Twirl Skirts & The Crafterhours Skirt Competition (and my serger)

Longest blog post title, ever? I guess I'm trying to cover a lot here! :)

So, I did it ... I bought a serger. I ordered 'her' online ... I counted the days until she arrived. She thrilled me by arriving a day early ... and we are in love. Love I tell you! As soon as my kids went down for a nap, I plugged her in and watched the DVD that came with. Oh, I got a Brother 1034d serger - it appears that most of my favorite bloggers also use this particular model. I did serious research! :)

As soon as I thought I could turn it on and serge without breaking it, I whipped up a skirt. Then another, and then another. I told you, I love her.

These adorable Twirl Skirts were made with the Lil Blue Boo pattern. I made a 24m/2t for my youngest, a 3t/4t for my oldest, and a large for myself. I've never worn a large anything in my life, but this is clearly the size I need :) Our skirts fit perfectly. This pattern is easy to follow and this skirt is ridiculously easy to sew. Like so ridiculous I made all three in less than 2 hours.

I entered my skirt into the Crafterhours 2011 Skirt Week Competition. Clearly, I like a little competition as Sara vs. Sarah is all about the bi-weekly competition! Have you voted for the Embroidery Challenge? Do so here! Back to Crafterhours ... This is another blog I am so happy to have found; I feel like I must've been living under a rock to have missed it before, but it's full of funny writing, pretty pictures & clearly written tutorials. 

bracelets close up

Do you notice the cute bracelets we are all wearing (I went a little overboard on the matchy-matching'ness)? So fun! I made them using this tutorial for a jersey knit bracelet from V and Co (I love this blog - pretty stuff all the time). The bracelets are made from the same fabric as the skirt - the red peeks out in some parts and hides in others. For the girls, I made the 2-strand bracelet and only had to use one strip of fabric; for mine, I made a 3-strand from two long strips attached together (as explained in the tutorial I used).

The girls LOVE their skirts and love to spin in them! (ok, so we all like to spin!)

Fabric I Used:

Red / White stripe 100% cotton from eBay

Black Ribbed Knit for the waistbands

Now, I am definitely in love with my serger, but we have some tension issues to work out. You see, she does perfect work (I learned this is called a 'balanced stitch') when sewing through multiple layers - 3 layers? Gathered ruffles? No problem. BUT, I am having issues with serging a single layer. I need to tweak all the fancy tension knobs and get this working.

I've labeled my serger (she needs a name) in a couple of places to help me. Yes, the labels are color coded. Yes, I am a nerd.

I HAD to write this one down ... increase tension  = lower number; decrease tension = higher number. Sounds backwards, right? I think so too ...