Fashion Croquis

     Forever I Have been looking for fashion croquis, which are basically a silhouette where you can draw over when you want to draw out an outfit or something. The proper way to use them is to put a piece of paper over the croquis (which you have printed out on paper) and draw on them that way. Here is a great website with them, http://www.designersnexus.com/design/free-fashion-croquis-templates/  it had kids, women and men ones. I always looked up silhouette and all kinds of crazy things.

 Here are some of the designs that I have drawn out, considering I have absolutely no drawing abilities they look horrible but i figured I could at least kinda share my work. They are all skating dresses/ outfits because I was an Artistic Roller skater for 12 years of my life and the other designs are leotards. 

So at the point that I drew the following I obviously didnt know the idea behind drawing on a separate piece of paper...

How to Make A Gymnastics leotard

So I finally got around to making this leotard. 

Supplies:   

• your fabric (It should be stretchy)
• Scissors or a rotary cutter (I use both)
• pins and pin cushion 
• your pattern (you can make your own but I bought one)
• Sewing machine
• Thread to match your fabric
• Seam ripper *optional but recommended 
• washers *optional but recommended
• cutting mat if you are using a rotary cutter

so here are my two fabrics. I chose Shiny gold and a matte but sorta shiny purple.

 Here are my washers and pins and scissors. I have two pairs of scissors because they get dull really fast around my house and I always have to test and see which ones will work without making my fabric look icky.

 So here are my pattern pieces that I have traced out on to freezer paper. I recommend that you always trace your patterns out on freezer paper because as the kid grows you will need a different size and this way you will not have to spend another $2o on a pattern. 

 Here is a needle book that I keep my "special" needles in, for this type of fabric I used a ballpoint needle. Apparently any type of stretchy fabric you need to use a ballpoint needle. I guess you learn something everyday. 

 Here is my thread and fabric you want to get your colors as close as  possible, you will not really see the inside seams however when you are doing the elastic you will see the thread. 

 Now you have to cut out all your fabric out. I lay the pattern down and put the washers on it so that my pattern doesn't move around and I think it gives me a closer cut, however that may just be me going crazy. 

It is easier for me to just lay all my pieces out at once just to see what will use the least amount of fabric. But overall it is just what is easier for you in the space you have. 

Here is my front body piece cut. 

Here are all my purple pieces cut out. And all my gold pieces cut out. 

I like to lay everything out like it will be sewed together in order to make sure that it all looks right, it just helps me organize myself a little bit. 

I put three  applique strips on this one and I had to lay them out first to make sure i liked their placement. 

 when I do the applique I baste stitch it on then i use a tiny zigzag on the edges to make sure it won't rip off. when you do these stitches make sure your fabric and thread colors are matching. 

Now I am putting my third strip on. i recommend that you pin it first sew then flip it over so you are hiding those unfinished edges of the fabric. 

 Here is a close up of my stitching with the straight and then small zigzag

 Now that you got the body mainly done you need to put the top together. If you have a one piece pattern then you won't need to do this part. 

 A close up of pinning. I recommend you alway alway ALWAYS pin then sew because this stretchy fabric moves around and slips around A      LOT! ! ! ! !

Here is it after sewn together, this is the top back piece. 

 Now you pin your shoulders together and sew.

 Here is both shoulders pinned.

Now match the sides up and sew. 

Match the sides and crotch of your leotard up and sew then you will have the body and top pieces of the leotard done.   

 Then you match the little points up on your pattern and sew all the way around the leotard. This step is much easier said than done. 

 As you go you should always serge your edges or do a straight stitch then a zigzag to imitate a somewhat serge. 

 This is what the inside will look like after you are done

 This is the pattern i used.

 Finished outside front 

 Finished outside back.

And as usual I signed my work. 

If you have any questions please feel free to ask, if you have any suggestions pretty please share those too because we would all love to hear. 

XOXO, 

Erin Lou 

finally!!! Leotards

So I have been waiting for about 3 weeks for this wonderful gymnastics leotard to come in. The huge snow storm bringing in about 10 inches of snow did not help speed up the shipping process but luckily as soon as the pattern came in I could begin since I had already purchased my fabric. I decided to make a sleeveless 2 colored leo with gold on the bottom and purple on the top.

So I have not been able to actually make my 2 colored leo however i have made these two leos. To make these I used the pattern 2793 from jalie patterns. I think it is a great pattern, it has many many many sizes and is over all super simple to do. 

first I traced the pattern out on to freezer paper so that as they grow I can reuse the pattern for any size. Yes this takes a little longer but it saves your pattern.

After I got my fabric all cut out you just match the notches and sew. I do recommend that when you sew them you pin pin pin and then sew. I say this because when sewing the purple one I continuously had to seam rip because I kept messing my seams up. Stretchy fabric is very hard to sew. 

I also added simple stripes on the leotards. to do this all you have to do is a basting stitch then zigzag around it. Also when doing the appliqued pieces you should try to get fabric that is equally stretchy or more stretchy than the one you made the leotard out of. 

I also added my signature with shirt paint. I would recommend to put your signature more toward the center. 

Here is the little one wearing it right before her practice.

if you have any questions ask me, I just might be able to help you or ask some of my sewing savvy people to answer your question.  

XOXO,  

Erin Lou 

Duct tape Tri fold wallet with lots of room!!

Hi guys today I was bored and decided to make a Duct tape wallet. One thing I can say is that I suggest that whenever you are making any sort of a duct tape craft to make sure you use a X-acto knife and cutting mat versus ripping it. Using a knife and cutting mat will give you a better finished quality. One thing I do recommend is that when ever you are posting anything that you made and will ever want credit for on the internet, especially etsy or eBay to sell, make sure that you watermark it with your name or company or something like that.

So I started this this morning and then didn't finish until around 4 o'clock  due to many reasons, lunch my sister getting in a car accident (this is what mainly set me back) but all is good. 

This is normally what my work space looks like. I work insanely well in messy areas, I have no clue why but I do. 

So these were my materials. The color of duct tape that I used, my beloved X-acto knife, my ruler and my huge cutting mat. I personally like the big cutting mats so i can lay all my duct tape out and cut it all at once. 

Here are the pieces that I began with, my card pockets, money pockets and the pleat pieces that i used on the top.

If you are like me you like to cut all your pieces out at once, I just find it easier, but I forgot some pieces so I had to cut them out. 

Once i got mostly everything thing cut out I put my card pockets on to my money pocket base. when doing this I  recommend that you try to line your card pocket trims up so they are even all the way across and evenly spaced when going down. 

Just putting the Card pockets on again. I tape each one down on the bottom first then the sides later. 

So here are my finishing pieces. The top piece has 2 separate money pockets with 4 card holders, and ID holder. The bottom is a money pocket and 8 Card holders. 

 This is the duct tape sheet that i made for the main base of the wallet. 

 This is the finished product.

 Again the finished product. 

I think that it turned out great. If you are interested in purchasing this wallet or a wallet similar to this one this one go to www.etsy.com/shop/CraftieGirlsErinLou