My Fat Quarter Addiction

Yep, I have one. An addiction. To anything crafty or artsy really, but especially fat quarters. I don't quilt. Not in the traditional sense anyway. I have machine quilted, in my own inept and beginnerish way, small little things, like a water bottle cozy and an itouch case. On a side note, my mother really loves the water bottle cozy. Really, really. With so much love she wants to make a bunch more and I didn't make a pattern. Oh well, how hard can it be to replicate the first one? We'll see. But I digress. Fat quarters. They are awesome. I like to get them when they are on sale. I feel like the piece of fabric I'm getting, in a zillion different exotic colors and patterns, is just enough fabric to do something great with...and for only about a dollar.

Thus, the easy peasy fat quarter skirt here. I used one fat quarter, a bit of elastic I already had, a bit of ribbon I already had, and some thread. (I already had that too.) First, I cut the fabric in half and pinned and sewed the two halves together so I had one longer piece. I also finished the seam, sort of halfheartedly. I knew my little Pumpkin wouldn't be wearing this every day for years to come.

Next, I gathered the skirt, again in a sort of cheaty kind of way, one quick running stitch the length of the skirt. I held one of the threads and gently gathered the fabric with my other hand. I made a casing with a scrap of cream colored bed sheet that I had in my stash. (I forgot to mention that, I had some cream colored cotton from a sheet that I also used!) Not to insult anyone who has been sewing for ages, but a casing usually encloses elastic or a drawstring. I pinned the casing to the skirt, right sides together, sewed the casing to the skirt, and finished the seam.

After I did that, I pressed the skirt and pinned a piece of grosgrain ribbon to the hem. I sewed the ribbon on and finished that seam. Then I threaded the elastic through the casing, pinned the skirt together inside out, and sewed the skirt together, finishing that seam.

Here it is completed. I apologize if my step-by-step process was less than clear. Hopefully my photos helped a little. I think I'll get better at this as I go. (I mean the tutorial writing process...) Anyway, tomorrow I'll show you the finished outfit. I made a shirt to go with it out of the same cream colored cotton bed sheet. It is based on the basic pillow case dress idea. So easy. And so cute.