This tutorial from Rachel Petterson, aka Pigs In Pajamas, will show you how to easily transform (almost) any skirt or dress–including one you’ve already made–by adding a removable, twinkling LED underskirt!

For a very detailed tutorial (and even more stunning photos of Rachel’s Festival of Lights skirt!), check out her video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmbCMHjQcw

Resources

• Twill tape or bias binding, slightly longer than your waist measurement
• At least 9 pairs of hooks and eyes
• LED fairy lights with a battery pack
• Fabric glue like e6000 Fabric Fuse (optional)
• In addition to the supplies listed above, you’ll also want a skirt or dress already completed.

LED Light-Up Skirt Tutorial

For the example dress, the Maria Dress bodice is paired with the free Charm Circle Skirt. The underskirt is the Stanwyck Skirt, which is also a full circle skirt. When selecting your underskirt pattern, you can use the same shape as your outer skirt (e.g., circle skirt with circle skirt) or you can go smaller (e.g., A-line under circle skirt), but larger (e.g., circle skirt under an A-line) is not recommended.

While this tutorial will work for most skirts and dresses, it does require the outer fabric to have at least some translucency in order to see the lights. Most quilting cottons will work, but mesh fabrics with embellishments like sequins or beads to catch and reflect the LED light are ideal. 

The underskirt fabric should be a medium weight stable fabric like quilting cotton in a color that complements your outer skirt fabric (e.g., black for a dark skirt, white for a light skirt). The underskirt will need to support the weight of the lights and batteries.

Sew the underskirt: follow the instructions for your chosen underskirt, shortening the hem by 2 inches (5.1 cm) and omitting the waistband/facing and zipper. Be sure to keep the zipper opening unsewn. Staystitch the waistline edge, then finish the waistline edge with twill tape or bias binding. 

Add hooks-and-eyes to waistline edge: handstitch hooks to the waistline edge of the underskirt at each side seam, at center front, at either side of the center back zipper, and midway between each location. Add more hooks if you’d like more support for the weight of the underskirt. Handstitch eyes to the outer skirt’s lining, as close to the waistline seam as possible, matching each hook’s location. If your outer skirt doesn’t have a lining, place the eyes on the wrong side of the skirt at the waistline edge (usually the lower edge of the waistband).

Create a pocket for the battery pack(s): cut a 5-inch by 5-inch (12.7 cm x 12.7 cm) square of underskirt fabric. Finish the upper edge, if desired. Stitch the pocket to the right side of the underskirt side seam, at hip height.

Design your LED placement: this is the fun part! Place the battery pack into the pocket and arrange the strands of lights so that they are distributed around the skirt. Make sure the wire doesn’t have any sharp bends or kinks, and make sure it doesn’t cross the zipper opening. 

Attach your LED lights: using fabric glue (which is faster) or handstitching (which allows for more flexibility), attach each LED light to the underskirt. For more security, sew down each wire by hand with long running stitches. TIP: although fairy light LEDs appear to give off light in any direction, there is actually a brighter side—the side that the wire isn’t crossing over. Be sure to have the brighter side up when attaching the string of lights.

Wear your skirt and take a twirl: slip the underskirt between the outer skirt and lining (or to the wrong side of the outer skirt if there is no lining) and attach the hooks to the eyes. Turn on the battery pack and shine like the star you are!

But first, some inspiration! Vampira (played by Maila Nurmi) was a character in a tv show, The Vampira Show, that ran for one year (1954-1955) and was only broadcast to the Los Angeles area. It has become a cult classic and influenced many of the “spooky” shows and characters we love today. Here’s a few of my favorite looks:

While I’ll never achieve that hip-to-waist ratio (!), the lines of her gowns are so similar to the Lorelei Gown that I knew it would make the perfect pattern hack for Halloween.

