Sewing in a Menagerie

For those of you who don't know, my family has 5 pets. 2 dogs and 3 cats.

Triton (sound asleep in this photo):

Maddy (with her Woolly):

Peekaboo (or Boo Boo in the center. I don't have many good pictures of him):

Zoe Madison (she's the princess):

And Mickey (he was a stray I brought home from campus. He loves water):

A couple of my lovelies decided to be very helpful while I went about making my 5 minute skirt. Mickey was in a very playful mood and was under the impression that the measuring tape was a vicious snake out to destroy the world. He also tried to pounce on my scissors as I was cutting. Not smart, cat. Not smart. 

Then later Triton needed some love. Immediately. He wouldn't have minded if I also threw his ball a couple of times. 

Despite my zoo's best attempts the skirt is complete. Not quite 5 minutes but it was pretty simple. My biggest advice is to measure everything. I creates a casing and threaded elastic through it rather than do the fold over elastic but this FOE does have me intrigued. I just couldn't find any and I was impatient. 

My other bit of advice is for when you go to hem. Lay the skirt flat with the seams on either side and cut straight across. Then lay it flat with the seams on the top and bottom and, measuring frequently, cut the same length all the way across. It should curve parallel to the waist. 

I did have to purchase elastic, $1.99 plus tax, and we owned a sewing machine (otherwise this would have sucked). My fabric actually came from an old sheet. It had been used for another project but there was enough left. Way to upcycle though, right? Kids bed sheets = new wardrobe.