Ruffled Maxi Skirt

I'd been looking for a mustard colored skirt in the fall-and kept looking all winter and finally figured I'd have to make my own (never found one, or at least not one I liked). I decided I really wanted it to be ruffled like a gray skirt I bought at Macys. I then started looking for fabric, which turned out to be just as challenging as finding the skirt in the first place. You'd think as popular as ruffles are mainstream stores like Joann's or Hobby Lobby would have lots of cute knit fabric-but not the stores in my town. So I turned to Etsy and finally found some 2" knit ruffle fabric.

The making of the skirt is actually pretty simple, but the ruffles on the fabric do add a level of concentration. I had to pay really close attention when I cut out the front and back so that the ruffles lined up. I also did a basting stitch along the raw edges to make sure the ruffles didn't get bunched up when I sewed the pieces together. 

If you already have a long skirt, just use it as a pattern and cut your pieces about the same size (its stretchy knit, so you don't need much seam allowance).   If not, measure your waist and cut that measurement in half (so if your waist is 32", the top of your pattern will be 16".  Again, it's stretchy knit, so I didn't leave a seam allowance).  For the bottom of the skirt you decide how wide you want it to be (I went about 6" wider). 

Baste (or use straight pins) all the ruffles along the long edge of the pieces. You'll be glad you did when you go to sew the front and back together.

Put the front and back pieces together (right sides together) and sew up the long sides.

Now is the time to try it on-if it's too big you can adjust it now. Once you're sure it's the right size, measure around and add an inch (so if your measurement is 32", you'll need to add 1". 

To make the waistband I bought some regular jersey knit that matched as closely as I could find.  I like my waistbands to be about 6" tall when finished, so that means I cut a rectangle of fabric that was 12" tall and 33" wide (remember your width will match your skirt).  You can also use 2 pieces, each 12x16.5. I like to have my waistband taper, but you can just sew it as a rectangle. If you want to taper, you lay it out and trim the sides-then sew up the raw edges.

You'll have to fold the waistband over (wrong sides on the inside). 

Flip the waistband so that all the raw edges line up. Sew around (use a serger or if you don't have one, use the zig zag stitch so that it will stretch).  I had some custom labels made, so now is the time to sew that in too.

Ta-da, you have a new skirt have that is flouncy, bouncy, full of fun, fun, fun!

Star Wars Day--May the 4th Be With You!

I love the original Star Wars movies, but Return of the Jedi holds a special place in my heart.  Daring rescues, cool light saber fights and adorable Ewoks!  I clearly remember going to see it in the summer of 1983.  I had gone on a trip to California with a singing group I was in--and came home to hear about lots of flooding in Salt Lake City.  So much flooding that they created a "river" right through downtown.  Our family went to see the river and then headed to the Century Movie theaters--these awesome theaters that were in dome shaped buildings (at least I thought they were awesome).  I even got to buy treats with my leftover trip money. It was a pretty great day.

Tomorrow is May the 4th and to celebrate I decided to do some baking.  I went looking for inspiration on Pinterest and found a deliciously delightful blog called Yummy Crumble and knew this was the cake to make!  It didn't require a bunch of cake decorating skills like fondant or piping--but it is a multi-step messy process.  I made a few changes from the original because I couldn't find some of ingredients (and I didn't have a madeline cookie pan and neither did any of my neighbors).



Vanilla Bundt Cake
I liked the recipe on Yummy Crumble, so I'll send you over to her blog to get the recipe. Be sure to REALLY grease that bundt pan-mine was non-stick and I drowned it in non-stick spray and I still had one spot that didn't come out clean.  My cake took 43 minutes (I check it at 35 min and it was still really wet in the middle).  I did the cake first so that it could be cooling while I got the decoration stuff prepped.

"Sand" topping
Oatmeal cookies (the crunchy un-frosted kind from the cookie aisle)
Caramel topping (bottled from the ice cream section)





I used 12 cookies and pulverized them in the Vitamix.  Glaze the cake with a thin layer of caramel topping.  I spread it around with a rubber spatula and then pressed the cookie crumbs all over.  I did this while the cake was still on the cooling rack and on top of a cookie sheet to catch all the excess (and re-use the crumbs).

 

Sarlacc monster
Butterscotch chip jaws and tentacles
Almond slivers

I melted the chips in the microwave (heat in 30 second cycles and stir until all melty).   Put it in a zipper bag and clip the corner and pipe into 4 different fat squiggles for the tentacles.   For the mouth, I squeezed a rounded triangle shape onto a wax paper square and let it set for about 5 minutes and then draped it over a water bottle and popped it in the fridge (with a container on each side so it didn't roll around on me) to harden up. About 1 minute after it was in the fridge I used a butter knife to make some ridge marks on the back of the "monster." Honestly, this was the trickiest part--the water bottle really wanted to escape on me.  I used some white frosting to make teeth.




You stick the almond slivers around the inside, and then make a pile of frosting in the hole and set up the monster pieces.

I'll be serving this fine cake with some Yoda Soda (ginger ale) and some ice cubes from my fancy Darth Vader and Han Solo in Carbonite molds.  Should be a fun celebration.