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Today’s guest is another good friend of mine, Summer from Sumo’s Sweet Stuff.
This beautiful momma is one of the sweetest women out there, always willing to lend a hand (or a basement to stock all of one’s event planning boxes in – ahem – thanks again for that Summer!!!). She is that friend that you will call when you just want to chit chat, you know there will be tons of laughs, kids running around in the background, and maybe a little Diet Coke.
With three little princesses of her own, I simply knew there would be tons of opportunity for K.I.D.S. inspiration.
So let’s see what Summer and her daughters came up with together…
Hello! I’m Sumo, and I blog over at Sumo’s Sweet Stuff. I am so excited to be invited here today! I just adore Jess, and feel honored to be sharing her space today. Isn’t she fantastic?
I totally love the concept behind this series. My girls are really into coloring and drawing lately, so I knew this could be fun. My four year old isn’t quite drawing people with outfits yet; her drawings are still the legs directly out of the head and arms, as well. Sometimes she adds a belly button in between the legs, which is pretty cute. So I figured it might be easier for her if I just drew a couple of shirt templates and let her design them. This is the one I decided to go with.
You know, that teal band on the shoulder is actually just bleed through from something she was coloring on the back of the paper, but I decided to include it in her design. This is what I came up with:
Okay, okay. I admit it. I used an easy way out and used a shirt that she already had. Hey, it had a stain on it, so really, I am being super resourceful by turning it into something better.
So here’s what we used:
- t-shirt
- knit fabric
- cotton fabric
I started off by cutting one inch strips of the pink knit. Then I cut them half the width of the fabric.
At first I was just going to ruffle the strips, but then I thought it would be fun to do a lettuce edge on all of them. I used a white thread to add a little contrast against the pink knit. I did a zig zag all along each long edge of each strip, and gently pulled the knit towards me and away from me as I was sewing.
The result is this:
Once I had lettuce edge all of the strips, I did gathered each strip, and pinned them in place on the shirt. I did about an inch in between strips, and ended up only using five instead of the six I had cut out.
Make sure you only pin the strips to the front of the shirt! And for sure make sure that you only sew the ruffle to the front of the shirt.
Next, I wanted to add a little bow over the shoulder of the shirt. So I took a rectangle of cotton fabric that was about 10” x 6”.
I folded it in half – right sides together, length wise, and sewed around the open edge, leaving a two inch gap. I clipped the corner (watch your seams!) and pulled it right side out. Then I top stitched all the way around, making sure I closed up the seam.
Then I pinched the rectangle in the middle,
and hand stitched a piece of ribbon around the middle.
All that was left to do was hand stitch the bow to the shoulder of the shirt! I tacked down the ends of the bow around the front and the back of the shirt so that they weren’t just flopping around.
And done!
It was so fun for me to bring something to life that started out as an idea in my daughter’s head.
I can’t even begin to imagine how much more fun this will be as she gets older, and her creativity grows!
The look on her face when I showed her the shirt next to her drawing was pretty much priceless!
I can’t wait to do this again!
Thanks for inviting me here today, Jess! I am loving this series so much!
That is the best interpretation of a drawing Summer! I love it, and I love how happy your little girl looks wearing it. Just priceless – from dreams to reality. Perfect! Thank you so much for being here and being a part of K.I.D.S. I can’t wait to see what else she designs as she grows as well.
For more of Sumo’s Sweet Stuff be sure to hop on over to her blog, there is more cuteness where that came from…
Thanks so much for stopping by, and until next time…
Happy Sewing!
Thanks for having me, Jess, and for all of your sweet words!
Great instructions for the lettuce edge!
It’s so cute! I always wondered how you did a lettuce edge! good to know that if you have a wonky knit hem, it could just be turned into a lettuce edge ruffle!
That is so cute! I love all the ruffles!
Love your interpretation Summer especially the bow.