Baby its cold outside

Its cold in the house too. The boys are building a fire as I sit here under my cozy blankets and type.

How about a tutorial?

Bloomers....so cute on little girls!

Bloomer are fun and easy to make. I love how they look peeking out from under a dress. My youngest dd, who gets the lions share of my sewing, was needing a pair. I am making the pair that the little girl is wearing.

This is McCall's 4505. Its still available as far as I know where ever McCall's patterns are sold. I think I own three of these patterns. I wait until Joann Fabrics puts their McCall's patterns on sale for $1 each and then purchase new patterns. In my opinion this is a timeless pattern and very useful.

The next two pics are for information purposes only. On patterns you will see the markings that I zoned in on for the pic. I usually make a small clip in the fabric where the marking are, about an 1/8-1/4" clip.

Two markings denote the back of what ever you are working on. These marks are commonly seen on the back of a sleeve and bodice too. One marking denotes the front.

I have gotten, over the years, to where I mark everything on my pattern. I don't try to guess it anymore. It saves me frustration in the long run. Among my favorite sewing tools are the colored wax paper and the marking wheel. Here I am marking the line where I will sew the bias tape on for the elastic.



The pattern directions call for laying the elastic on the line and sewing it or zig zagging it down. I don't like that. At least not on garment for little girls. I like to make a casing for the elastic. Today I used some bias tape pieces that I had.

Next iron under the hem. I folded under 1/4" and then folded and press again on the 1/4". Then stitch the hem.

Run the elastic through the casing and stitch the inseams of the legs together.

The result was this. If you look closely (maybe) you can see that the leg on the left is right side out. The leg on the right is wrong side out.

I put one leg inside the other, RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER. Meaning that when you look at this...

on the outside you see the seam allowance. If you look on the inside (after pinning) you will see the other seam allowance. I stress this b/c when working with fabric that has no right or wrong side, its easy to over look the seam allowances that are on the wrong side...(hehe I've sewed them together wrong several times in the past) Sew the crotch or the U as I call it, pull the one leg out and Viola!

I turned the waist under 1/2" and then 1". Sewed it down and ran my elastic through. I like to over lap my elastic and zigzag over it a few times. I hate it when elastic breaks in the waist band! It is usually preventable.

I have a spool of soft blue ribbon that I keep in my sewing drawer. I cut of a 2" piece and sew it into the waist band to mark the back from the front.

The finished product. Cute little girl bloomers!