DIY GAP Poplin Midi Skirt - 7QT Style

Have you seen this skirt at GAP?

It hits just below the knee which is my sweet spot.

It's all cotton and it comes in cute colors.

It's $59.99.

Wha?

So I made one my ownself for under $10 and I'm here today to tell you how you can do this too.

1. Assemble your ingredients.

Go to Wal Mart (or Hobby Lobby or Joann's etc.) and get 2 yards of cotton fabric in the color of your choosing. I chose Prussian Blue. The fabric was $5.97 for 2 yards pre-tax.

Grab a pack of 1 inch wide no-roll elastic for the waist ($1.77) and a spool of coordinating thread if you don't already have some.

Wash, dry, and press your fabric. With an iron, Sara. With an iron.

2. Cut your fabric.

Fold the fabric in half and cut two rectangles. My rectangles were 28 inches wide and at least 30 inches long. That gave me plenty of length to make the waist band and figure out a cute wide hem.

Those measurements are good for a GAP small. If you want to make a custom size, take your hip measurement and add 16 inches or more if you want a fuller skirt. If you're tall, cut longer rectangles. Two yards should be enough for everybody. Divide by 2 because one rectangle is the front and one is the back. But you knew that.

3. Sides.

I did my own version of a French seam on the sides. That's a fancy term for saying I sewed the rectangles together up the sides with a scant quarter inch seam allowance. (Apparently I was supposed to trim the seams to 1/8". Oops.)

Then I turned the giant tube inside out and ironed the seams.

Next, I sewed the sides again with a slightly more generous half inch seam allowance. This way, the side seams will never fray, and look super neat and tidy.

It helps that my fabric looks the same front and back.

4. The waistband.

 Choose the top edge. Iron a half inch fold all the way around.

Next, fold over that edge and iron a generous inch and a quarter all the way around. We are making a tunnel for the elastic to go through.

Sew this edge down but leave a couple of inches open to fit the elastic in like so.

Use the biggest safety pin you can find, pin it through one end of the elastic and feed the elastic through the tunnel.

When you've worked it all the way through, try on the skirt and adjust the gathers to your liking.

Stitch the ends of the elastic together and clip off the excess.

Stitch down the rest of the seam to conceal the rest of the elastic.

I did sew through the whole waist band at the side seams for a vertical inch or so, just to keep the gathers even.

5. The hem.

This may or may not be the same picture from up above.

Decide what length you want. Get a second opinion. Lucy helped me settle on 23 inches.  I cut the whole skirt length to 25 inches, and repeated the tunnel steps I used on the waistband. Half inch, then inch and a half hem. Ran it through the sewing machine one more time and done!

6. Commence awkward backyard photo shoot.

7. Caveats.

The Gap skirt has pockets. Carry a purse or wear a fanny pack or pay $60 for pockets.

The thin cotton fabric needs a slip. On it, Mom. FYI, the Gap skirt needs a slip too.

My apologies for the photo quality of this post, or lack thereof. I can only master one piece of machinery at a time. This time I beat the sewing machine into submission but let the camera be the boss. No time for photo editing or this post would never see the light of day like many I have in my drafts folder.

Susan and Lucy have fabric ready and waiting to be transformed. Lucy's is red, and Susan's is seersucker. Way to choose the wrench, Susan.

Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for Friday Quick Takes and you know I'll be back on Wednesday. I never miss the first Wednesday of the month because WHAT WE'RE READING WEDNESDAY!

"I'll be back!"

7QT: Such a long to-do list, I think I'll blog.

We are leaving for Michigan in the am.  The laundry isn't done.  There are still groceries to buy (Hello Aldi cheap beach snacks!).  The house is a mess.  But I think I'll cough up seven quick takes and tell the big kids to make brownies, because these things are important.

1.

Those people down there are my people.

Michigan.  It's just like this.  On a lake with a beer and a baby.

2.

We have a new Christian in the house!