Resources

• Lorelei Gown pattern
• Black knit leather-look fabric (I’m obsessed! It feels and sews like a ponte knit, but looks SO glam.)
• Power net, lining, thread, a long invisible zipper, and everything else in the Lorelei instructions
• 24-inch-long black fringe
• Rhinestones from our stash (there’s tons available on Etsy)
• Long black wig and as much black eyebrow pencil as you can handle

Vampira Gown Pattern Alterations

1. Draw the seam allowances on the Lorelei Gown Bodice Front Insert (2) pattern piece. Fold the Bodice Front Insert in half lengthwise, as you will be cutting the front bodice on the fold. Measure the neckline edge of the pattern piece (not including the seam allowances!) from the folded edge to the long raw edge. This measurement will be short, around an inch or so.
2. Tape tracing paper to the Bodice Front (1) pattern piece at the center front. Draw a line from the upper CF circle away from the pattern piece, roughly perpendicular to the grainline, equal in length as your measurement in Step One. Draw a line from the lower CF circle to the waistline, parallel to the grainline. Draw a line to connect the two points to create your new center line; connect the end of the first short line to the point where the second line crosses the waistline. This will be your new center front and will be cut on the fold. Draw the “cut on the fold” arrows and scribble out the original grainline.
3. Using a French curve, draw in a new neckline, in any shape you wish. My neckline comes to a deep V point just below the level of my apex, and curves up to the shoulder (about 2 inches or 5 cm away from the armscye edge). Sometimes, I like to pin the pattern piece to my dress form just to help me visualize everything. After you’re happy with the way your neckline looks, add 5/8 inch (1.5 cm) seam allowance, then cut out and label the pattern piece.
4. Measure the distance of the shoulder edge of your new bodice front, without seam allowance. On the Bodice Back (3) pattern piece, draw a line from the armscye edge along the shoulder equal to this distance (without seam allowances). This will make sure the front and back meets perfectly across the shoulder seam. Draw a long from this mark to the center back seam, to create the new back neckline. I drew a curved line using a large French curve, mimicking the original neckline. Once you’re happy with your back neckline, add 5/8 inch seam allowance, then cut out the pattern piece, truing the neckline dart as needed. Label the pattern piece.
5. It’s a bit hard to tell because of the shaggy cut fabric, but the bicep area of the sleeve remains the same as the Lorelei Gown, and ease is added from the elbow to the wrist to create a bell shape. For the sleeves, draw a line perpendicular to the grainline on the Sleeve (4) pattern piece, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) above the notches. Draw five lines, about 1 inch apart, parallel to the sleeve centerline from this line to the wrist edge. Slash and spread these five parallel lines to create a bell shape, then tape to a new piece of pattern paper and true the hem edge. You can go as dramatic as you’d like; my sleeve hem ended up being almost a half circle! Cut and label the new pattern piece.

Vampira Gown Sewing Instructions

Follow the Lorelei Gown sewing instructions to create the bodice, cutting the new Bodice Front on the fold in fabric, lining, and power net. Ignore all references to the Bodice Front Insert.

Before inserting the sleeves, try on the bodice and adjust the front waist and bust darts as needed. Some of the bust shaping of the original pattern was provided by the bodice front insert, so you may need to pinch out additional fabric to create a perfect fit. Adjust as needed.

For the sleeves, omit the lining. Sew as usual, then insert into the bodice.

Follow the rest of the instructions to complete the gown (with the panty).

After construction, sew the long fringe around the entire hem, all the way up to the tip of the thigh slit. Use scissors to cut ragged edges on the sleeve hem all the way up to the elbows. Hand sew rhinestones to the sleeves and bodice as desired. Then throw on a black wig and your bra with the most oomph, draw on some dramatic pointed eyebrows, and get ready to scare the neighborhood children!

Claudia lives far away, so we really had to wing it for this one. Here are a few tips we learned while creating her Alice costume:

Choose a Simple Pattern With Fewer Pattern Pieces Children aren’t shaped like small adults. They have different proportions, which means a fitted garment that uses an adult-sized pattern block won’t fit. Avoid patterns with significant shaping at the bust, or with details that emphasize a woman’s curves. For our Alice costume, we started with the Cinch-It Dress, a trapeze dress with a very loose fit, in the smallest size available (size 2, with an A-cup).

