Princess Dress Up Skirts

A couple of years ago Frozen was the big thing in our home. I won't be sad if it is a long time before I hear the song Let it Go again. Emma loved everything Frozen and at two and half years old she was just getting into playing dress up. I found some pretty blue fabric,  fabric with glittery snowflakes on it and decided to make her an Elsa outfit.
Because Emma was only two at the time she could pull elastic pants and skirts up and down, but couldn't easily dress her self otherwise. We were also beginning potty training and I didn't want complicated dress up clothes getting in the way. This is how the dress up skirt was born. (In my home anyway. I'm sure this had already been thought of by someone else). I made a very simple Elsa inspired skirt and a cape. It was a huge hit on Christmas morning and it is still affectionately worn by Emma and often times Leah.
As Emma has gotten older she has started to notice and love more Disney princesses and Elsa is not the favorite anymore. As she was approaching her fourth birthday, she asked if I would make her a Belle dress, because "Belle has brown hair like me." I'm always so excited when the girls request I make something for them. Most times I'm forcing (in the most loving way) all this handmade stuff on them.
I took a trip to Joann's and found some really pretty yellow fabrics, but because I had just made up the Elsa skirt I really wasn't sure what I was going to do. I knew I wanted to keep it a skirt, because that has really worked out, but other wise I had no idea how to make it "look like Belle." So I did what I do too often, I just started sewing with no real plan.
Here's what happened.

Note, all pictures she was in motion. This girl loves to dance.

I think it turned out awesome, but that's just my "humble" opinion. I've had several people ask how I made it. I wish I had taken step by step pictures, but I was too concerned with figuring out what I was doing. Maybe one day I will make it again, do a better job, and take pictures with instructions. Maybe.... But for now I will do my best to give my step by step instructions. It was so simple, I kind of hate to share how I did it, you will no doubt think less of my sewing ability. (You will also think much less of my sewing terminology) Oh well, here it goes.....

First I bought 1/2 a yard of the silky yellow fabric (we'll call it fabric A) and 1/4 yard of the shear yellow fabric (fabric B).

I bought my fabric a few weeks before I actually started sewing. When I unfolded fabric A it had natural lines/creases every 8 inches or so running perpendicular to the selvedge ends.

At every natural line/crease I would sew a long running stitch without locking my stitch at the beginning and end. I then pulled on one end of each of the running stitches to create slight gathers.

Once I had gathered ever so slightly all of my running stitches, I started working on fabric B. I stitched fabric B's longest sides right side together, leaving the selvedged pieces open at the end. This created a long "tube" of fabric. I turned it right side out and rolled the seam of the tube to the back.

I took my fabric B tube of fabric and started pinning it to the right side of fabric A, pretty much in the middle of the length. At every running stitch gather of fabric A, I would gather (let's be real, I just bunched it up) fabric B and pin it to fabric A. I then stitched fabric B to fabric A just over the running stitch.

All of this created my ball gown gathers and extra swooping line of fabric like Belle's dress. (Don't you love my technical wording)

After this, it just gets easier. You have your fabric ready to make a skirt. This lazy day skirt (from Oliver+S) is my go to pattern for making an elastic skirt with pretty much any fabric. I only modified the length and hem to make it a long ball gown for my four year old.

I hope this made sense. Dress up skirts are so easy and so much fun for little girls. I would love for you to be able to make a Belle dress for your little girl with brown hair (or blonde, or red, or any color hair!) If you have any questions please feel free to ask! If you make your own princess skirt, please feel free to share what you made and how!

Leah did not want to be left out. This is the Elsa inspired skirt. The cape was made out of the snowflake fabric. It has held up nicely, but I have sworn off ever sewing a glittery fabric again.

Peach Sorbet

Emma and I stopped by our local seafood mart, Captain Crusty's, yesterday. Despite the name sounding kind of gross, the seafood is excellent. After buying the shrimp that was on my list, I bought some delicious peaches, that were not on my list. I couldn't resist the basket full of peaches knowing that peach season is almost over. Our entire family loves to eat peaches just the way they are.  Unfortunately I had already bought lots of other different fruit the day before that we also need to eat. Needless to say I needed to find something to do with the peaches.
I wasn't feeling the traditional peach recipes. No cobbler or pie for us this week. Instead I started thinking of my new love of the summer, sorbet. We received this ice cream maker from my parents for our first anniversary and too be honest we haven't used it much until this year. I found great ice cream recipes, but they were all too rich and it took us way to long to finish them. This summer I decided to try my hand at sorbet and so far it has been a hit. We've had raspberry sorbet and lemon-basil sorbet, so why not peach sorbet!?
I started searching pinterest (of course) and the internet for peach sorbet recipes. There are a ton! Most were peach and something else, like basil or lavender. I just wanted plain peach sorbet. Finally I decided to just make something up on my own. I compiled several different recipes for ideas and measurements, but then I got in the kitchen and just kind of made it up.

