Knock it Off - Caila Made

Welcome Caila to the Knock it Off series...so thrilled to have you here!  I couldn't help but take notice of Caila's beautiful handiwork as she submitted her designs to PR&P and KCWC.  I just love her superb style, fabric choices, and attention to detail...she inspires me!  And I'm sure she'll inspire you with her perfect Mini Boden knock-off.

Thank you for having me, Heidi! I'm so excited to be here today doing something I really enjoy: knocking off a commercially made outfit! When I was first considering this project I went straight to the Mini Boden online catalogue for inspiration. Can't go wrong with Mini Boden, right?? I fell in love with their winter skirts immediately, so all I had to do was pick my favorite.

I always think it's fun to "window" shop in expensive shops knowing that I can go home and make the items for a fraction of the price. It's so satisfying to know I can give my girl beautiful things without going broke. (Although, my husband and the growing pile of fabric in my sewing room might say otherwise...)

I chose to knock off the new Mini Boden sequin skirt. Abby LOVES pink and I am really digging the gold/shimmer/sparkle trend I'm seeing this holiday season.

Source

Their sequin skirt:

My sequin skirt:

The Mini Boden version is made with a button closure, but Abby is two so I try to make things she can put on herself. Elastic is a girl's best friend. My version has an elastic casting in the back, with a flat waistband in the front.

I brought the sequins into my look, of course--that's the best part!--and it was the first time I've ever sewn with sequins. I wasn't quite sure how to attach them without punching right through the sequins on my machine, so I sewed them on by hand. I spent the time watching Once Upon a Time (yes, amazing show) with needle in hand and wouldncha know, the time flew by. 

I think my favorite feature of the Mini Boden skirt is the hot pink little ruffle on the waistband. It's almost like an afterthought, but when you look closely, brilliant. It gives a little more fun to this elegant skirt. I had some dupioni silk ribbon laying around which turned out to be the perfect color. I just couldn't resist adding it to the bottom hem as well. 

I'm glad I went with my instincts on the trim, because it's Abby's favorite feature besides the sequins. Come to think of it, this was my first experience sewing with dupioni silk, too, so I covered a lot of new bases with this skirt. Yay!

Don't you love the way the sequins sparkle? Why have I never noticed before how much I love sequins??

SEQUIN SKIRT TUTORIAL

By CailaMade

Materials

I made a point to buy these materials at my local fabric store, Joanne's. I want everyone reading this to know they have easy access to these materials if they live near this kind of store. Of course, you can also get the supplies for this skirt anywhere you choose. :)

1. Fabric for your skirt. I used a little less than 1/2 yard for this 2T skirt.

2. Lining fabric in the same amounts

3. Hot pink trim. I used dupioni silk ribbon for a fancy feel, but you could even use a small strip of knit!

4. 1 yard of single-strand sequins

5. A piece of 3/4" elastic. (To find the correct length measure your child's waist, divide by 2, and add 1 inch).

6. Coordinating thread

Tutorial

STEP ONE: Cut your fabric.

Lay your fabric out folded selvage to selvage and cut it 12 inches long for a 2T skirt. (Or, for a custom length, decide how long you want the skirt to be and add 2 inches).

Now fold it another time, fold to selvage, like shown below. Make a cut along this side angled so that the top is 1 inch in from the bottom. Open up your fabric and you will have two pieces--a front and a back--roughly the width of your fabric times 12 inches or whatever the length of your skirt is.

Now take your front skirt piece and cut 1 1/2 inches off the top. This is to make room for the front waistband.

Repeat this process for the lining, but make your lining only 9 inches long for a 2T size, or 3 inches shorter than your main skirt pieces. 

STEP TWO: Prep the front waistband.

Measure your child's waist where you want the skirt to sit. Then divide the number by two and add 1/2 inch. This number is "X." Cut the piece for your waistband 9 3/4" by X. Abby's waistband was 9 3/4" by 9 1/2." 

Fold the waistband in half lenghtwise and press. Now fold the raw edges in 1/4" along the long edge and press. Iron the ends in 1/4 inch.

Reinforce the waistband with interfacing if you wish.

STEP THREE: Sew side seams.

Ignore the ruffling in this picture. This step will come later.

Right sides together, stitch your side seams together for the main skirt and lining pieces. Please note: make sure the main skirt pieces are even along the bottom. They will not match up at the top because the front skirt piece is shorter than the back piece. Finish the seam by overcast stitching, zigzagging or serging.

STEP FOUR: Ruffle the front skirt piece.

Using a long running stitch (do not backstitch), sew approx. 1/8" from the top edge of your front skirt piece. Pull on the bobbin thread (back thread) to ruffle the skirt until it is the length of your waistband piece. Repeat with the lining.

Now slip your lining inside the skirt, wrong sides facing.

STEP FIVE: Make the elastic casing.

On the back of your skirt, fold the top edge down 1/4" and press. Now fold it down 1"encasing the top edge of the lining and press. Pin and sew as close to the edge as possible. It should look like this:

STEP SIX: Add the waistband and elastic.

On the wrong side of your skirt, pin the waistband to your ruffle and pin. 

Make sure the ends match up with your side seams. You should be able to slip the ends of the elastic casing inside your waistband when finished with this step. 

Stitch along the crease you created when pressing the waistband (this should be 1/4" from the raw edge). Now flip the waistband over to enclose the raw edge and press. Pin and sew it down using an edgestitch. 

Here is a picture of how the edge seams should match up at this point:

Now, using a safety pin, slip the elastic inside the casing on the back and feed it through to the other side. I like to secure the free end of my elastic with a pin to make sure it doesn't get away from me. Your elastic should now reach through the back of your skirt and stick out on either end by 1/4" to 1/2."

Carefully slip the elastic into the front waistband AND slip the front waistband over the raw edge of the back casing. Pin the two together with the elastic secured inside. 

Stitch them all together along the seam, like this:

Your basic skirt is now done! The elastic back should look like this:

STEP SEVEN: Embellish!

Using a random ruffle, I pinned my pink trim to the top edge of the skirt and then stitched it down with an edge stitch.

Wrong side view:

To add the two rows of single-strand sequins I just kind of lined them up and sewed by hand. I secured the first sequin with a few sitches and then sewed on each sequin by coming up through the middle of one and then down through the middle of the next, and so on. At the end I secured the final sequin with a bunch of stitches, cut off the extra sequins and tied off the end. 

You can add your hot pink trim to the bottom hem if you want, or leave it plain like the Mini Boden version. Either way is cute! If you do a normal hem, fold the raw edge under 1/4" and press. Then fold another 3/4" and press again. Stitch it down and you're done!

I think this is the perfect holiday skirt and I definitely plan to make more! Please visit me at CailaMade--I love making new sewing friends!  Thanks so much for having me today, Heidi. This is such a FUN series!