Get Out Your Calculator Sizing a pattern up or down requires a bit of math, and you’ll need a few extra measurements. Compare the body measurements to the size chart and the finished measurements listed in the instructions. The Cinch-It Dress has significant ease built into it, so we were most concerned with the fit at the shoulders. Compare the bust measurements between your model and the size chart. In our case, the pattern is 4 inches larger. To find the percentage difference, the math is as follows: (Model’s measurement x100)/ Desired measurement= percent difference. When we plugged in the Cinch-It Dress measurements and Claudia’s measurements, we got a percentage of about 87%, so we found we had to reduce the size 2A pattern pieces by 87%.

Print the Pattern Smaller and Correct the Seam Allowance Print out the pattern pieces using a printer with a custom scale setting set to 87% (or your desired percent difference). Check the test square: it should be .87 of an inch, or just a smidge smaller than 7/8 inch.

Measure your pattern pieces to make sure they will fit your model. The shoulder fit is especially important (for kids as well as adults!).

Before cutting out the pattern pieces, you’ll want to adjust the seam allowances. Our scaled down seam allowance measured just over 1/2 inch, so we added 1/8 inch to the cut line to get our usual 5/8 inch seam allowance. Of course, you could also just sew the garment using smaller seam allowances.

Test the Fit With a Muslin Don’t skip this step! Make a full muslin of the garment, including the collar, sleeves, cuffs, pockets, belt, or whatever other details are included in your pattern. Not only will this help you test the fit of the garment and determine the correct length, it’s also a great tool to make sure the placement and scale of the details are correct.

Complete the Costume The final Cinch-It Dress was sewn in blue cotton, with a white pinafore created by combining the Stanwyck ruffled bib (scaled down to Claudia’s size) with a simple gathered apron that tied at the back. White socks or tights, a pair of black patent shoes, and a black headband will complete the look— but I’ll let her mom worry about that!

This type of pattern hacking is one of my favorite ways to play! I love taking existing Charm patterns and turning them into something new, especially for our Halloween Extravaganza.

For full details and measurements of how to recreate this hack, look to pages 16-19 of Issue 7 of Vintage by Gertie Magazine, available to Patreon members in the Glamour Circle tier and higher, but the basics are as follows:

We started with the Las Vegas Halter Top (available on Patreon) and used ribbon to plan out the size and placement of our color-blocked heart. Once we transferred those lines onto the paper pattern pieces, we lowered the neckline to create more drama, and a more distinctive heart-shape. After a few mock-ups in fabric from our stash, we made a few more changes to the pattern pieces, and moved on to the black and red version you see here.

We paired the top with color-blocked Loretta Shorts (also available on Patreon), turning it into a chic romper and keeping the costume versatile for everyday wear (and for Disney-bounding).

Then, we crafted a separate Homecoming Skirt (another Patreon favorite), complete with a waist facing, to layer over top.

Finally, we crowned this creation with a fabric-wrapped wire headpiece, and the look was complete!

To celebrate the release of the Barbie movie, we’ve created this beautiful hair bow for you! It’s the perfect companion for your pink gingham Barbara Millicent dress (using the recently released Barbara Bodice and Millicent Skirt).

This is a bias-cut hair bow with curved ends, attached to a metal hair clip or comb. You can also attach it to a pin to use it as a broach or purse decoration. The possibilities are endless!

xoxo,
Gertie

PATTERN PIECES

1. Bow
Cut 1 fabric, 1 tulle

2. Knot
Cut 1 fabric

MATERIALS & SUPPLIES

• Barbie Bow Pattern Pieces (downloadable PDF to print)
• ¼ yard of fabric for bow
• ¼ yard of tulle for underlining
• Metal hair clip or plastic hair comb
• Thread to match

SEWING INSTRUCTIONS

NOTE: ⅝-inch (in) (1.5 cm) seam allowances are included on all pattern pieces.

SEW THE HAIR BOW

1. Underline the bow: pin the Bow (1) tulle to main fabric, WS together. Baste, using ½-in (1.3 cm) seam allowance and either a hand-sewn basting stitch or a long (5 mm) stitch on your sewing machine. Treat as one.

2. Prepare bow: fold bow in half lengthwise, right sides (RS) together, and pin. Stitch, leaving an opening about 3 in (7.6 cm) wide at the center of the bow. Grade the seams and notch the seam allowances every ½ in (1.3 cm) around the curves. Turn RS out and press flat. Arrange the bow into your preferred shape and pin at the center to hold it into place.
   
