Pleated Pocket Capris

One more tutorial to bring home: the Pleated Pocket Capris.

Hello, Me Sew Crazy readers!  I am so excited to be here sharing a tutorial with you.  My name is Heidi, and I am a Canadian stay-at-home mom who blogs at Elegance & Elephants, a place where I share my handmade endeavours.  While I dabble in many homemade projects from cooking to crafting, my greatest passion lies in sewing garments and toys for my children Anja (1 1/2 years) & Tobias (4 years). 

Anja is at the stage where she is still pretty new at walking and to help protect her little knees from scrapes, I decided to come up with some little capri pants.  I didn't give specific sizes, but if you need to know exactly what I did in order to made your own, just let me know!

Here's what I came up with:

**each pocket pleat is half an inch wide, so keep that in mind as you cut your front piece.** 

 

**I like to cut the waistband out after stitching the front to back, trying it on, and making any adjustments, just to make sure it will fit well.**

Thank you so much for having me here today, Jessica & Me Sew Crazy readers!!

I would love it if you stopped by 

to say hello!

(If you're interested in the tutorial for the tunic that Anja is wearing, it's here.)

DIY piping

Piping is a great way to accent your projects and it's pretty unbelievable how easy it is!  

Here's how I make it:

1.  your supplies: some cording, and some fabric, about 3 cm/1" wide and as long as you need

2.  attach your cording to the fabric...a little awkward, but just make sure you have a few stitches in there

3.  fold over the fabric and stitch as close to the cording as possible using a zipper foot.  I found that as I was stitching, it helped to feed the fabric in at an angle

4.  a few stitches at the end

5.  admire your work!

Petal Top Tutorial

I've been intrigued by the many petal tops and dresses I have been seeing lately, and decided it was time to get in on the trend.  In keeping with my typical design aesthetic of simplicity, the petal influence is quite subtle, but still effective, I think.  I won't be giving many specific measurements, since this it will be very easy to size this to whomever you choose to make this for.  And feel free to add some length if you want to make this a dress.  Anja has enough dresses, so I wanted this to be a long top 

(have you noticed I make a lot of those!?).  

So, here it is, the Petal Top Tutorial:

Make your straps using this tutorial.

Turn your bodice right side out, and iron well.

  

How to Make Bias Tape Ribbon

I love using bias tape.  It has so many uses, but I especially like to use it to finish edges and for creating bows to match the fabric of the particular garment I'm sewing.  Store bought bias tape is a bit, well, stiff, and although I do use it from time to time, I've been avoiding it lately.  

There are super handy bias tape makers (I've got one on it's way to me in the mail), but if you don't have one, here's an easy way to make your own:

And here are some examples of how it's been used it in some recent projects.