Yesterday, I went with our homeschool group to our local wild prairie! It's only half an hour away from town, and it is a beautiful place to go, and as I found out, it's beautiful in ALL seasons! Now before I went, I thought that it would just be muddy and windy and cold and brown all over, but there was a lot more to it than that! A few of my friends were there, and we discovered lots of amazing things! At 11 am, we arrived. It was pretty windy and chilly! Everything was completely silent, except for the wind and our own chatter. We could see a glimpse of our group kind of far off in the hills. We decided to explore the pond. the pond was frozen over, so thick that it was safe-ish to walk on the edges. I kind of wished that I had brought my ice skates, but the ice was REALLY bumpy, so that wouldn't be a good idea. Below: It was especially neat in the shallow areas to see the plants through the ice! It would have been a beautiful scene to paint! Then we caught up with the group and soon learned that they had spotted a bald eagle! A real bald eagle! Can you believe that? Here is the beautiful icy pond: As we were walking along the edge of the frozen, beautiful pond, we saw hundreds (ok, at least 90) of EMPTY snail-like shells! We were not quite sure if they were from snails, or something else, but they were beautiful! Their colors ranged from pearl white to dark amber brown. What do you think they could be from? here is a close up of a few of them. Then, everyone was starting to get a little cold, so we all went back inside the warm, inviting, visitor's center. My friends and I wrote some haiku's and poems about nature in a little reading nook. After that, we ran around on the trail some more, and my friend took this amazing picture of cattails. Look how fluffy they are! It reminds me of llama fur! Anyway, that was my amazing day at the prairie. I hope you enjoyed this post! If you don't ever want to miss a post, go to the sidebar, enter your email, and click subscribe!!! Gardening posts coming soon! Comment your ideas, I would love to hear them! Well, Bye for now! -Flala
0 Comments
Hello, awesome blog readers! Again, I am sorry for not posting in a while! Today I'm making a cute skirt for Willa, my new Wellie wisher. This skirt will fit other 14.5ish inch dolls, even small stuffed animals! You can also make the skirt a few inches longer for a maxi skirt, or an inch or so shorter, and a little less wide for a mini skirt! If you have a favorite teddy bear, for example that you wish to make a skirt for, that has a larger waist, just cut a longer piece of elastic that is a little longer than your bear's waist measurement! the skirt will not be as full, but it's an easy way to make a skirt fit bigger dolls/animals. Tip: If you are making this for bigger dolls or stuffed animals, make sure to make the skirt a few inches longer if your doll is taller than 14.5". This is a great beginner project, it is great for practicing straight seams! If you don't have access to a sewing machine, you can sew the seams with a sturdy hand-sewn back-stitch. Feel free to experiment! You can also sew a fun trim to the bottom. Anyhoo, enough chitchat! Let's get started! 1. Cutting Your FabricCut 1 piece of fabric 22" by 4.5" Cut 1 piece of 1/4" wide elastic 7 1/2" long I like using fat quarters for this project because they are exactly 22" long! 2. Pressing Up the Hem & Waistband CasingHead to the ironing board to press back your hem and waistband casing! For the hem: press the fabric 1/8 inch away from your bottom edge, then press forward another 1/8 inch for a basic hem. For the Waistband Casing: Press just as you did for the hem, but press forward 3/8" and then press forward 3/8" again, pressing the first press over. After you do this, there should be no raw edge. 3. Sewing the Hem and Waistband CasingStitch the (pressed up) seams with your needle at the edge of the seam facing the middle of the fabric. 4. Inserting the ElasticAttach a safety pin to the end of your piece of elastic, and push it through the waistband casing. (not through the hem!) Since the fabric is so much longer than the elastic, the elastic could get lost in the fabric 'tunnel' so either hold the end of the elastic somehow, or be really careful! 5. Sewing the Side SeamI like using an overlock/zigzag stitch for this step because it nicely finishes the edges, and it is so quick to do! If you can't do an overlock or zigzag on your machine, sew the seam with a straight stitch and then press it open when you are done with that. After you have pushed the elastic through, remove the safety pin, and leave the two elastic ends sticking out just a little bit so that they don't disappear into the casing. Now fold your fabric in half width-wise with the right sides together, and stitch THROUGH the elastic, to the bottom edge. (stitching through both layers of fabric with your presser foot on the edge of the fabric if you are using an overlock/zigzag stitch, or with a 1/4 inch seam allowance if you are just using a straight stitch) And now you have an extremely adorable doll skirt! I hope this tutorial was helpful and useful as well as fun! Let me know if you liked it. Also, let me know what other kinds of things that you think I should sew! More posts soon,
-Flala. |
Hi there!I am a homeschooler who loves to do DIY projects, make new recipes, grow plants and discuss interesting stuff. Archives
September 2018
If you like my blog, copy and paste my button to yours!
|