3. Prepare the knot: fold the Knot (2) in half, RS together, and pin the long edge. Stitch. Press seam allowances open. Turn RS out. Arrange the stitched seam so it is in the center of the knot and press flat. Press one short edge of the knot ⅝ in (1.5 cm) to the wrong side (the inside of the knot tube).
   
   
   

4. Finish bow: wrap the knot around the center of the bow, hiding the knot’s center seamline and tucking the unpressed raw edge of the knot inside the pressed edge. Slipstitch closed by hand. Handstitch bow to hair clip or hair comb to secure.

Enjoy your cute new Barbie Hair Bow!

FABRIC

You’ll need a 15-3/4 inch (40 cm) by 129 inch (3.3 m) rectangle of 4-way stretch knit fabric with 50-70% stretch in at least one direction. These tops are very forgiving, so you may use a smaller or larger piece of fabric, or fabric with a different stretch profile. Just play around to find what works best for you!

Fold the fabric in half width-wise to create a rectangle measuring 15-3/4 inches (40 cm) by 64-1/2 inches (1.65 m). On the short raw edge, cut the rectangle tapering to a point, starting approximately 15-1/4 inches (38.7 cm) from the edge. Watch the first video showing Gertie’s top for more details.

GERTIE’S TOP

Gertie is wearing a knit halter-style top designed to be worn without a bra. Watch this quick tutorial video to see how the top is wrapped.

SUSIE’S TOP

Susie’s top is designed to be worn with a bra and will cover your bra straps. You’ll need a few safety pins to secure the top.

I hope you enjoy this quick and easy knit wrap top pattern. Don’t forget to share using #charmpatterns so we can see all of your beautiful summer makes!

Inspired by Mary Poppins during the carousel scene, this outfit is perfect for a trip to Dapper Day in Florida or warm-weather winter holidays (for our Southern-hemisphere sewists). Of course, you could easily make it cozier with the addition of tights and a Princess Coat!

Fabric & Supplies

• The Patsy Blouse pattern
• The free Janet Jabot pattern
• The Waspie Corset Belt pattern (available to Patreon subscribers)
• Pink and white candy cane border print fabric from Spoonflower in poly chiffon for the blouse and skirt
• Red silk taffeta, red coutil, and white bone casing for the Waspie Corset Belt
• White cotton sateen for the skirt lining (although any white lining fabric will do)
• Red ribbon for the bow (see our bow pin tutorial here!)
• Straw boater hat with red ribbon band (I pinned a poinsettia hair flower to mine for extra festive vibes)
• All other supplies listed in the above patterns

Pattern Alterations

• There were no special pattern alterations. Easy peasy!
• I sewed the Patsy Blouse with balloon sleeves and a band collar, and added the free Janet Jabot pattern during assembly following the jabot instructions.
• The skirt is 4-1/2 yards of fabric, hemmed 6 inches past the bottom of the candy canes. The finished skirt length is 28 inches (I’m 5’6″ tall), and I used the waistband from the free Charm Circle Skirt.

Sewing Instructions

• Sew the Patsy Blouse as instructed, adding the Janet Jabot during assembly. Make a ribbon bow and pin to the center front of the blouse at the collar.
• Sew a gathered skirt using the waistband of the free Charm Circle Skirt. Since our poly chiffon fabric was see-through, we lined the skirt. If your fabric is opaque, lining the skirt is optional.
• Sew the Waspie Corset Belt as instructed, with one exception: for the four boning channels on either side of center front, sew exterior white boning channels (rather than sandwiching the bones between the corset layers as instructed).

Enjoy your Jolly Holiday in this festive look!

I wore this lovely combo during my Christmas-time Dapper Day adventure to the Disney parks in Orlando, Florida where I met so many beautiful Charm fans!

Fabric & Supplies

• The Lana Dress pattern
• The Dorothy Bolero pattern
• Black velvet fabric. I took mine from the studio’s stash, but any stable velvet will do. I prefer cotton velvet for sturdiness and ease of sewing.
• Red plaid fabric. Mine is a polyester plaid taffeta with metallic threads and came from Fabric Specialties on Etsy.
• All other supplies listed in the Lana Dress & Dorothy Bolero patterns
• I pinned a poinsettia hair flower to my bolero
• Mickey Mouse ears optional! ????

