secret favorite holiday

Happy Halloween! 

love, 

Batman, Robin, Catwoman, and Penguin 

(check out some of our past Halloween costumes here)

The Maxi tutorial revisted

 Some of you might have noticed that I removed the tutorial for The Maxi skirt from my blog.  After receiving many requests for the option to purchase the skirt from readers who don't sew, I decided to move forward with manufacturing this skirt and have it be the first piece in my clothing line.  I have been so thrilled with the response and excitement over the launch of this skirt.

After having the tutorial for this skirt up for almost two years, I wasn't quite sure what to do about it now.  I thought long and hard about whether or not to remove the tutorial.  However, I recently came across this exact skirt for sale in a different shop (complete with my own personal photos), and felt pretty violated.  I want more than anything to help women make their own clothes, but I also want my clothes to be available for women who don't sew.  But what I don't want is to be taken advantage of.  For this reason, I decided to remove the free version of the The Maxi tutorial from my site.

But I still want you sewers to be able to create this skirt!  So I polished and perfected my tutorial (a LOT), and have listed a very detailed, pictured filled tutorial for The Maxi available in my Etsy shop.  I feel like this way both the sewers and the non-sewers can have access to this skirt, and I don't run the risk of being taken advantage of.  I really hope you can understand where I am coming from.  I know I can't please everyone, but that doesn't stop me from trying!

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and on a lighter note, I managed to wait till the last minute for Halloween costumes I again.  But a few late nights in a row and the costumes are all complete!  Stay tuned next week to see them!  

(or just follow me on instagram and see them now: @leannebarlow )

brotherly love

My boys are growing at a rapid speed before my eyes.  As much as I want to stop the clock, keep them little, and just smother them with kisses, it is fun to see them enter the stage where they can play and interact together.  I find myself peeking at them from around the corner, trying my best to be a wallflower, while Bradley chases Cash and makes him giggle.  Those giggles often turn quickly into cries and whines, so it is best to cherish the happy moments while I can.

high low skirt:: tutorial

Here is the tutorial for the skirt in my last outfit post.  I snagged this skirt at a thrift store for $2.  It is a very basic elastic waistband skirt, but I liked the color and the fabric (polyester- lightweight and doesn’t wrinkle easy).  I knew it would be way too long on me, but I figured I could tweak to be what I want.

The waistband of the skirt was too big for me, so I took it in.  It was really simple.

Just take your seam ripper and unpick the waistband stitches only about an inch or so.

Grab the elastic inside the waistband and pull it out until you have the right fit in the waist.  Mark or pin this place.

Stitch up and down on your elastic at the point where you marked and trim off any excess elastic.

Push the elastic back inside the waistband and stitch up the section that you unpicked, making sure to back-stitch when you start and end to secure the stitch.

If you don’t have a skirt like this to begin with, they are really simple.  To get the look of this skirt, start with a basic elastic waistband skirt.  They are just two long rectangles with the width wider than your waist.  Sew up the side seams, fold the top down as wide as your elastic, sew the top fold down (leave a small opening for your elastic), insert your elastic and you are set to follow along with these next steps…

Try on your skirt.  The length of the skirt should be how long you want the back of the skirt to hang.  Pin the front of the skit at about knee level, adding a little bit for your hem.  I would suggest getting someone to pin this for you rather then trying to pin it yourself while you are wearing it…..like I did.

Now hold the waistband in the center front and center back and lay it on a flat surface, lining up the side seams.  Start cutting from the shorter end, curving it down to the longer back end.  When you get a little past the side seams, start cutting all the way to the bottom of the waistband, making a subtle curve.   If you cut more of a straight diagonal, the back low part of your skirt with look too pointed.

Now just hem the skirt.  My skirt was two thin layers, so I did a tiny rolled hem on both of them.  The top layer was more see-through than the bottom layer, so I made that layer about 1” longer because I liked the look of it.

That's it!  Feel free to email me with any questions.

high low bordeaux

 

 top: H&M, blazer: Banana Republic, skirt: me, sunnies: Forever 21, shoes: Seychelles, watch: Michael Kors, jewelry: Nachelle, c/o Wild About Jewelry

Loving the deep wine burgundy that is so hot right now.  Check back tomorrow on a tutorial for this high-low skirt!

Sewing Summit:: class recap

Heading up to Salt Lake!  The 1 hour drive was nothing considering people had come from all over the world (Canada, united Kingdom, Australia).

 Opening mixer, sponsored by Craftsy.com

I learned so much from my classes at Sewing Summit.  I especially loved Mena Trott's handmade wardrobe class.  It was really inspiring and made me want to use a real pattern....almost.  I also learned the do's and don'ts of blog design from expert Melissa Esplin.  I am in the process of revamping the blog, so her advice was really helpful.

The highlight for me was teaching my Maxi skirt class.  It was so great to actually be able to interact with women face to face, kick of my shoes and get down on the floor with them to show them how to cut, measure, and pin their skirts.  A lot of the women were quilters who hadn't used knit fabric or sergers before, and it was so fun for me to help them realize that they can make clothing for themselves! 

Not to mention I got to teach in a room with 15 beautiful Baby Lock sergers.  Seriously dreamy.

We made good use of the floor space.  The knits were laid out all over the floor in the class, and up and down the hall.

I loved that I got to see all of the finished results!  Almost everyone walked away with a completed skirt.

(I tried to take pictures of as many ladies with their skirts as possible.  Check them all out of my flicker page)

 

 

with Heather and Jessica

I couldn't believe all of the talented women who were there.  It was slightly intimidating.  But they were all so genuine and nice and willing to share their knowledge with you.  All I had to do was get up the courage to ask!

Joel Dewberry was the keynote speaker and was fabulous.  He was so real and down to earth.  I love that he told us his new fabric line was created partially because they were redoing his daughters bedroom and wanted to do it with that specific color palate.  

Erin and her team were in charge of Sewing Summit and did an absolutley amazing job.  I was seriously blown away at how well organized this event was.  They are true all-stars in my book!

back from the summit

I'm almost feeling like I am caught up on sleep from the whirlwind that was Sewing Summit.  It was seriously awesome.  I met so many crazy talented women and learned a lot.  At times I am pretty sure I was the most exhausted I had ever been in my life, but it was so worth it.  It was amazing being surrounded by other women who obsess over fabric as much as I do ( I believe "fabasm" would be the correct verbage to explain this infatuation).  Other women who also can be found glued to their sewing machines at one in the morning.  I made such fast friendships in the matter of only a few days.  And got to take a nice long bubble bath in a great big luxury suite all to myself.  A bubble bath.  With water and everything.