50s poodle skirt tutorial

Monday is 50s Day at my kids school.

they will be celebrating the 50th day of school... in style!

earlier this year, my mother-in-law made my oldest daughter a poodle skirt

and i asked her to help me make one for my 5 year old :)

i wish i could tell you that it was super easy and you could make it

with one hand tied behind your back- depending how "experienced" you

are with sewing. it actually is easy, but had i not had the help and expertise of my

mother-in-law, it would have been a lot harder and taken a lot longer. {call me slow. i'm gifted that way ;)}

we spent less than 2 hours,start to

finish ~ including stopping to change a diaper, get a snack

and tell a story or two ;)

first, and probably most important: measure your daugher!

{somehow i missed this part and had to go off the measurements from her apron}

you're gonna need:

black felt

{i bought 1 5/8 yd for my 5 year old. it was too much, so go with 1 to 1 1/2 yds. also, it was 52" felt.}

black velcro

{i wanted easy and fast, you could do a zipper & button if you'd rather.}

a poodle applique

 

silvery sequined ribbon

 

sewing pins

 

needle

 

white, black and pink thread

 

sewing machine

 

& if you want to make cute socks, to complete the outfit:

 

white ankle socks

 

white pom poms

the felt should be folded in half first. now fold it over itself about the length you want it to be.

so now it's 4 layers thick. we're going to cut the waist first and then 1 big circle:
{cause in the 50s, Poodle Skirts didn't have seams, they were 1 circle.}

measure for the waist.

{say you want the waist to be 20", measure closer to 3 1/2 or 4. 

you can always go back and enlarge it. i'll show you what to do if it's too big...}

measure the length. measure along the sides and from the middle of the waist out.

cut along the pins.

ta-da! it's a skirt! {almost}

the waist was too big. don't worry, we don't have to start over!

before we fix that, you need to make the opening.
the opening will be on the side, not the back.
cut down about 3 or 4 inches.

grab your black thread and needle.

make sure you thread enough through to go all the way around the waist.

we're going to "cinch" it.

go all the way around and pull
it to the right measurement before tying it off.

now we'll make the waistband. using the leftover felt, doubled, measure the full length of the waist.

then measure the width ~ about 2 inches. cut it out and let's sew!

using black thread, sew along the ends and 1 side.

cut a notch out of the very middle. the notch will help you keep it lined up.
this is the side of the waist opposite the opening.

now we want to attach the band to the skirt.
line up the side of the band with the edge of the waist, stitched side down.

sew it all the way around.

next, stand the waistband up, we're going to sew it again.

isn't it beautiful?!

i bought self-adhesive black velcro. we cut the length we needed
and attached it to the opening we cut earlier.

the skirt will overlap with the velcro just fine.

we're ready to decorate!
lay the skirt flat and position the poodle on the right side.
be careful not to put it too far to the side.

i do not recommend this ribbon. it was extremely hard to work with.
if you can find ribbon that is completely sequins, use it. you want something that is easy
to make loops with. {besides having to cinch the waist, this was the hardest part.}

i used pink thread and stitched around the poodle ~
just along the outside {with a sewing machine}. i used fabric glue to secure the
poodle's tail and nose ~ they were a little harder to stitch around.

then i used white thread, again with a sewing machine, and stitched the
ribbon around and up to the waist with a zig zag pattern.
the ribbon i had was only 1/2 yd ~ i would've like bigger loops.

i think it's presh!
~
although my girls don't have the authentic white and black tennis shoes,
 i wanted to make them "bobby socks" with pom poms on them.

i bought ankle socks, but fold-down "bobby socks" are fine too.
just stitch the pom poms to the backs of the socks by hand.

voila!

we'll see if they wear them... they have black ballet flats.

i haven't had time to try the whole outfit on them yet... so stay tuned for pictures :)