Pattern Alterations

• None! I sewed the Lana Dress with the Basque-waist option and the Dorothy Bolero with the wing collar. I made a slight adjustment to the usual recommended fabrics by cutting the midriff and outer petal in a contrasting fabric to the rest of the dress (rather than just contrasting the inner bra and/or petal like in the Lana samples in the pattern photos!)

Sewing Instructions

• Sew the Lana Dress as instructed. I used the red plaid for the skirt, inner bra unit, and petal lining. The black velvet was used on the outer bra unit and midriff.
• Sew the Dorothy Bolero as instructed. I used the black velvet for the main fabric and the red plaid for the facings, although you could fully line Dorothy in the plaid (just follow the instructions in the booklet).

Enjoy the holidays in style in your lovely Charm ensemble!

Sewing with lace can be a bit tricky, so here’s a few of my favorite tips and tricks to make this beautiful dress.

Types of Lace

Lace is one of my favorite fabrics! It’s an openwork fabric made on special looms, and traditional lace is usually narrower than regular fabric (about 39 inches or 1 meter wide). Modern (and much more economical!) laces are made on standard looms and can be up to 60 inches (1.5 m) wide.

These are the main types of lace:

• Chantilly lace, a very delicate web-like lace often with eyelash selvedge
• Alençon lace, the lace I used for this red dress, with cording outlining the motifs
• Guipure lace, a thick cotton or rayon lace with no net foundation
• Stretch lace, a modern spandex-blend lace often used in lingerie
• Embroidered tulle, not technically a lace but it can be used in similar ways

Special Considerations When Sewing with Lace

Because lace will be see-through, you’ll want to choose an opaque lining that is attractive. Great options include taffeta, shantung, charmeuse, crepe de chine, cottons, and cotton/silk blends.

Lace fabrics do not need to be pretreated or washed before sewing, and should always be dry cleaned.

Use French seams or another method to hide the seam allowances if they will be visible on the finished garment.

You may need to buy more lace than recommended yardage suggests for your pattern, as lace placement can be tricky. You may want to use the scalloped edges from the lace selvedge (like I did here on the sleeve and skirt hems), and you’ll want to be sure to place the motifs to their best advantage. Mirror the lace if possible, or balance the motifs across your garment.

For additional tips on sewing with lace, see the Techniques for Special Fabrics chapter of Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book.

Fabric & Supplies

• The Peggy Bodice pattern, available to all Patreon members
• Any of the Lamour-series bottoms. I used a simple gathered skirt, about 4-1/2 yards by my favorite skirt length (28 inches, plus seam allowance).
• Lace fabric with a decorative selvedge.
• Fabric for underlining the dress in a matching or contrasting color. We used a red cotton/silk satin from our stash.
• A 24-inch standard nylon zipper
• All other supplies listed in the Peggy Bodice pattern

Pattern Alterations

• For the neck facings, use your underlining fabric instead of lace. You don’t want the lace (which can be irritating) against your skin.
• Cut off a length of the lace selvedge, carefully trimming around the scallop shape with small scissors, and attach to the cut sleeve hem with a tiny zigzag stitch. Trim the excess carefully. The stitching will be almost invisible on the lace.
• Hem the underlining fabric at the sleeve hem, 1/2 inch (in) (1.3 cm) shorter than the lace sleeve.
• Underline the lace Peggy Bodice pattern pieces with your chosen underlining fabric. Baste together using a 1/2-in (1.3 cm) seam allowance around all edges and treat as one. Do not baste the sleeve hem.
• Line the lace skirt with your same underlining fabric so they can move independently of each other. This shows off the lace’s decoration and sheerness, while still giving you full coverage.

Sewing Instructions

• Sew the Peggy Bodice as instructed.
• Hem the skirt lining. I shortened the lining by about 3 inches (7.6 cm) to really show off the pretty lace hem.
• For the skirt, baste the lace to the underlining fabric along the raw edges and treat as one. Sew the center back seam to the zipper circle marked on your pattern. Gather the waist seam.
• Attach the bodice to the skirt at the waistline and insert the zipper.

