I tried my hand at sewing...

It didn't turn out half so bad, considering I've never sewn anything with a machine before in my life.

I found a simple skirt tutorial here and thought, hey, you know what? I want to do this because I bet I can find cute fabrics to make into skirts. Usually I don't wear skirts because I don't like the pattern. So I went to JoAnns the next day (they were having a fabric sale) and bought two yard and a half things of fabric. Day after that, I started making the skirts.

Let me tell you about the daisy skirt, as I nicknamed it.

Isn't it pretty?

The daisy skirt has a pretty flower all over it. And I fell in love fast. I decided this one would be my first one, because the other fabric was plaid and I'm partial to plaid and that way, if I screwed up on the daisy skirt, I'd be able to fix it for the plaid one. I did everything right initially. Cut out the right size square, made all the pretty curves, cut the elastic, and it was finally time to put together the pieces together.

Have a selfie of me wearing the to-be skirt as a poncho.

This is when my inherent lack of sewing knowledge showed. I got my mom to show me how to use her sewing machine. I learned all of it relatively quickly. So I sewed the elastic into a circle, which wasn't hard. Then came the edge. I didn't know it's a good idea to roll the edge twice when you seam it, so the inside has all the little fraying ends sticking out. Oops. My mom pointed this out and I said, "Oh, I'll fix it with some ribbon!" Apparently that's okay because my mom didn't correct me. I still think it's right. 

So after that, I sew the elastic onto the waist band. Here's where I screw up big time. First, after realizing that there was more fabric than elastic, and totally forgetting elastic needs to stretch (that's kind of its job, ya know?) I sewed the extra fabric over itself. It didn't stretch. At all. And so I freaked out and my mom fixed it by taking everything out and telling me, "Stretch the elastic while you sew it together!"

I did that, but I also did that slightly wrong too. If anyone ever gets close enough to the skirt, they'll see there's a lot of ruffles at one point and then none at all as I realize that I stretched the elastic too much at some points and had too much elastic left over at the end. So the elastic is folded over itself. Oops again.

So my skirt's all lovely, and I went out to get some ribbon for the bottom. I decided to wing it- BAD MOVE. I bought one spool of ribbon and called that good, and then when I went to attach it later, it ran out. I got really confused. "It definitely said 3 yards! I need to go get more! Stupid Michael's for not updating how long it is after people use it," I say to myself. Needless to say, I am 100% clueless when it comes to buying anything that isn't yarn in stores. Especially at Michael's, which I don't go to all that often. I'm a JoAnn's girl, and even then I don't get anything but yarn. 

EMERGENCY!

I got another spool, the last one left, and started attaching that... and that ran out. So I'm sitting there with approximately 2/3rds of the skirt all ribboned and 1/3 with no ribbon at all. I complain to my mom and she asks to see the spool, but I go to double-check when she goes to the bathroom. I read the spool...

And it says 3 feet, not 3 yards like I thought. And I sat there for about 30 seconds before yelling, "I'm so stupid!" I explain to my mom my reading comprehension and potential solutions, and she says, "Wait before ripping out all the ribbon. There may be a solution."

Hopefully there is, because that skirt is sitting there taunting me with its incompleteness. 

I have a sad face.

Luckily, the second one went much smoother. Although I still kinda screwed up on the bottom hem. Oops.There are certain points where it turns up because there's too much fabric in those sections compared to others. Overall, though, it's pretty. I did so much better sewing the elastic to this one, though. I remembered to stretch it out and everything! And it came out so much prettier.

Modeling the plaid skirt.

Heeeeelloooooo my friend.

I must admit, taking the tutorial word for word is not a good idea. For example, it didn't tell me to stretch the elastic in order to get the skirt to fit. The maker probably assumed people with a basic idea of how elastic stuff works and the basics of sewing were using it. I fit neither of those. OH WELL. 

But I'm looking forward to being able to wear these skirts over my dance shorts in the summer or over tights in the fall/winter because these are cute as all get out and I am going to wear them with confidence. Also because it looks like no one can ever go wrong with skirts over tights.

Trips Galore!

Sorry! Life has been kind of hectic. For two weeks I was in Japan, and then I've been at home being social. Okay, not really. It actually kind of slipped my mind to update this blog once I got home because I've been working on my dad's blanket like there's no tomorrow. Because I want this done. And it is almost done! I'm really happy about it. It's been a lot of sweat and tears, to be honest. Then I just need to pretty it up some and it'll be good to go. Not that it'll do him much good in Hawaii where he's being transferred for his job. Just a bit too late... Oops.

But yeah! I went to Japan for two weeks and had a ton of fun! Lots of stories and pictures I need to share, as well as the WIP I started while waiting for my plane. I discovered I actually get nervous during landing/takeoff. Why? Don't know. But it turns out knitting/crocheting helps me calm down and takes my mind off of it, so I worked on that a lot. Stay tuned for the batch of photos of my Japan trip! It's going to be a multi-parter.

I'm also going to Disney Land and California Adventure this weekend! It's my roommate's birthday present for me. Admittedly, she has some ulterior motive (she's never been to Disney Land, only Magic Kingdom), so it works out for all of us. There's likely to be pictures of that, too.