Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Tablecloth Skirt

I saw a post on Pinterest that shows how to make a "tablecloth skirt."  I love the way the finished product looked, all that hanging fabric, so I decided to give it a try myself!

First off, I made mine WAY too big.  It's ridiculously long on me.  For next time, I'd make my initial square much, much smaller.  Also, the fabric I used was one I just had left over.  This would look better in gauze, or even in plain cotton.

Okay, onwards....

First, I cut a large square out of the fabric.  One of the sides was initially 43 inches (the initial length), so I cut all sides to match.

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Next, you fold it in half, hot dog style.

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Then fold it again, hamburger.

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You're left with a small square, four times smaller than your original.  Now, you need to cut the hole for your waist.  I used a circle skirt pattern I already had.  If you don't have that, take the measurement of your waist, add 2 inches, then divide by 6.28.  That will be the length from the corner your hole needs to be.  You can make a string that length and run it in a loop from the point in the center; or you can just measure a few times from the point and mark each time, connecting the dots at the end.  You can find a great tutorial on how to do that here.

When you unfold it, it looks like this (like I said, it's way too long!):

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Next, cut out four panels of the same length as your square's sides.  The width of the panels is up to you.  I should have made mine shorter, but I just cut what was left of my fabric into four equal parts.

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You'll want to sew each panel to one side of your skirt, right side to right side.  Like this:

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Once all the panels are attached, you need to sew the seam between the panels, turning the bottom of the cube.

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For the hem, I used 1/2 inch black biased tape.  Just sew slowly, and the corners present no problem.

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Here is it is with all the biased tape done!

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Since my material is not opaque, I wanted to add an underskirt.  I had a remnant of black silk that I used.  I sewed up the side at a diagonal, after measuring the top to my waist.

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Cut an elastic strand the length of your waist.  

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Since my skirt had so much fabric, I thought it would help to gather the inside seam before sewing the hem down.  So I did a long straight stitch all the way around my top, about four inches.

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Then, fold the top down (so the top is meeting gathered seam).  Tuck the underskirt inside, and pin.

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Not the prettiest seam, but it'll do!

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And here's the finished product!

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I love the way it looks, but wish it was shorter, and made from a different material.  I will have to try this one again!


~Buttons

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Popcorn Cake

For celebrating a birthday at school tomorrow, I wanted to try something different.  I searched through Pinterest and found a Popcorn Cake!  It was super easy, and it tastes pretty good too!  I guess the challenge will be if the kids like it tomorrow, or not.

Ingredients:
10.5 oz. package of marshmallows
16 cup popped popcorn (I used three 82.3g bags, and had about 2 cups left over)
1/4 cup butter (plus 2 tbsp for greasing the pan)
1 large bag Peanut M&M's (I have a kiddo with a peanut allergy, so I used mini Rolos instead)
1 bundt cake pan
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First, grease your bundt cake pan.  

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For this, I melted 2 tbsp of butter into a small dish.  Using a paper towel, I dipped it into the butter and gently rubbed it on the sides of the pan.  Set the left over butter to the side--we'll use it later.

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Next, pop the popcorn.  I didn't have a mixing bowl big enough to mix all 16 cups at once, so I put 8 cups into the bowl.

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I melted 1/8 a cup of butter on the stove (over medium heat) and added half of the 10.5 oz bag of marshmallows.

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Heat until smooth.

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Pour the marshmallow mixture over the popcorn.

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Stir it all together.

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Pour into the greased bundt pan.  Using the extra melted butter, dip your fingers in to grease them.  Use your fingers to press the popcorn into the pan.

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I decided to add the layer of Rolos here, giving us a chocolate/caramel middle.

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Now, repeat the steps to mix the other 8 cups of popcorn.  Once done, press into the bundt pan.

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Let it sit for 10-15 minutes.  Using a knife, gently (so you don't scratch your pan) scrape the sides.  Invert the pan, and you've got your popcorn cake!

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To make it more festive, I added on colorful sprinkles!

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Enjoy!


~Buttons