I’m not actually sure Hannah Montana is still anywhere near the cool-meter, but we’re just going to go with it because the colors are right for the skirt for which Zoe needed a shirt. This is the Farbenmix Quiara pattern again in size 128, taken up 2″ from the bottom hem and with short sleeves rather than the flutter sleeves included in the pattern. I did add the seam allowances this time. The Hannah Montana print is cotton jersey knit and the sleeves and neck cotton interlock knit. A lettuce edge finishes the sleeves and bottom hem, which will curl more after a run through the washer.

This shirt is a size 122, I added about an inch to the length. It’s okay, but it could use another inch. The print is a ribknit, which took the lettuce edge wonderfully, but the sleeves are a jersey knit, and I ended up running around the edge twice to get the thickness I wanted with the wooly nylon. The neck is bound with a slightly sparkly black FOE. I’m hoping the sleeves will rebound after a run through the washing machine. We’ll see.

I had to make over seven yards of double fold bias tape for this, but I think the end result is worth it.

The straps criss cross and tie in the back.

This is a size 128, I think Zoe could actually wear a 122. The fabrics are both nice weight quilters cottons from the Serendipity line by Piece O Cake Designs for P&B Textiles that I picked up a couple years ago. The bias tape ended up about 3/8″ wide. I used 1/4″ for the loops on the back. It’s not warm enough to wear without a shirt underneath yet, so I need to take care of that and get a shirt sewn up this week.

This has been sitting almost done on my cutting table for too long. It was one of those things that just needed another 20 minutes and, for no good reason, I’d simply lost interest in it. Zoe saw it this morning and started looking for fabrics for a shirt to go with it and I thought I should get the skirt done.

This is the Hertta Skirt from the Ottobre Spring 1/2009 issue. I used the leggings from pattern #32 in the same issue to make shorts attached underneath the skirt. After attaching the waistband to the skirt, I attached the leggings in the seam allowance of the main skirt and waistband pieces. Then I put in the elastic, folded over the casing and closed it up using my coverstitch machine.

The main part of the skirt is a stretch twill. I used 20.5″ of 3/8″ elastic in the casing. The ruffles and pockets are quilter’s cottons.

If I make this skirt again, I will double the bottom ruffle so there’s enough to have a decent ruffle there, since it’s barely flouncy in its current state. And I may also leave the pockets off or change them a bit since too many skirts will heart pockets will start to look the same. Finally, though the 3/8″ elastic should be adequate, next time I’ll add 1/2″ to the width of the casing so I can use a wider elastic.

After many months, I’m finally about to cave and buy a new cell phone. I’ve had my beloved pink Razr for years. But, the replacement battery isn’t holding a charge any better than the battery that was in it, which tells me it’s the phone that’s sucking the life out of the battery rather than an issue with the battery itself.

As someone who loves shiny new things, I should be thrilled to send this phone away and replace it with something much more 21st century, right? The thing is, though I’ve spent a significant amount of my professional career as an IT geek, I’ve just never been a huge fan of the cell phone. Is it handy to be called at the grocery store and asked to add baking powder to the shopping list? Sure. Does that justify its existence as an object whose apparent purpose is to make one reachable all the time? Not so much.

Now, why doesn’t Verizon offer me something in pink or purple that doesn’t require a $29.99/mo data plan that I have absolutely no use for? If I have to have a new phone, at least give me a girly gadget.