Made By Lex

Foam Magazine

I was introduced to Foam magazine last year and loved it immediately. It is surfer based with edgy fashion and amazing photography mixed in.

How excited am I that my leg Warner’s post is over at foam?

Go check it out!And don’t forget today is the last day to enter the Harts Fabric $100 giveaway!

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Harts Fabric $100 Giveaway!!!

Hey guys! Just wanted to post a reminder about Harts Fabric’s $100  giveaway. Harts Fabric is my #1 fabric store.  My favorite parts is their knit section. It meets ALL my apparel fabric needs!

But aside from knits, they have home dec fabric, trim, oilcloths, a great selection of organic fabrics, books,  yarn and way more. You can use the gift card in the store or online. All you need to do is like their facebook page and leave a comment on the previous post telling me you did and the winner will be announced next Tuesday.

Sheer Skirt Tutorial with Hart’s Fabric Giveaway!

There is nothing I love more this season than sheer fabrics. I think they are so elegant, airy and effortless. (You can see my Sheer Love board on Pinterest for inspiration.) I’ve made quite a few now and wanted to share how to do one with you. I went to harts fabric and this fabric caught my eye immediately. I can’t even pretend here- this is drapery fabric!! But I went over to Harts amazing upholstery side of their store, saw this, and knew it was just what I wanted to make this sheer skirt. Think outside the box!!

So here’s how you make this simple and chic look.

Before you start make sure you have the right kind of needle. It’s SO important when working with these kind of fabrics. Also, may I give another shot out to Fabric Savvy? This is such a great resource for information on how to use different fabrics.

  First, you need to determine how wide you want the skirt. I think this depends on the fabric. When it’s really light and sheer you can handle more gathering because it won’t look bunchy at your waist. But this fabric had a lot of structure and I didn’t want it to add 10 pounds to my waist. So for me, my waist is 26 inches and I used 45 inches of fabric. Also, this fabric is so sheer and will obviously need lining. I like to use separate slips for my skirts. Sometimes I want to wear a short slip and other times I want the full skirt. So I’ll show you how to make a separate slip.

Connect the piece, or pieces, by French seams. (shown how to here.)It’s the best way to connect sheer fabric.

Gather the top of the skirt. I do this by ruffling on my seeing machine. Keep it slightly larger than your waist, so you can pull it over your hips.

To make the waist band, get a piece of fabric the width of your gathered waist .  You will need to attach the lining to this because the elastic sill show through.

Connect the waistband together.

Fold and press the waistband in half, pinning it in place.

Pin it to the gathered top of the skirt. I recommend sewing it gathered side up. You can keep a better eye on your gathers that way so they aren’t getting bunched or shifted in the stitched. I used a zig zag stitch. I’ve found that using a serger makes it way too bulky.

Leave a small opening for some elasitc. Weave it through then close the seam.

To finish the bottom of the skirt you can do it many ways. You can just hem it as is. But for this look I wanted to do a large border. I got a piece the same width and folded it over in half.

After I attached it to the skirt I did a decorative top stitch.

Now the skirt is complete, is time to make the slip. This is almost a no brainer. But let me give  few words of advice. The color of the slip can drastically change the look of a sheer skirt. So play around with different underlayers. I used a nude colored silk and decided to use the back side, the dull side, instead of the shiny front.  I started the same way as I did with the skirt. Connect the piece or pieces together. I made this the same size as the skirt.

You don’t need to gather the waistband, just fold the top over making a small place for elastic.

Insert the elastic and close the seam when finished. Here’s how it will look.

I just finished the bottom with a simple rolled hem.

Now the skirt is complete!

I love the drama of this print paired with a simple tank.It’s such a simple neutral with great detail.
I was also really happy to have added the large hem. I think it makes it extra special. 

You can also wear a shorter slip to show some leg. I love this look and wear it on a lot of my sheer skirts.

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Filoli Gardens

Has anyone ever been to Filoli Gardens?

We got to go last weekend with my grandma. It’s about an hour from our home. If you’re ever close to it- GO! The 36,000 sq ft. house tour is amazing with so many beautiful details.

The gardens are so gorgeous I won’t even try to describe them.

The kids had hours of fun running all around.

I was, personally, so inspired by all the textures.

Anyhow, go. It’s great.

And it’s just fun to say the word “Fiii-looowww-leeee” over and over. It’s such a fancy word that I wish had more meaning so I could use it frequently.

Priorities.

I decided to drop out of project run and play. Let me briefly explain…

I just don’t have time to work on specific deadlines right now. I ended up having to work at my girls school this week amongst all my other duties and couldn’t finish this weeks outfit. I’m trying to complete scarf orders and still give my family all the time, attention and love they need and this week, I just couldn’t do that well so I had to prioritize. And as you mamas all know, they’re always first. Sometimes things we really want to do and are interested in take a backburner to our priorities. And this is exactly one of those cases. I knew that some of the other competitors have put so much into this great blog that Micalah runs. So I’m so thrilled because Leisel is back for another chance!! What an honor it’s been to be with such great women with such great ideas. Please go continue to support them! Thank you all for all the support you’ve given me and thank you, mostly, for understanding.