The Betsey Apron with a Ruffle

Looking for a quick and pretty sew for a hostess gift ? to pair with a cookie in a jar mix ? To pair with a kitchen gift ? For the annual 20$ gift exchange ? Work buddy gift ? 

Today the lovely Rachel is here and this one pattern, the Betsey Apron she is showing off goes from kids to plus sizes all in ONE pattern!!!!!!! Yep, ALL the sizes in one pattern!  

Please take a moment to leave Rachel a comment  at the end of the post telling her something you love about her post or pics!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello, my name is Rachel, and I am currently a stay-at-home mom. Whenever I have a spare minute, I love to sew, work on my first (and hopefully not last) novel, and write in my blog, https://mrspodge.wordpress.com.

I’m a big fan of the Betsey apron, with its classic 1950s styling and easy to follow directions. Last Christmas, I followed the directions precisely and made matching aprons for a dear friend and her daughter. They were thrilled with their gifts and love to wear them when baking together.

This Christmas, I wanted to make a couple of aprons for myself and my own daughter, Zoë, age 3 1/2. Zoë loves all things pink and purple. The flouncier, the better. I had some Sis Boom, Caravelle Arcade fabric that I was dying to use, and had enough pink and purple to please even my discriminatory daughter.

I didn’t end up having time to make one for myself, but I made a very special one for my daughter, and added a ruffle.

How to add a ruffle :

I cut a 4” X 100” strip of fabric, folded it in half, pressed it, and gathered it. I did not use the bias tape trim. Instead, I sewed the ruffle between the two sides of the reversible apron in exactly the same way one would attach a ruffle to a pillow, except that I tapered the ruffle until it disappeared at the top of the apron. I turned it inside out, and finished the rest of the apron exactly according to directions.

Showing off her Rachel Reindeer using the FREE pattern!

Zoë, in a fit of stubbornness, admired the apron, but refused to try it on for several hours. She truly believes clothing is optional, even in December. I finally persuaded her to put on some clothes and the apron, and she was absolutely delighted with it. She wanted to start baking cookies then and there!

I love the way the ruffle makes the Betsey apron even more feminine, and look forward to making one for myself soon!

Looking to make this a full body apron ? Check out THIS post

NEEEIIIGHHHHH!! Here is a how to make an animal hood for the all the rage raglan tutorial!

Costume sewing is done here!!! WAHOO!!!! I do NOT enjoy costume sewing as much as Carla does.... but the girls HAD to be horses.... So here is a quick how to change the hood cutting for making a hood mane. 

So for this get our your All the Rage Raglan and Easy Fits patterns and here is a very basic how to: 

sandwich mane in between hood pieces and sew (this was by FAR the worst part... 5 layers of fleece = yuck!)  

Then place ears in between hood front and hood main/main. a couple inches off center on both sides and sew the hood front to the hood main. Hem front of hood.

A also added a little tail to their easy fits :) 

and now they are ready to be horses! 

drop that waist and wear a tunic!

Time for a woman's tutorial!!! (Although to be honest this will work just as well with the Sisboom Leighanna :) )

So get out your Devon pattern and let's get started!

First measure yourself for how long you want your tunic to be AND where you want the casing line. 

I marked a outtie triangle for where the casing line would be so when I cut I would just know for front and back. No guessing and measuring after cutting.

Once cut, draw a nice straight line from one triangle outtie to the other.

Now I measured my elastic to be the same as my waist where I wanted the cinching to be. 

tack the elastic down at both triangle outties and then stretch and pin in the middle.

You will now sew and stretch the elastic while you sew. 

Then complete your dress! I lowered the front slit a bit and skipped the ties. 

Easy peasy and cute! Time to put on your tunic and tights and grab your pumpkin spice treat!

Ready to Learn with a Collar and Straight Shirt!

So we all know and love the original Precious Dress Pattern with it's nice full skirt!

BUT.... I wanted a nice classic top with the collar and puff sleeves like the Precious has, only straight. and perfect to put under dresses - or for school uniforms if we had that. 

AND so this leads into the latest tutorial. A nice crisp clean straight shirt with classic details!

This is sooooo easy to do as well! Everything just gets extended!! So measure you child from shoulder to where you want the hem to be! (and don't be like me and forget that belly... I had to add length to mine after the fact - hence the piping "detail")

You can do the button back as per the pattern - just extended OR you can follow these pics and add a zipper back and skip the buttons!

Mark the zipper above the metal stop (that is NOT fun to try and sew through!) The lining was cut at the natural waistline cutting line if you want an idea of zipper length.

Sew up from the bottom to just above the line.

Put a little gluestick on that zipper and pin in place. Sew the top last so don;t worry about those top ends right now.

all pinned in place and perfectly hidden

Start at the bottom and sew about 2 inches from the top on both sides and then sew across the bottom. Then you will tuck the top ends under and unzip and sew the top of the zipper.

and VOILA perfect zipper! 

and a perfectly cute and perfect back to school look!

Fabric is Sisboom Caravelle Arcade !

Perfectly Preppy Skort goes to Pants!

Now I know what you are thinking; "why should I modify the preppy bloomers into capris when I can use the easy fits pattern with ease?"

