Amy Butler Blue Sky Hats

It's been a very mild winter, but I'm still so excited about spring!  I love when the bulbs start to pop up, I adore leaving the house in the morning without a coat and it brightens my day to hear the birds singing outside my window... and I LOVE having an extra hour of daylight after work.  In honor of spring's arrival, I decided that it was time to make Amy Butler's Blue Sky Hat.  There's nothing better than sitting on the beach, with a good book and a great hat!

This pattern was a fun afternoon project.  The directions were very clear and easy to follow.  I used home decor fabric from Hancock Fabrics and one layer of cotton duck sandwiched between the home decor fabric.  The hat is simply triangles sewn together to make a skull cap and a wide brim.  Couldn't be simpler!

Ready for the beach any day now!  I'm pretty certain that every one of my female family members and friends will be receiving one of these hats as a present for some upcoming holiday... Just a warning!

Simplicity 2003 ... and my new "SewSimple" Obsession

For a long time, Walmart was the only place to satisfy my sewing retail therapy.  I found the "Sew Simple" patterns that they sell for 97 cents and went crazy... I must have at least 15 of them in my to-do bin.  They're quick, easy and great wardrobe staples.

Lately, I've been venturing to Hancock to buy fabric or ordering from fabric.com, but I had some orange cotton in my stash and decided that it was time to use it up!  I thought that it was just perfect for Simplicity 2003.

This skirt was a blast to make.   I lined it because my material was thin and I omitted the tie in the front.  I prefer the way the softer, light weight material lays for this skirt.  It will be perfect for our hot South Carolina summer weather.

This was my first time lining anything and it took me a long time to get the zipper right.  I'm so pleased with the way that it turned out though.  I used the glue stick set method and it looks really clean and neat.

I definitely plan to make this skirt again!  Be sure to check the sizing... I generally wear a pattern size 6 in skirts and a 10 in this pattern fit me perfectly.  I love the length of this skirt.  I'm very tall and it's long enough to wear to work.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!