fashion trends for 2010

Although this is mostly a crafting/sewing blog, every once in a awhile I feel like I need to delve into deep subjects like . . . the fashion trends of 2010.  The first trend is modeled by my four year old.  She is wearing a polka-dot pajama shirt, pink pants that are about three inches too short and of course, the biggest trend of the season - every cool kid's must have item, a tutu.  

The second "it" look is being modeled by an almost two year old with her own sense of style.  She is America's Sweetheart in her blue shirt, rainbow striped pants, snow boots (on the wrong feet, of course - all the cool kids are doing it), and that signature tutu. 

Now, if you are one of the three people who reads my blog, you may remember that I made this tutu with the hopes of giving it to my daughter for her birthday.  Wait . . . don't wish her a happy birthday yet because her birthday is not for THREE MORE WEEKS.  It turns out that tutus are hard to hide from curious kids.  It turns out that if there is a big fluffy pink and purple skirt-like object hanging in the laundry room, kids ask questions like, "What is that?"  "Who is that for?"  "Is that for me?"  "Can I wear that now?"  (Note to self: next time I make something I don't want my kids to find I should probably put it someplace other than hanging up in the laundry.)

So . . . the tutu has made an earlier-than-expected debut, and I will be coming up with something else to make for the upcoming birthday.  Any ideas?  Please give me some.  I need something fairly easy (as evidenced by my issues with fusible interfacing) and appropriate for a two year old who is fairly destructive.    

Craft on! 

and the winner is . . .

EVERYONE!  Eight people posted guesses on the blog or Facebook, and almost all eight guessed a tutu.  Okay, I'll be honest . . . brutally honest . . . I'm disappointed.  I was hoping to stump people, but clearly that was too easy of a guessing game.  The ease at which you guessed the  mystery item only spurs me on to try this guessing game again in the future with something even more challenging.  Someone mentioned that I should give the tutu away to the first person who guessed correctly.  Ha!  My "easy" tutu project actually took quite a while to do, so I'm keeping it all for myself.  (Actually, I'm keeping it for my daughter's birthday.  I'm pretty sure it would only fit over my left thigh - it's not exactly adult appropriate.)  However, maybe next time we play this little game I will think of something to give to the winner . . . perhaps a rotary cutter.  (Smile)  

As I mentioned, this is for my daughter's birthday - not for the twelve crafts till Christmas.  In December I found a super easy and VERY DETAILED tutu tutorial from Bethany at Vermillion Rules.  (Quick . . . say that ten times fast.  Did you do it?  That's a mouth full!)  Bethany is clearly a type A personality after my own heart because she puts soooo much detail in her tutorials.  If you have never made a tutu before and there's a kid in your life who might enjoy one, I totally encourage you to try it at least once.

I tweaked a few things from Bethany's directions because the truth is I don't really like to follow directions.  Whether it's cooking, baking, crafting or sewing, I'm not exaggerating to say that I never do it the way the recipes, directions, instructions or tutorials say.  I've always been that way . . . you can ask my parents . . . much to their dismay.

I'll give you a quick rundown of the tweaks I made just in case you actually care and want to try this little project at home.  

1)  Color order and choice - Bethany is pretty specific about the order of colors that she recommends.  I went with a much more random effect.  To be honest, the tutu is so puffy and wild I'm not sure if it really matters enough to put that much time into ordering and sequencing the colors.

2)  Length and width of individual tulle pieces - I didn't really go for symmetry.  I like the varied pieces that sort of jut out randomly in places.  It's like the tousled-hair-look for a tutu.

3)  Surprise . . . ribbons - I have a shoe box stuffed full of ribbons just waiting to find life in something, so I decided to give them life as they wave about in a dancing tutu.  I replaced one of the layers of tulle with a ribbon about every fourth set of tulle.  That worked out super because I think if I had all those extra pieces of tulle this tutu would have been way too puffy.  The ribbons add an extra pop of bright color, take out some of the tulle volume and add some different texture in the mix.  I like it!  

FYI - I just got introduced to this cool little product called Fray Check.  Hello . . . this is a little magic in a bottle.  I completely recommend putting Fray Check on the ends of the ribbons so that the fraying is in check.  (Sigh - I'm not as clever as I think I am.)       

So . . . thanks to everyone who took the time to humor me and guess the mystery item on FB or in the comments section.  I'm off to work on another crayon roll.

Also, if you have posted a comment/question on a past post, check back to that post for my response.  Thanks! 
Craft on!