Passing the time

At least once a month (but more often like a few times a month), Hubby has a meeting in the evening during the week.  I've usually used that night to take the kids to the library.  Last night was Meeting Night.  The thought of taking Lou to the library again made my head spin.  I'm still scarred from last time and I'm quite positive the Library Ladies are too.  What a disaster. :)

I decided then that Meeting Nights will become Work on a Crafty Project Night.  On my to-do list for last night was Pleated Headbands for my girls and a new ironing board cover for me.

While the kids were still awake, I tackled the clothes in their closet.  Ugh.  It's not a job for the faint of heart.  In my 7 yr olds mess, I found this shirt.

It had a smocked top and the rest of it was A-line "white" cotton.  There was a huge stain on the front of it so I never let her wear it, unless she snuck out the door without me noticing.  Apparently she never followed my instructions to toss it. :)

I had an ah-ha moment to put ruffles down the front and maybe get a little more life out of it.  If you know me well enough, you know I have a ton of ah-ha moments, but hardly ever follow thru with any of them.

Determined to accomplish something different I attacked the shirt.

Using the bottom line of the colorful zig zag on the top part of the shirt, I started adding a pink and white polka dot ruffle.  (needing to rip out the first attempt and start over.  Story of my life with projects like this.)

For the next ruffles, I dug thru my scrap bin and found other polka dots that were already cut 4" wide.  I sewed the strips together until it was longer than the width of the shirt I wanted to cover.  I then hemmed one edge and pinned it on, hand gathering it as I went.  I simply zig zagged it to the shirt, leaving a raw edge on top. (note the stain on the shirt in the picture.  hideous.)

  Yep, not very pretty, scientific or complex.  But since I have a history of not finishing projects like this, I didn't want to invest a lot of time or material into it.

Wonders never cease.  I actually finished it.  It's not perfect but it's done.  My 7 yr old hasn't seen it yet as I had run out of thread on my bobbin when I was about 6" from being completely done, so I finished it fully this morning. (I take that back, I still have strings to cut.)

When I held it up, it looked like it'll hang well when she wears it but I'm curious to see what it looks like when it's actually on her.

Now that I know I actually can do something like this, I just might try some skirts or something on the next Meeting Night. :)  Good one, right?!?