DIY Spiderman Dress!!!

DIY SpiderMan Dress from T-shirt.

Make a Spiderman Dress from an old T-shirt!

I've done a lot of these t-shirt dresses before. In fact, my mother made them for me as a child. Maybe you have some old t-shirts. Maybe you can't find a cute dress for your kid. Maybe there aren't a bunch of cute dresses that feature Spiderman. There are many reasons to sew a dress.

So, grab your t-shirt.

Use a piece of clothing, a shirt or dress
that fits the kiddo. Use pins, or draw outline
where you want to take in. Leave some room
for seam allowance.

Sew the side seams to the correct measurements.
(according to the markings you made
from the fitted piece)

 Use a ballpoint needle, and either a zig zag  stitch (or a stitch for knits) or a serger for these side seams and for most of the stitching. A straight stitch wont stretch and it will rip some seams.

Add some sparkles!!! Or not, whatever
you or your kiddo likes.

Use the other piece (skirt, or shorts)
to measure where you want the skirt to fall.

 I measured the skirt on the original dress. It was a bit larger than the hem of the shirt due to some gathers to add fullness to the skirt. If you need a real measurement, then use the hem measurement of the (cut and sewn) shirt, and add another 1" for the seam allowance. Or you can add more if you want some gathers. I used the same measurement of the shirt hem because I was planning on adding three gathered ruffles sewn to the underskirt.

Cut out your base fabric. I used a stiff double
knit as my base skirt. I sewed the ruffles onto
it. The ruffled fabric was too transparent
to go without a liner. Plus, I wanted
three layers of ruffles, not just one.

Now, I forgot to take a picture of my layout, and the making of the ruffled pieces. But, I cut about three times the length of the skirt, for the ruffled fabric. Then I gathered the ruffles to fit the measurement of the underskirt. I like to use an elastic thread in my bobbin (you have to hand wind it not use the bobbin winder on your machine) Then I have a long zig zag with a looser tension. Then, I pull the elastic thread by hand to fit the measurements. The fabric I had used (a very thin almost pantyhose like knit) wouldn't work well with my gathering foot. Then, I pinned my ruffle on to the skirt, and sewed it on (carefully). I also finished the ends of the ruffle pieces with my serger. I hadn't test washed this fabric so I wasn't sure it would hold up without a hem. 

Make sure to use the correct ballpoint needles, and the right stitch (either zig zag or serger) to make sure you have stretch in the finished garment. 

I used my serger to attach the
skirt to the shirt. But then I also added a
sparkly elastic over the seam. 

There's the goose, cute as can be in her Spiderman dress. As she tells me often,

"Spiderman is Peter Parker, and Peter Parker is a GOOD GUY."

Couldn't have said it better Kiddo.

, Rudy

butterfly swim bandana for Goose

DIY UPF swim bandana, to cover those scalps from sunburn.

We spent most of our summer swimming.  My little Goose has blonde hair, and due to a few funny cowlicks, she has a little spot on her head that you see her scalp. During the summer I was over-worried that my kids would get sunburned. My son seems to tan, and not burn much. Granted, I make him wear a UPF sun-shirt, and sunscreen. Well as much as I can slather on him while he whines and flails. The same with Goose. She will sit still longer to let me put on sunscreen. While I will spray the sunscreen in Jed.I's hair, his hair is thick enough to shield his scalp.  Goose on the other hand I was worried about after I saw her scalp get pink. You may wonder why I'm so uptight about sunburns well this is why:

1. I have burned badly in the past. As a child, as a teen and as an adult. I don't tan. I have once tried to, and got a darker shade of pale. That's it. It was boring, the burns hurt, and I didn't see much difference. I burn, I peel, then I go back to being very pale. I gave up trying to look tan. And just went with protecting myself from burns (painful) and protecting myself from the sun. I have had family members with skin cancer. I have had certain growths removed. We'll see if they grow back. (here's hoping they are just basal cell carninoma and not anything worse) While I did start taking care of my skin earlier than many, (around 18 or so) I still go in the sun everyday, here in Texas, even with sunscreen I'll get damage. If my kids inherited my skin, I need to be careful

2. Sunburns hurt. Do you know what it's like to stay up all night with your sick child? Well, when kids get sunburned they get feverish, and are in pain. You'll stay up all night trying to console and heal your child, and there's nothing you can do but give them tylenol for the pain and rub aloe on them.  I'm trying to avoid a situation where they are in pain, I'm in pain, and everyone suffers. Same reason why I make them brush their teeth. I don't want them to endure the pain of toothaches, tooth abscesses, or root canal's at 5 years old. Yes, those things do happen to children, sometimes even with good dental care. They happened to me as a child. 