Many, many thanks to Fr. Steve Grunow of Word on Fire for coming down to our neck of the woods to baptize Polly and to the many family members who journeyed far and cut vacations short to be with us on this great occasion!

3.  Here are some examples of how Old Scratch tried to spoil the day interspersed with photos that are not related to the text.

My dishwasher broke the night before.  Patrick duct taped it so the tape was barely noticeable and the dishwasher still functioned.

The morning of, in a group effort to get beverages in the coolers, Lucy picked up a 12 pack of beer on the back porch and the box broke!  Broken glass and beer everywhere!

Then after cleaning up that mess, Susan was stirring a glass pitcher of OJ RIGHT BEFORE WE WERE TO WALK OUT THE DOOR, AND THE PITCHER BROKE!  Glass and OJ all over my clean kitchen.

At this point, Patrick, Polly, Jill, and I took off for the church, leaving the oldest four to clean and make their own way.

Polly was a perfect baby for the entire ceremony except for some serious fussiness and squirming during the prayer of exorcism.  But then Fr. Steve called the Holy Spirit down on her, and she settled right down.

4.  The rest of the day was just lovely.  There was no Bacon Cake left.  No ham.  None of the four egg casseroles.  No Prosecco.  It was a great feast!

Then we napped.

My hair looked pretty good too.  Washed it the day before.  Curly friends, you got to get educated in Ouidad.  I read about this nursing friendly dress on this blog.  Thanks, Tess.  Sorry not sorry I got the same print as she did.  It's the prettiest one.

5.  Some of the male party guests were complaining about our gorgeous vegetable garden. I think they were afraid their wives would get ideas.

I'm linking up with Cari's Garden Post. Our harvest has been small so far.  Some lettuce, Swiss Chard, basil, and a total of 2 cucumbers and 9 green beans.  This is our first attempt at vegetable gardening.

Each of those cucumbers cost us about $175.

There are zillions of green tomatoes too.  I'm certain everything will ripen while we are away.  If you live locally, swing by my back yard and help yourselves.  I have a good gazpacho recipe here.

The pepper plants look good, but no peppers.  The watermelon was about the size of a golf ball, but squirrels got it somehow.  It looks like we will do well with pumpkins.  That will save me about $8 this fall.

Next year, I'm growing zucchini and arugula.

Mixing the compost.

BTW, the vegetable garden is all the work of Patrick, Edmund, and Peter.  Any and all flowers are my domain, and they are all dead or mostly dead, which is why they are not pictured.

6.

On Monday, we took our Houston family members to the zoo.  They left from the zoo for the airport, but we stayed and went to the Butterfly House.

Patrick is SKEERED of butterflies, so we have never been there before.

It was gorgeous and magical and I want to live there.  Or at least spend a couple of hours in there with a large iced tea.

7.

Jill is talking about this moment when she says she touched a pig at the zoo.

I suppose that's enough procrastinating.

I will try to keep up with the WWRW posts, but there is a serious lack of internet and even cell coverage where we're going.  Don't you ever think that I'd skip a What We're Reading Wednesday post because I haven't read any books.  Jill would never let that happen.

Linking up with Jennifer @ Conversion Diary and Cari @ Clan Donaldson.

Clickables on Holy Thursday

If you don't read Rebecca at Shoved to Them you should, and you definitely need to check out her 9 year old daughter's art blog that Rebecca introduces in this post.

Peter is taking a Theology of the Body elective this semester.  He told me that they watched this TED talk in class recently:

Which led to me telling him about former America's Next Top Model contestant Leah Darrow and her journey from fashionista to chastity speaker.

Which led to him telling me about actress (former Power Ranger) and designer, Jessica Rey, and her line of modest swimsuits inspired by Audrey Hepburn.

The things she has to say about scientific research, male brains, and bikinis is all new to me (around 4:30). National Geographic is one of her sources.

Did I mention that she is a former Power Ranger?  That fact alone gives her a lot of credibility in my book.