Here is the answer to that! Yes the easy fits are FAB! and great for little capri's under dresses. BUT these have the flat front of the easy fits, and are a narrower fit. 

and lucky for you - VERY easy to change up! 

If you followed the making the preppy into shorties tutorial you know about adding the top length already. But I've made a little graphic of the pattern change anyways to clear up any confusion!!

and they really are just perfect for under dresses. just peek out the bottom, but add a little modesty for play (and an extra layer for play protection ... 

So there you go, the pattern with so many options it comes in chapters just gave you TWO more reasons to pick it up!!!! Plus as you have likely noticed by now - we've lowered all the prices in our Etsy shop! 

We love you and are so thankful you keep on using our patterns and recommending them! Thank you. Really and truly - thanks!!!! 

Making the Leighanna a Drop Waist Dress

You know how some days you get an idea seeeeewwwwww awesome it just needs to happen - that was this outfit for Cheeks! 

Grab your Sisboom Leighanna pattern and sewalong for making it a drop waist skirt! 

Yep, THAT easy! and under 2yards so perfect for the August sewalong challenge!!

The Hug Life graphic is heat transfer vinyl ironed on (source prefers to remain unnamed). and the thug princess kitty is custom by StitchART free motion applique

Skirt fabric is Sisboom's Caravalle line and top fabric is from Fabricland, Canada.

Open (ish) Back with Lace Sisboom Angie. a Sort of Tutorial

Anyone else loving all the cut outs this summer? I am!

This tutorial is barely a tutorial.... Sorry about that. I meant to do a proper one....but then I had to redo 3 times to get it how I wanted and don;t have pics of the process.... So this is an Advanced tutorial for those comfortable with pattern hacking and making things work. 

You line the front and then leave the shoulder seams open for putting the back straps into the front shoulder seams.

You will do an elastic casing inside the back piece instead of sewing as per the pattern to the dress.

For the back you cut the back as shown below. I found the black lines I did below a bit wide and added in some extra white lace to cover in to the red lines.

and totally normal looking Angie in the front !

and don't forget the UFO challenge ends when July does! 

Asymmetrical Collar VIDEO tutorial for the Tobago/Tortola

This video tutorial is done in 2 parts (for rural internet uploading speed convenience...)  I hope you enjoy!

and as always we LOOOOVE to read your comments and thoughts and would love to see pics! 

Join us in the LAB

cute as a button(up tank romper) can be!!! TUTORIAL

I love rompers on my kids! So cute and easy, no finding a matching (or not matching...) top and bottom for them to wear. and very sun friendly.

Today I mashed 2 patterns together to get this tank button up romper! The bow was a last minute addition and not in the tutorial.... but I'm sure you guys can figure it out if you want it, or ask in the LAB group on Facebook! 

To complete this look you will need the Sisboom Tobago (or Tortola if you want a ladies version) and the Easy fits for kids (or adult  if doing a lady version)

CUTTING:

Cut your easy fits to the pattern. I did a 4 inch is inseam length. Really just eyeball it and better safe than sorry, easier to cut off a bit than add to it.

The tank you will cut the back and back facing as per the pattern. The front you will cut a mirror image pair - with an extra inch added to the front of each piece and the facing pieces.

SEWING:

First I want you to take your front pieces and iron the edge over for your placket - do not sew. fold 1/4 inch and then fold 3/4 inch so you have a 3/4 placket - for small buttons this is perfect. If you want big buttons you will want to add extra room to the front in the cutting so you can increase the placket width.

Now sew your facings to the front along both sides as per the tank directions. just make sure you unfold your placket to sew the facings on. and sew the back and facings as well.

Now you will follow the directions in the pattern for the straps and putting the front to the back.

Then Refold the placket area and then stitch it down. Remember for girls the left goes over the right 

pin the tank fronts together overlapping and stitch. I left my pin in there to help the placket area stay together as I sewed - less fabric wiggling about.

**At this point I really feel the need to apologize for these pictures .... This is what happens when you sew and do tutorial pics at nighttime. sorry for the quality.**

Now sew up the sides of the tank as per the pattern. and the easy fits - but don't do the waist elastic. Finish the bottom edges of the tank and the top edge of the shorts.

Next, if the tank width is a bit more than the easy fits width - like mine was, add a little elastic to the tank sides and stretch while sewing. This brought mine in the inch ish that was needed to make it the same width. Yes there will be gathers when you sew to the shorts and it won;t be flat... but we are doing elastic casing in the waistband so you won;t even notice.

mark the sides of the shorts with a pin and place the tank inside - right sides together. pin sides and then pin about.

Sew along the top edge

and then sew another line 1/2 inch ish below that all around

Now flip the fabric flap up, and sew along the top edge - remember to leave an inch open to thread the elastic through. I used the elastic measures from the easy fits for the waistband.

Now do your buttons and holes or just do buttons for the top half and faux for the bottom half (like I did) The buttons do help with ease of getting it on and off so I don;t recommend faux all the way.

TA DA!!!! All done and cute as a button(up tank romper) can be!

and don't forget to be linking up your June sewing !!!! You could WIN!