A circus act + a super easy skirt or 2 or 3!

We brought the girls to a circus show last weekend.  This had been planned a few months in advance so when I came across some circus fabric over at Hawthorne Threads, I had to buy it.  I had big plans for multi-layer twirl skirts but then I waited until the last minute to sew the girls' birthday outfits.  And then a few us became ill with another stomach virus.  And then I realized that none of my "neutral" fabrics matched at all and there was no time to shop.  And then there was almost no time to sew.

Let's talk about super easy skirts.  All you need is a rectangle of fabric



and an hour to create one.



Have two hours?



Have another hour?  (You better if you have three girls.)



That rectangle is the entire width of the fabric.  To determine the length, I added 3.5 inches to my desired finished skirt length.  I wanted the shorter skirts to be 12 inches long, which is knee length for my girls, so I cut the length at 15.5 inches.  The waistband is the same as that from my twirl skirt tutorial.  It's super easy!

I want throw out a heads up to read the instruction manual of your sewing machine.  I'm sometimes an example of Do as I say, not as I do.  I've had my machine for so long and because I was originally sewing curtains on it, I haven't gone back through the manual unless I need to look up a specific topic, like thread tension.  Well, I'm glad I stumbled across information on other stitches because now I have better options that a basic zig zig stitch on inside seams.  My old machine would have eaten the bobbin but hey, it works on this machine and it looks so much cleaner and professional.  Live and learn.

So here are the finished skirts before we left the house.  We were quite literally running out the door at that point.






A note on the maxi skirt - you need to make sure that it's not too straight, especially if you are using non-stretchy fabric.  You want your kid to be able to walk in it.

This was a Ringling Bros. show.  We did the Big Apple Circus three years ago when Bello was back.  I've heard that it's not as good without him.  The girls did enjoy this show but I don't think it's something we would see every year.



Emily was cracking me up.  She brought Little Lion so that he could see his Uncle Funkle, who apparently is a circus performer.  Little Lion's mom is a tiger and his dad is a dog so I guess it makes sense that his uncle is a tiger.



I had no intentions on photographing the circus but I brought my camera with the thought that the opportunity may arise to photograph the girls.  I really haven't been taking many photographs as of late.  It's not that my interest in photography has waned - quite the opposite actually.  Life sometimes becomes so crazy that there isn't time available for photography projects.  I'm learning that I need to create my own opportunities.  I'm glad I had my camera with me because I just love this picture.    



ISO 3200, f/3.5, SS 1/80