sit down and sew: patch twirl skirt

After a fun two week vacation to Utah for my mom's wedding and some fun with friends and families I need to catch up on my blogs. I did this before I left but had no time to post it. So today I wanted to post how to make a patch twirl skirt.

Materials/Supplies

Sewing Machine

Coordinating Thread

3/4 inch elastic

Fabric (I used one of the bundles from JoAnn's Fabric which I believe is roughly 5 quarters of a yard. I was able to make this skirt, another skirt, and a dress using just the bundle.)

Measurements I used:

Squares - 3" x 3"

Bri's waist - 18" elastic

Waistband - 30" x 4"

First Tier - 15 squares (45")

Second Tier - 22 squares (66")

Third Tier - 33 squares (99")

NOTE: Each level is roughly 1.5 times the length of the previous tier. So if your waist measures at 25, times that by 1.5 and that's how wide your waistband should be.

Lay out your squares in the order that you want them. Make sure you like the layout. The general rule of them when making a twirl anything is for each layer to be 1.5 times longer than the previous layer.

Sew your square strips together. You can sew them right sides together for a cleaner look or wrong sides together for a scrappier look.

Hem your lowest strip layer. If you have a serger, you can do this by serging along the edge. (I also serged along all the bottom edges of the strips and both edges of the waistband to keep it from fraying like the front.) Iron it up and secure with a stitch. If no serger, iron up a quarter inch and then another quarter inch and secure with a straight stitch.

I serged mine and then secured them with a single stitch. You can just sew yours with a regular sewing machine if you don't have a serger.

Start with your lowest square strip layer. Sew a gathering stitch along the top. I do my gathering stitches by doing lowest tension and longest stitch lengths.

Gather by pulling the back string and bringing the fabric into a bunch.

Pin the bottom layer against the 2nd layer. I pinned the wrong side of my 3rd tier against the right side of the 2nd tier. You can do that, or you can pin the right sides together for a cleaner look.

Sew along the inside edge.

Sew along the inside so that when you are done it looks like this. Make sure you keep the gathers pulled so they don't bunch oddly.

Sew another gathering stitch across the top of the 2nd tier.

Gather.

Pin the wrong side of 2nd tier to the right side of 1st tier.

Sew again so it looks like this:

Serge or sew either ends of the waistband.

Fold it over the top of the waistband one inch and iron.

Stitch 1/8" from the top of the fold.

Sew 3/4" down from the top stitch.

Leave a gap on that bottom stitch so that you can run the elastic through.

Gather stitch and gather the top of 1st tier.

Pin wrong side of 1st tier along right side of the bottom of the waistband.

And stitch it.

Put a safety pin through your elastic.

Feed the elastic through the band.

Put the two ends together and stitch the elastic ends together.

Close up the gap in the waistband.

Shake it out and voila! A nice scrappy twirl skirt.

sit down and eat: cottage cheese pancakes

Now I realize that my title, "sit down and..." doesn't really apply to cooking, but it applies to eating, right? So that's what this is. Sit down and eat!

I seem to be following a trend with breakfast foods. But that's what it seems like we all love the best around here. I have a skirt tutorial coming up but that takes longer than just snapping pictures of my hand making breakfast.

This is one of my kids (and mine too) breakfasts to eat. They are packed with nice protein, have a texture that I love, and are absolutely delicious.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes:

Blend up your cottage cheese in a blender or food processor. My dog ate my food processor, so I use my blender, which is on it's last leg.

Add your eggs. Blend it really well.

Add flour (you can even use wheat flour or I've used white and oat flour mixed together), then milk and vanilla.

Add in salt and baking powder. Then add your sugar to taste. I add about this much.

Spray your hot skillet with cooking spray or use butter, which makes it so much better but less healthy.

Pour your pancakes on the hot skillet immediately.

Cook until bubbles begin to form in the middle of the pancakes.

Flip them over.

Enjoy with good maple syrup, applesauce, fresh fruit, or, my favorite, homemade buttermilk syrup (which I will post in the future.)!

Recipe:

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 egg

1/3 cup flour

just over 2 TB milk

dash of vanilla

dash of salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

sugar or sweetener to taste

sit down and eat: oatmeal

I asked John, "What should be my first official post on my new blog?" And he was like, "For something like this, you don't have to pick anything big. Just do it."

So what better way than to start out my new blog than with how we start out our day here in our house. Homemade Oatmeal.

So simple. So delicious. So nutritious.

Recipe:

3 cups hot water

2 cups old fashioned oats

a pinch of salt

brown sugar

butter

milk

optional: peaches or apples & cinnamon

Boil water and salt. Add oats and lower temperature to medium heat. Simmer oats, stirring regularly. Add brown sugar and butter to taste. Cook oats for three to five minutes, or until oats have become mostly soft and absorbed most of the water. Do not overcook.

Stir in frozen peaches, apples and cinnamon, or honey. Then of course add some milk to it all. (I used whole milk in my peaches oatmeal. And it was oh so delicious!)

Then sit and enjoy your breakfast in the wonderful silence that comes when your kids love the food they're eating.