a couple of additional strips bottom, about 1 inch wide, for the flowers.

3.  Baste one edge of the knit (trim) about 1/4" from the edge.  Pull the bobbin thread to gather.

4.  Adjust the gather and pin the right side of the knit to the wrong side of the main fabric bottom, lining up the top of the knit edge to the top of the main fabric's hem.

5.  Stitch 1/2" in from the top edge to make the casing for your elastic, leaving a gap to feed the elastic through.  Stitch the trim to the bottom edge.

6.  Make the knit flower rosettes.  I just took my strip of knit, gather and folded toward the center, and stitched through the middle periodically to secure the gathers.

7.  Add the buttons (or other embellishment) to the center of the flowers.  Hand-stitch the flowers to the skirt.

8.  Feed the elastic through the casing.  Overlap the ends of the elastic together slightly and stitch a couple of times across.  Sew your casing shut.  Too cute!

 As you can see, there is a headband to match...of course!  Super easy, super quick....

Cut a strip of fabric, fold wrong sides together and stitch along long, raw edge using a basting stitch.






Gather.

Roll the fabric and stitch in the center to make a large flower.

Put one of the knit rosettes in the center, add the button (or other embellishment) and stitch.







Cut a piece of elastic 13 inches long.  Overlap and stitch the ends together several times to secure.  Hand stitch the flower over the elastic stitching.  Told ya it was easy!

Of course we need a pretty package to finish it off.  You will be seeing this kind of massive tissue flower on more presents to come!  It is just too fun not to use again and again.  Get your tissue paper ready...

:)

Anne