Here is the recipe for the best peach sorbet! (that I have ever made...)

1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water
juice of one small lemon
1 tbs of dark rum*
1 1/2- 2lbs of peaches (about 4 medium sized peaches)

*The dark rum is completely optional. It won't hurt your sorbet to leave it out. I discovered that if you put just a little bit of liquor in your sorbets it doesn't freeze rock hard. That way you don't bend spoons or have to wait 15 minutes for your sorbet to thaw before you can serve it. Additionally, you won't be able to taste that small amount of liquor especially if it is something like vodka. I used dark rum because we had it and I thought it would be a good flavor combination with peaches, but you have to have a pretty sensitive palate to taste it.

First dissolve your sugar in your water in a small saucepan on low-medium heat. Making a simple syrup.
While your simple syrup is coming together, cut and pit your peaches. You can just cut the peaches into wedges and remove the pit. Don't bother removing the skin of the peaches.
Once the peaches are all cut, throw them into your food processor. Pulverize those bad boys until they are as pureed as they can possibly be. (It should look like baby food)
Take your pureed peaches and pour them into a strainer over a mixing bowl. Using a spatula force the liquid into the bowl, leaving most of the skin and chunks in the strainer. Some skin and chunks will make it into the bowl and that is ok.
Add the lemon juice to the bowl of the pureed peaches and place the mixture in the refrigerator.
Once your simple syrup has come together allow it to cool completely. (Sometimes I pour mine into a measuring cup and let it sit in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to help it cool faster)
When the syrup has cooled, pour it into your peach mixture and also add your rum at this time (if you are using liquor).
Mix everything together and pour it into your ready ice cream maker.
Our ice cream maker takes about 15 minutes for sorbet to have the right consistency. Keep in mind that your sorbet will firm up more once it is put in an air tight container in the freezer.
Next, enjoy!

This recipe made about 1 quart of sorbet.

My only regret. Not knowing to make this at the beginning of peach season..... until next year.

Fall Smell

I, like most, love fall. I love the leaves changing, the cooler weather, the football, the feasts, the clothes and the smells. Unfortunately for most of us in the south east we don't get any of that until nearly Christmas. I still try and enjoy fall by making some small changes around the house. A fall table runner, a new wreath on the door, different music playing (because we all know different music fits different seasons) and usually a fall scented candle. 

Personally I'm a huge fan of Bath and Body Works Slatkin & Co candles. They have a wonderful aroma but it isn't too strong. (I don't like to be knocked over by a scent when I walk into a room) The best part about the candles is that they are seasonal and the smell lasts as long as the candle. I find too many candles stop smelling after a short amount of time. The worst part about these candles, the price. $20 for a large candle. I don't know about you, but I think that's a lot of money for a candle. Luckily Bath and Body Works tends to have sells, buy one get one free. It seems worth it, when an extra candle could be saved for Christmas or a gift or something. Unfortunately this sell hasn't happened for quite a while around here and I've been really wanting a fall smell in our house. What to do?!?

Make my own fall smell! I have heard of many people "stewing" things on the stove for open houses and such. And let's be honest, our houses usually smell the best when we've been cooking something yummy. So, I thought, I'll "cook" something fall smelling.

First I thought about what fall smelled like to me. (I realize that all this fall smell talk is starting to sound ridiculous) Fall smells like pumpkins, cinnamon, pine and a few other wonderful things. So I started to gather. Here's my recipe

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp pumpkin spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 lemon wedges

1 tbs vanilla extract

(Honestly I didn't measure exactly, but this is my best guess)

I put all these ingredients in a pot and added enough water to cover everything. I placed the pot on the stove and am letting it sit on low. After it stews for a while you can turn the stove off and it will still smell nice. I'm sure a crock pot would work just as well. You might need to add water occasionally, but the house smells amazing! Now I realize this won't keep as long as a candle but it is certainly a cheap, quick fix for that fall smell until my next candle sell. I wish I could somehow post smell to the blog, but this picture will have to do. 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Warning: Remember to be cautious when leaving the stove on. Don't go too far and keep it on low.