Color Your Own Skirt

Halloween is over, and I'm already starting to think about Christmas. I like to get a head start on things when I can so that the holidays don't sneak up on me like they always do. I would love to be that person who gives all handmade gifts for the holidays, but I just can't bring myself to be chained to my sewing machine for weeks on end while I hydrate with coffee and crank out toys and clothes. That said, I still like to be able to make a few handmade things that I can give, especially when I know the recipient will absolutely love it.

Hayley at Welcome to The Mouse House recently posted pics of a coloring book dress she made for her daughter using the Tidny fabric from Ikea. I almost died of cuteness overload, then went out that next weekend and bought some of the Tidny fabric myself (sadly, they don't sell it online) and whipped up a few skirts for my daughter and niece.

I mean, look at all the adorable pictures to color! It's a little artist's dream. The fabric is entirely black and white, and has a great variety of pictures on it for both boys and girls. I used the girlier portions to make the skirts for my daughter and niece, but I'm definitely planning on making a few pairs of shorts for Connor when it warms up again.

I picked up a 24 pack of permanent markers at Walmart (you could also use fabric markers or paint pens), and packaged it up for my little niece for Christmas. I know she's going to have a ton of fun coloring her skirt!

Haley went to Ikea with me, so she had already seen the fabric and claimed it as hers. She actually laid the whole yard and a half of fabric on her lap like a blanket all the way home and repeatedly begged me to make her something with it. After all that I knew I wouldn't be able to wait to give her her skirt, so I gave it to her and let her go to town with the markers (PS, make sure you put newspaper inside the skirt when you color! The fabric is thicker, but the markers still bleed.)

It took her a couple of days (and some help from me), but she had a great time coloring all the different pictures, especially the castles. Most used color? Pink, of course. 

If you have a little artist in your family, I'm sure they'd love to have their own skirt to color too. I just measured my daughter's waist and multiplied by 2 to get the width I needed, then made a foldover casing with elastic at the top. The bottom is serged (yay, I finally got a serger! More on that later :) One gift down, countless to go!

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!