Hi, it's Maria here again and I have a little *helper monkey* today. My eldest Daughter, Charlotte, loves to get crafty either alone or with me so I thought that she'd love to help me with a post here on It's a creative world.
So, without further ado I shall hand you over to Charlotte.
Hello my name is Charlotte and I am ten. I love making things, watching The winx club and playing with my Sister and my friends.
It was fancy dress night at Guides last week and I really wanted to go as a ballerina princess. I didn't have a costume so I decided to make a skirt all by myself.
It was very easy to make but the sewing took me all day. All you need is a length of tulle, elastic and some ribbon to decorate.
1. Mummy measured my waist and I cut a piece of elastic to fit me. I then sewed the end of the elastic to the end of the tulle to keep it in place.
2. The tulle was folded in two so I just put the elastic into the fold and sewed underneath to make a tube. The tulle was very long so we clipped some pegs onto the elastic to stop it jiggling around.
3. When I had sewed to the end of the elastic we gathered the tulle to the start of the elastic and I carried on sewing.
4. When I was happy with the gathering and at the end of the elastic Mummy sewed the two ends together. I let her help with this bit as I wanted it to be secure.
5. I then sewed the two ends of the skirt together from top to bottom.
6. I decided to put some ribbon on the back so I sewed it to the waist and Mummy tied the bow for me.
I was really pleased with my skirt and everyone at Guides liked it. My Guide leader was very impressed that I'd made it by myself.
Thank for letting me show my skirt. Here I am wearing it with my Sister Amelia.
Maria here again. This really is a nice project for children who want to learn to sew. The holes in the tulle make it very easy to sew straight(ish) and the rough texture means it's not slipping about all over the place.
If you fancy the skirt but not the sewing you can cut strips of the tulle and tie them to the elastic waistband. Thank you to the fabulous Kirsty Wiseman for that top tip.
Having finished the skirt Charlotte has declared that she still wants to be a fashion designer but will be using a sewing machine.
Toodle pip
Well done Charlotte, what a lovely project :)
Posted by: Angela | May 23, 2008 at 09:54 AM
Wow what a great project well done Maria and Charlotte XXX
Posted by: Diana | May 23, 2008 at 10:01 AM
So pretty, thank you for sharing x
Posted by: Charlotte | May 23, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Great work Charlotte-I always wanted a tutu!
Posted by: GlitteryKatie | May 23, 2008 at 04:27 PM
Ooh this is a lovely idea. Charlotte, there are lots of children in the class I teach who would like to get dressed up as a ballerina/fairy so perhaps I could make a few costumes. Thank you for showing us how to do it :)
Posted by: Andrea | May 23, 2008 at 10:32 PM
And very pretty Charlotte looks in her tutu too! :-) and lil sis is just as lovely;-)
jakey xx
Posted by: jakey | May 24, 2008 at 12:08 PM