Sweet Beth lost her little Rebecca Irene this week.  I just can't help picturing Beth and Rebecca and thinking of this mama who lost her baby too.

This video of a young man with Down's Syndrome getting his college acceptance letter made me smile.

Lastly, I have a lovely conversion story to share with you about a couple entering the Church this weekend. I am always blown away when I see people make this journey from another faith or from no faith at all.  Seeing new Catholics profess the faith at the Holy Saturday vigil is always a high point of this weekend.  

Have a blessed Easter!

7QT A Week in Review

1.  Saturday

We got to see Jim Gaffigan's show and spend some time with him backstage.  You can see that his baby bump rivals mine.

2. Sunday

We watched a Family Movie chosen from Netflix based on the number of stars it got.

Kon Tiki did not disappoint.  Patrick and I had both read children's versions of Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki when we were kids, so we were familiar with the historic adventure from Peru to Polynesia.

Edmund enjoyed it too, thank goodness, because we were aiming to please the 11 yo old boy demographic.

3.

Monday, I got a call from my midwives.  No gestational diabetes, but a little on the anemic side.

Phew.  I'm not just a lazy sack of trash.  I'm not just old and pregnant.  I'm old, pregnant, and have low red blood cell count!  I can change one of those things!

I got this stuff for a small fortune at a health food store.  The bottle is hard to open and I spilled a few drops yesterday.

Shoo-Wee!  That stuff smells like rusty nail water.  It tastes slightly better though. I expect to have massive increased energy levels a n y m i n u t e n o w.

4.  Tuesday was the Feast of the Annunciation.  

All of these big Catholic vocabulary words can be very confusing, so I made a matching game for Edmund.

I printed pictures of famous artworks such as the Annunciation above, the Assumption, the Immaculate Conception, the Nativity, the Epiphany, the Presentation, the Baptism of the Lord, the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost, the Assumption, and a few others.

Then I printed the words in a big, nice-yet-easy-to-read font.  Cut the words out let him match them up.

It's pretty darn near impossible to find a picture of the Incarnation that is not the Annunciation or the Nativity. 

I used this one, which is sort of cheesy, and maybe confusing.  

I was hoping there would be a picture of Jesus appearing somewhere, saying, "I am the Word Incarnate." Sort of laying it all out there for us, the way Mary did at Lourdes when she said, "I am the Immaculate Conception."  But I couldn't find one.  If you know of one, please share!

5.  Wednesday, I decided to go ahead and put away my three maternity sweaters, because the sight of them is mucho depressing.  

I also got out all of Jill's summer clothes because, gosh darn it, is supposed to be SPRING! I refuse to let the weather man dictate what we will or will not wear.

I even cleaned out the front hall closet AND I put all of the snow pants in the basement.

Yes, I know I have cursed Chicagoland with more snow as a result of my actions, but on the plus side, Jill has at least three potential Easter dresses.  Scroll to QT 7 to see one of them in action during our Easter dress photo shoot.

6.  My high-schoolers have been on Spring Break this week.  

Peter is on the left.  

Peter got to go on a self-paid trip to Walt Disney World with his baseball team.  Susan and Lucy got to help me catch up on laundry and clean out that front hall closet.

I had been planning to take everyone out for breakfast yesterday, but middle of the night stomach flu hit Jill, so we were in no shape to go anywhere.

Miracle No. 1:  She had to go potty right when she got sick, so she was already near the toilet!  

Miracle No. 2:  She seemed fine all day, and no one else seems to have caught the bug.

She is feeling 100% again and was deee-lighted when this adorable pillow doll of her patron saint came in the mail from WaltzingM.  

Charlotte sells both the finished saint dolls, or the doll kits for crafty peeps.  

7.  Today, I made up for yesterday by taking the big girls out to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (fish tacos for me, shrimp fettuccine for them), and on an epic shopping adventure.  We were very happy that Patrick was able to work from home today.  

