It’s that time of year again.  Beach days, pool swimming, sunshine and bathing suits all day.  My favorite!  But like the majority of the female population, I don’t want to be running around in just my bathing suit.  I have many  bathing suit cover ups, but had some more knit fabric that I had ordered and thought that this coral and black chevron print would make the most perfect cover up for these warm, summer days!

I like my cover ups to be able to be worn as a skirt, for walking on the beach and still getting sun.  But sometimes I want my belly covered, so I need it to be able to be a dress too.  So I figured out an elastic banded cover up that will fit beautifully however I choose to wear it!

Are you ready to make your own??

::You Will Need::

at least 1 yard of lightweight knit fabric

around 1 yard of 1 inch thick elastic (this will vary depending on your size)

sewing machine, and other sewing necessities

::Get Cutting::

You are going to need to figure out some of your measurements for this part.  But don’t worry, no tape measure needed!  With the elastic band, and forgiving knit, it’s quite simple to get a great fit.

Wrap the elastic around your hips or just under your arm pits (wherever you think you will wear your cover up more.)  For me, there isn’t too big of a difference between the two so it is very easy to wear this either way.

Fold your fabric in half and lay it out flat.  Fold your elastic in half and lay the folded elastic at the top of the fabric in the center.

 Measure your folded elastic and add 10 inches to it.  This creates the wide flared bell shape to the cover up.  For a tighter fit, add fewer inches and vice versa for a more flowy cover up.

At the bottom of the fabric, mark your added length.  Draw a diagonal line connecting the top and bottom, creating a trapezoid shape.

::Time to Sew French Seams::

If you have never made french seams before, well, then it’s time to learn.  When making an unlined piece of clothing (or pillowcase or bag…) and you don’t have a serger available to you, then this is a great way to get a clean looking finish without having exposed seams.

First, and this will seem odd, place your fabrics WRONG SIDES TOGETHER.  Sew a scant 1/4 inch down each side.

To create a place for your elastic casing for the cover up, start sewing 2 1/2 inches from the top on each side.

Flip out your fabrics so that they are  RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.  Sew 1/2 inch seam allowance.

**little tip**  I like to use my 1/4 inch foot when sewing my half inch seam allowance.  Since my 1/4 inch foot has the guide, I can put the old seam on the right side of the guide to ensure that the old seam is all caught in the new seam.  That is the most important thing when sewing french seams.  You don’t want part of the seam allowance hanging out of your new seam!

::Making the Elastic Casing::

Remember when you started sewing 2 1/2 inches from the top?  Well now it’s time to fold those 2 1/2 inches in half (don’t forget to tuck in the seam allowances!)

Press well.

Sew this folded part down, 1/4 inch from the edge.  This creates your elastic casing.

Attaching a safety pin to the end of the elastic, work it through the casing all the way around both sides of the cover up.

Once the elastic is all the way through, you will need to sew it together.   I like to use a zig zag stitch, and go over it a few times, just to be sure it stays sewn together!  We don’t want any dresses falling down, even if you do have a bathing suit on!

Hand stitch the openings closed.

::Almost Done::  aka Hemming

We are so close to the end!  You need to figure out how long you want your cover up to be.  Will you be wearing it as a dress?  Be sure it’s long enough to cover your bottom!  Mark how long you want it, add an inch and cut it to that length.

For me, I was able to get away without having to cut anything.  1 yard was the perfect length to make a cover up dress and maxi skirt.  If you want a shorter skirt, you will need to cut some length off.  

Fold the bottom under 1/2 an inch.  Press well.

Sew all around the bottom of the cover up. I sew my hem 3/8 inch from the bottom.

Ta da!  You now have a comfy, wonderful summertime bathing suit cover up.  Go, get your suit and sunscreen on and get yourself outside and enjoy being stylish poolside!

A big hello to everyone stopping by from the Blogger’s Quilt Festival!  The festival is hands down, my favorite biannual online event!  I love going through all of the other amazing quilts and blogs that are linked together.

This year, I’m choosing to enter my Blackberry Winter quilt.   I made this quilt for the past issue of Fat Quarterly magazine.  The theme was modern meets traditional.

This quilt took a very traditional (been around forever) HST layout and put my own little spin on it.

I’m choosing to enter this in the home machine quilted category.  This past year, I have really focused on my FMQ skills (and have come a long way! Remember this?)

I quilted swirls and flowers in all of the gray/negative space.  On the big squares, I did really large loopy ovals and again, the swirls and flowers inside of those.  For the small squares, I left them fairly open, quilting just 4 large, connected swirls.

See past Blogger’s Festival entries here:

Fall 2012

Spring 2012

Fall 2011

Hi!  I wanted to check in here and let you all know what I’ve been up to.   I’ve been so busy on the sewing front, but don’t have anything I can share!  And sewing things you can’t share makes for such a quiet blog!

I have also been sewing up some things for my little Etsy shop.  There’s not much in there, but after another shop update today, it’s getting more full!  I just listed a whole bunch of pleated zipper pouches (like my giveaway day item) as well as card wallets.

And among all of this “must do” sewing, I have a fun little side project going for me!

This will (one day) become a Maple Leaf Rag Quilt from the book Material Obsessions 2.  I’m having fun playing with the tiniest bits of scraps to make this!

So that’s about all that’s been going on in my little corner of the world.  I’ll be sure to stalk all of the lovely pictures and happenings going on at quilt market this weekend.  Are you going?  If so, take some good pictures for those of us #notgoingtomarket.  And if you are staying home and on Instagram, be sure to tag your goings on with #notgoingtomarket.  After all, misery loves company!

Well, I suppose you are all wondering who won the zippered pouch from giveaway day!

First, I wanted to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you who entered.  I was blown away by the amount of entries.  And all of the uses for zippered pouches were so fun to read.  It was pretty obvious that we all love our zippered bags!!  In fact, it made me want to make one for myself!

Congratulations, Joyce.  You will be receiving an email from me shortly!

And if you didn’t win this time around, there will be more giveaways here very soon!  And in the meantime, my Etsy shop is freshly full of some pleated zippered and quilted pouches.    with more to come soon! 

 Thanks again!

I took the scenic route around the world.  Taking time to enjoy the view, seeing as it sat on my design wall for a good month.

There is something about this quilt that I was so drawn to. When all of the trips started happening, I was in NYC and remember thinking that I could not wait to get home and start one of my own.  And you better believe, the first day I was home I was chopping up 2.5 inch strips!

Aside from the actual quilt, another thing I love about it is the generosity and friendship that went into it.  Whenever I was cutting strips, I would cut double to give to a friend, and vice versa.  Although, I think she cut WAY more!

I found this print for the back at JoAnns.  I typically just use solids on the back of my quilts, but when I saw this print, I just knew it was going to be my scrappy trip back.

This quilt is 5 rows by 6 rows.  I really wish I would have made another row since I like super big quilts, but I wouldn’t have enough fabric for the back.  So I went ahead and just finished it.  It was also a lazy thing, I just wanted it to be finished!

I love the look of the scrappy trip quilts from afar, all spread out so that you can see the square designs.  I’m thinking I am going to start a new one, but a little smaller, to fill one of my walls that really needs some color!