Fabric & Supplies

• The Rita Blouse pattern, of course!
• Your chosen skirt pattern. I used the skirt from the Liz Dress skirt pattern, which is a flared gathered skirt, but you could also use a gathered skirt, circle skirt, or any of your choice, as long as it has a side zipper. Another classic choice for this style is a tiered patio skirt–check out the Patio Dress in the Gertie Sews Jiffy Dresses book. Note: A gathered skirt is super easy to add because you can adjust the gathers to fit the bodice. For any other skirt, you will need to confirm that the circumference of the skirt’s waist matches the blouse’s waist, and that the side seams match.
• Woven fabric for the blouse plus skirt, and any additional fabric needed for ruffles on the skirt and/or bodice. A tiered skirt notoriously uses a lot of fabric, and we went through 8 yards of 45″ wide quilting cotton for this project!
• A 22-inch invisible zipper (instead of the 12-inch zipper recommended in the pattern)
• All other supplies listed in the Rita Blouse pattern
• I added pompom trim to the dress ruffle and hem – totally optional, but totally cute! I also used a row of silver ricrac trim on my skirt tier.

You may also sew the Rita Dress with a knit. If you do, choose a knit that is on the stable side, like an interlock or cotton jersey. (Slinky knits aren’t well suited to garments with a lot of seams like this one, and heavier knits will weigh the skirt down). You will likely want to size down (see this blog post for more info).

Pattern Alterations

• We’ve marked the waistline on the Rita Blouse pattern. Trim the pattern at the waistline mark and add 5/8-inch seam allowance.
• You may wish to remove some ease at the waist for a more cinched look, especially if you are adding any of the Charm skirts with less ease. I removed 1 inch of ease at the waist for this example.
• My recommendation would be to make the pattern as suggested first (in a woven, exactly as instructed), and make any fit adjustments needed to the original pattern before experimenting with a Rita Dress. Many people need to adjust this pattern in the waist (waist adjustments are one of the most common I see in any design) so it’s good to start with the correct fit before trying something new! If this is your first time sewing the Rita Blouse, we’ve outlined all of the steps in our Rita Sew-Along Series.
• Omit any waistband or waist facings on your skirt pattern.
• We added a ruffle to the neckline. Cut a length of fabric approximately 4 inches wide by the length of your neckline opening (before inserting elastic), plus seam allowances.
• We also added a 7-inch wide ruffle to the skirt. Cut a length of fabric 2 to 2-1/2 times the circumference measurement of your skirt hem, piecing it together as needed.

Sewing Instructions

• Sew the Rita Blouse as instructed. Before inserting the zipper, assemble the skirt and attach the blouse to the skirt at the waistline.
• Insert the zipper, flipping it around so that it is right-side up rather than upside-down.
• For the optional neckline ruffle, sew the short ends together to create a circle. Hem the bottom edge of the ruffle and sew pom-pom trim to the wrong side of the ruffle so that it peeks out from the bottom edge. After attaching the Rita sleeves to the bodice, baste the raw edge of your ruffle around the neckline, with the wrong side of the ruffle facing the right side of the dress. Treat as one unit and follow the instructions to sew the neckline casing, lifting up the ruffle so that you only sew the casing through the dress and seam allowance layers (not the ruffle itself).
• Follow the rest of the blouse instructions. Hang the dress for a day and then hem. Add the optional ruffle by hemming both the upper and lower edges first, then gathering 1/2-in from the top of the ruffle and applying directly on top of the skirt hem. Sew pompom trim to the bottom of the skirt and then sew ricrac over the gathering stitches on the skirt ruffle. Note: This method leaves an exposed ruffly hemmed upper edge where the skirt meets the ruffle. Alternatively, you can leave the dress and ruffle upper edge unhemmed, and seam the two together.
• Depending on the weight of your skirt, you may wish to stabilize the waist by sewing waist stay tape or a length of 1/2-inch braided elastic to the seam allowance, stretching it ever so slightly.
• If you are sewing the Rita Dress in a knit, follow the instructions in the blog post. You will definitely want to stabilize the underbust and waist seams with elastic, so the fabric doesn’t become baggy around the midriff or pull down due to the weight of the skirt.