Edmund only called me three times while we were out, twice about history, once about math. He is not on Spring Break.

There is a Dress Barn near me that we have never ventured into.  I looked at their stuff online with Susan and Lucy the other night and we were BLOWN AWAY by their selection of adorable yet modest dresses that are reasonably priced.  I signed up for emails to get a 20% off coupon and with the "buy 2 dresses, get $10 off sale" we scored big time in the dress department today.

Too bad you can't see her coral wedges that match perfectly.

Patrick might not think they need two dresses each, but we have the Easter triduum, Lucy has a Spring Dance, plus there's Peter's graduation, my brother Peter's wedding and rehearsal dinner, and a summer baptism coming up.

Each of these dresses was near or less than $40.  

This one is actually from Kohl's, but it was also under $40 with my 20% off coupon last weekend.

Plus, we figured out their sizes so we can take advantage of the much larger selection online, in case someone happens to need this one, which fit either of them perfectly, but only came in beige (yuck) in the store:

Both retro and classic.  

Or this one:

The website tells you what size the model is wearing AND how tall they are!  It's nice to know that this model is 5'10" so this dress won't be shockingly short on my 5'9" daughter.  Lucy wears the petite sizes because she did not get the amazon genes.

We loved lots of the colorful dresses.  Is it just me or does LOFT only sell clothes in gray, ecru and skin color lately?  The girls appreciated that Dress Barn is arranged by color.  Don't look good in orange? Just move away from the orange section.  

Patrick's aunt used to be a buyer for Dress Barn. Susan and Lucy were wondering just how does one become a buyer for a store like that, and wouldn't that be a dream job?  

Yes.  Yes, it would.

Linking up with the cool kids at Conversion Diary.

7QT-Actually quick ones this time!

1.

2.  Speaking of big, if you're large and in charge, this fancy dress from Tarjay (online only) is the nicest tent I've seen for pregnant ladies who might have to go somewhere formal.  We have a benefit and bunch of high school graduation stuff coming up.  I will be wearing this for the next three months.

Black lace is totally fine on Easter, right?

3.  

St. Jude's School for Kids Who Want to Read Good and Do Other Things Good Too had a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium this week.  

We saw the dolphin/beluga/sea lion show.  Throughout the show Jill loudly queried, "Does this turn into a mermaid?"  

I whispered to her that mermaids aren't real, and she retorted, "They're real when they talk!

4.  I can't decide if I liked the seahorses or the jellyfish better.  Probably seahorses, because male seahorses carry their unborn and give birth, and because of this awesomeness:

5.  St. Jude's also started seeds this week.

Not our seeds, but we did order a lot.

We ordered a bajillion non-GMO seeds from St. Clare Heirloom Seeds.  This week we are starting tomatoes, green (sweet for Chicagoans) peppers, and jalapenos. 

The pepper seeds, both sweet and hot, had to be soaked for some time before planting.  Well, they sorta got soaked in the same container. 

I'm not that concerned.  Come harvest time (if we make it that far), I think I can tell the difference between a green pepper and a jalapeno.

6.  

Also, Edmund was given instructions to plant EIGHT tomato seeds, one in each peat pot.  That ended up being eight tomato seeds in each peat pot.  Oopies.

We are dealing with a huge learning curve here as Patrick, Edmund, and I read from our well-thumbed copy of Gardening for Dummies, the Interweb, and anxiously await our library hold on Square-foot Gardening to show up.

7.  

Edmund left the bowl that he used to moisten the seed starter mix on the dining room table.  Peter came home after his baseball game, and Naturally assumed that we had been making some mid-Lenten Oreo Balls and proceeded to taste the leavings.  Serves him right after QT#1.  

Bonus QT:  Edmund is using this garden project for a gardening merit badge for Boy Scouts.  He has to build and maintain a compost bin for 90 days.  Hit me with your best compost tips.  Fire Away!

Follow Conversion Diary for more Friday Fast Takes.