City Lights, Suburban Clouds: Little Lizard King

I sure waited until the last minute to sew up this Halloween version of the Little Lizard King circle skirt, City Lights.  I kept reminding myself, kept putting it off, thinking the tulle would torture me.  I bought the fabric a few weeks ago, and YIKES, Halloween is in 5 days, and I finished the dress only last night.  It is super cute, though.

Clearly, this is a pretty basic circle skirt pattern, and there is a sash option that I didn't include, though part of me was sad at the last LAST minute about not doing so.  Then I got over it, aha.  It was late.  I know people can do the math and magically make a circle skirt, but I'm lazy and get weird about figuring things out on my own. 

Camden has been desperate for more sparkly/metallic in her life, so, I doubled it up - combining some glittery tulle from Joann Fabrics and some Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Metallic Rainbow from Modern Domestic.  It's a great combination, though the metallic doesn't really come across in photos.  The metallic also doesn't include any purple, but it all works out well enough.

I could have gone with tulle UNDER the skirt, but the whole idea was something sheer swishing about over the solid layer.  I wasn't sure whether or not to hem the tulle, but I did - and was bummed I didn't have matching thread, somehow.  I wanted the colors of the skirt to pop, not the threads.  It works, and nobody will care, but I do, naturally.

The front waistband is flat, and the back is elasticized, which I always like, though I definitely waisted a couple inches of elastic, because I was sewing late and wasn't able to test the fit on Camden until this morning.

The directions for the pattern seem great, though I mostly just sewed it up without using them, which is probably par for the course for anyone sewing this pattern.  I printed out the size 8 and 9/10, though I ended up cutting the larger size...and I wish I had bothered to lengthen it, for no real reason, of course - just to make it last longer.

Camden super loves it and showed a friend today how well it twirls, though I guarantee the one twirling photo I am including is awful, aha! 

More fun we have been having!

Writing post cards at the fort

Working on Tiberius's Captain America costume

Twice the Fun! Oliver and S Roller Skate Dress

One thing I gotta say about this pattern - insanely easy and quick - and only TWO pattern pieces, if you really want to save time.  (Well, okay, that's more thank one thing.)

Last time I made this, I went semi-fancy (just go with it) and used my Heather Ross Dream Bikes (find it on eBay) fabric and added the neck trim.

Late Spring/Early Summer 2013

This time, I knew I just wanted to sort of get 'er done, so to speak.  I wanted some new duds for Camden, I wanted to use stash fabric - and I just wanted to be quick about it, honestly.  As for the neck trim pieces, I couldn't decide on anything that looked great with the main fabrics, so, that was that.

She needed brown bunny, pink bunny and leperly....ummm....

So, hey - cute AND simple.  Not a deal-breaker, right?  And funnily enough, Camden wanted to wear each one all day when she found them hanging on her doorknob :)  Works for me.

I was super happy to use the pink deer fabric I'd bought a LONG time ago, it seems...I'd had only a yard and had never know what to do with it.  But SCORE upon remembering/realizing I could make an Oliver and S Roller Skate Dress with ONE yard of fabric!  I did have to buy some shot cotton to line it - which was nice, as it was on sale at Bolt in Portland when I visited recently.  I am also not really into the bow detail that can be added, so, it's a pretty plain Jane result, other than the fun fabric and the cute kid, aha!  (And P.S.  It was NOT warm out during any of these pictures.)

Camden then informed me she needed the tunic version of this pattern, so, we went through my stash - and found enough yardage of this print I'd used before:

Well, ALMOST enough.  I thought I had enough for a full dress, but sad times when I cut the front pattern piece and then realized that when I folded for the second pattern piece, I did NOT have enough to cut it - not enough by a mere half-inch of so.  I guess I could have brought in the sides of the dress, but whatever.  I'm glad I cut the main fabric first, as opposed to the lining.  And I like the result as a top...which works out, as she wanted a top, anyway ;)  Anyway, I had on hand some green shot cotton - one of my favorite fabrics to use as a lining.

Anyway, I totally recommend the pattern - satisfyingly quick, and one day, I shall do something a bit more interesting with it, as it's a nice canvas for hand embroidery, etc.  I do have another one lined up, as Camden wants a reversible version, so, be ready for that blog post in a week or three.

For now, I leave you with some Halloween shots from 2012 up through this year....all in the same costume.  I wish I had glorious photos from this year, but whatevs.  I forgot my camera.  We had a good time at a friend's house - Lisa from Irons in the Fire hosted a wee get-together, and Camden and her friend, Elora, ran around like crazy, while I sampled strawberry after banana after strawberry, dipped in chocolate :)

2012, when I first made the costume

2013.....LOL....rough life

2014, getting ready

2014....pirate with glow sticks and velcro shoes

Four Skirts in TWO??? Oliver and S Hula Hoop Skirts!

Dudes.  BEST Christmas go-to gift EVER.  Y'all need to give this skirt a whirl - literally and figuratively.  What skirt, you say???  Why, my friends, the Oliver and S Hula Hoop skirt.  I'd purchased this pdf (You CAN'T be serious, Autumn, you don't buy THOSE!  I KNOW, right?!) a while back, because the look of the skirt did interest me, but I hadn't gotten around to it.

Then tragedy struck.  Tragedy of the first-world problems NO SWEDISH TRACING PAPER kind.  I realized, as I grabbed my roll of tracing paper a couple weeks ago, that there was not nearly enough on the roll to make the Oliver and S School Photo Dress I'd been planning to sew (worry not, for the fabric is still sitting at the end of my ironing board).  I refused to buy it on Amazon, as I like to support my peeps up at Modern Domestic - but that meant I would have to wait until nearly the end of October.  Sad times.

So, I did the only thing a girl CAN do.  I turned to my pdf patterns.  I let the girls over at That's What She Crafted and Irons in the Fire what I was about to do, and they couldn't believe their ears (or eyes, as it were), aha!

I'm soooo glad I made the decision to go with this pattern.  It is insanely easy (even if you're like ME and do ridiculous things with the easiest patterns, which then involve seam ripping, clearly), and after one, it's easy to pump out several - which I have :O  Two, however, are for Camden.  As always, I will excuse away the photo quality....but trust that they're cute, and Camden loves them and has been complemented several times while we've been out and about :)

I don't have much to say about the pattern itself.  I think there might have been a step or two that I thought were unnecessary, so, I didn't do them (I was maybe supposed to baste the top edge of the waistband before I folded it, but that seemed like a silly waste of thread).  Other than that, though, the pattern goes together super fast, and if you cut out a few at once, you can whip through these suckers.  Plus, people...HOLLA!!!  It calls for a full yard of fabric for a size 4, and you totally only need 3/4 yard for each side.  Yard schmard, I say!

I love that Camden gets a skirt....but not just ONE skirt - TWO...and not just TWO - FOUR, really!  I did use stash fabric I'd already used once before, which is nice.  The Halloween fabric is from Camden's second Halloween, when I sewed a knot dress, and the bunnies (Cotorienne) are from one of her Oliver and S Sailboat sets.  So, thumbs up to me for using up fabric from my scrap bins

How was she SO young???

I definitely need the next size set - totally worth it!!!..........And stay tuned for the Christmas gift versions of this skirt!