Twirling Costume

I have made leotards and bathing suits, and I have trimmed pre-made twirling costumes, but I had never made a twirling costume from start to finish before.  Last season, Dorothy was asking for a "fancy" costume, which meant one with a skirt and she wanted off the shoulder sleeves.  Her solo costume from last year still fit (and there is a tuck that can be let out when she grows), so we worked out an agreement that she could have a separate costume for strut and modeling if she practiced every week.  For each week she practiced, I would do one more thing on her costume.  She practices without much complaint, so I made this for her:

 Not the best picture ever, but it gives a pretty good view of the costume.  The lavender fabric and white lace were both ones I have had for a long time.  The white was left over from a Halloween costume of mine (Christine, from Phantom of the Opera).  The lavender was a remnant I bought a long time ago on clearance to use as a cheap experiment to try making a leotard.  The nude power mesh was a spontaneous purchase when I stopped in a fabric store that was closing and everything was 75% off.  I need more practice sewing on power mesh.  It was really tricky.

 When I asked her to stand up straight, she would do this.

 When I would tell her to relax, she would do this.

 The flowers wrap all the way around, and you can just barely see the little white panel under the skirt on the hip.  I hand made all the flowers from satin ribbon, then glued rhinestones in the center and sequins on the petals.  Up close, it looked really sparkly, but on the floor, it was a bit more flat than I would have liked.

 On the white lace, there are large, AB rhinestones, and some very, very tiny lavender rhinestones.  There are a couple hundred on here, but I'm not sure it is really enough.

 It looked pretty cute on the floor though, and a couple of her (much older than her) teammates want one like it.

Finishing up her basic strut.



I probably won't add any more rhinestones to the costume, because she is growing like a weed.  Even though I can let this costume out a little, I have a feeling she is going to need yet another on before too long, and rhinestones are expensive.


There are some things I would do differently next time, but for a first attempt, I think it turned out fine.  It fits well enough, and she got lots of comments at the competition about how cute she looked.

Dinosaur Quilt for Project Linus

It took a couple of years of trial and error, but I think I have finally worked out the kinks of the sewing project I do with my daughter's 3-6 year old classroom.  This year went so smoothly!  Many of the kids knew what to do already, and I picked a great design package that was cute, colorful, and stitched out quickly.  The kids each got to make an appliqued dinosaur with my embroidery machine and a nine patch square by gluing pre-cut fabric squares onto grid interfacing.  I then took everything home, and sewed it all together into a quilt that will be donated to Project Linus.

Here is our finished quilt:

 The photo doesn't do the colors justice;  it is deep, rich blues, greens, and bright yellow.  Every single dinosaur is unique, and they are all adorable. 

 The back of the quilt is a soft, fuzzy, baby blue.  My eight year old was with me when I went to buy the backing and he made the final choice.  I think he made the right call.  I think the darker green I was also looking at would have made the whole thing too dark.

 I took the quilt in today to show the kids.  They all get so excited to find the dinosaur they made on the finished quilt.

 Unfortunately, we are missing a few kids, but here are most of the little hands that worked so hard on the beautiful project.  The quilt colors look much better in this picture.





First, they picked out which dinosaur they wanted to make, and three colors of thread.

 Changing their thread color:

 There is a lot of thread inside the machine and they have to pull a long way to get it all out.


 I showed them how to thread the machine the first time, then they could try it themselves.  A few of the kindergartners remembered from previous years, and didn't want me to show them. 

Once threaded, the machine does all the work.  They just had to push the "start" button.

Before sewing the dinosaur down, they need to add some glue:

Then, they place the dinosaur on the fabric:

In between threading the machine and pushing the button, there was time to watch the machine stitch out their design:

Sometimes, there is enough time to talk, tell secrets, and visit with friends:

 I love how into it the boys get.

This little one talked my ear off.



Once their dinosaurs were finished, they made a nine patch square:

I discovered that it was easier if I put a little glue inside each square and just had them place their fabric on top.  Adding the glue themselves was a bit challenging for some kids, and others glued it so securely that I had a hard time repositioning things when I got it home.


Lastly, here are some close ups of the dinosaurs the kids made:

 I love the polka dot binding!  My son wanted a solid yellow that I had, but I liked the polka dots better.  I wish the color in these photos was more true to life.

This was really fun project!  I'll be a little sad to say good-bye to this quilt when I drop it off, but hopefully it will make someone's day a little brighter.