So, in order to avoid all those horrible things, while still enjoying the wonderful sun we have here in Texas. I made Goose a swim bandana. Now, any old bandana might have worked. But they usually fall off her head, and I wanted something that would stay on and keep her from getting burned. 

My sister-in-law had some swim headbands for her daughter with white blonde hair that was getting her scalp burned often. But since I couldn't find one available that I liked online, and the swim hats my daughter wore just came off instantly, I decided to make one.

Here were some I found online. (Nice, but not quite what I wanted to my Goose)

UPF Scalp Cover

Nammu Swim Hat

My daughter had borrowed a very cute swim headband from my sister-in-law that was pink with purple butterflies. Just so you know, Goose tells everyone that "Pink and purple are my favorite colors!!"  I had to make a sparkly purple one with butterflies she demanded. I went to Joanns, and they had bunches of swim fabric and she picked out the sparkliest.

Mystique Perfomance Knit in Eggplant at Joann

She even picked out some butterfly appliqués. 

Butterfly Appliqué's

Next came the arduous process of figuring out how to sew on super stretch knits.

Tips for super stretch knits.

1. Use a ballpoint needle

2. Use either tissue paper, or a tear away stabilizer to sandwich stretch knit between otherwise the sewing machine will somehow manage to eat the fabric getting it horribly stuck in the strike plate

3. If you can, use a serger! I finally (really after all these years????) looked in my serger manual and learned how to do a beautiful rolled edge (that stretched beautifully) with a three threads on my serger. It looks like a baby-lok edge and it's gorgeous! 

4. Try it out on sample fabric a lot!!!

In this case, I didn't iron on the butterfly appliqué's since it would have melted off the metallic foil finish ruining the fabric and my iron. So I sewed them on. I tried by hand and those are some stiff suckers, so I used my machine to do a tack stitch. Not the serger of course, but I sandwiched the butterfly and the fabric between some tissue paper and it worked pretty well. There was some knotting of the bobbin thread, but it was to be expected occasionally.

Here is my Goose modeling it for me:

This was my first draft. I didn't think I wanted a basic swim bandana in a triangle shape. But after seeing the little cowlick of scalp that wasn't covered by the one above. I made another in a basic triangle shape. It covered more of her scalp and still stays on pretty well.

Rolled hem from my serger.

On some knits an edge seam isn't as necessary. However, since this was a very stretchy knit, and was going to be stretched a lot on the head. A finished seam is very necessary, or it will start getting runs in them just like a pair of hose. Plus, the edges wont roll which you don't want in this project. Otherwise, it would just roll off the head. :(

Till next time,

Rudy

Mermaid Skirts

The finished Mermaid Skirt front.

The finished Mermaid Skirt back.

Goose with her Mermaid Dress

Goose and my Nieces.

My daughter Goose loves Mermaids. SHE LOVES THEM!! She's three and knows almost all the words to "Part of your world." I had some ruffled fabric that I had bought and only tried to sew on "ONCE". Because it was a mess to sew. It's this stuff.

Ruffled fabric by the yard. 

While looking for mermaid tails and blankets on Pinterest. (I know;}) i found this really cool pin.

Mermaid Skirt by The Girl Inspired

I did my best to follow her instructions but messed up....a lot. I realized how much I didn't know about knits. About my serger, About everything!!! Good lord if I only had read the dang sewing machine directions I would have avoided so much stress and frustration!!!

So, after a lot of trial and error, a few ball point needles and what felt LIKE HOURS on my serger. I made one. And it was awful!!. Tucks everywhere, the size was only tiny.  TO small for Goose. I had to completely removed the ruffled fabric and just go with the blue knit. Which was a cheap jersey that split and laddered constantly. So.....

The first had to go to my littlest niece, S. It wouldn't fit my goose. 

Happiest Mermaid in the World!!

Armed with the experience of my miserable first draft , I started again. Determined to make more for my other nieces. And another for Goose.

One day, I'll have a cutting table. One day....

I had to add some ruffled fabric, but not much.

They loved them. I loved them. So much mermaid fun.

I think I might make more...one day. Maybe later on in the future. When I can forget how frustrating it was with the first one.

Ruth