DIY Frill Tube Top & Maxi Skirt Set

Blessed Love Sistren

This tutorial is another skirt set but with a frill tube top and a maxi skirt. The maxi method I use is the same as the one with the pockets which is here, but in this tutorial there is a video on how to make it without pockets.

Now I don't usually wear tube tops out in public without a jacket, wrap or shrug anymore, so you can pair this skirt set with either the shrug tutorial or the Ises wrap tutorial if you care to cover up your shoulders.

Materials

2 yards of fabric 58 " or wider

yard rule

chalk

thread

scissors

pins

measuring tape

sewing machine
how to sew the tube top:

1.The tube shirt is cut on the fold so it has one seam at the back.

It is the same width as the maxi skirt so it is the hip measurement divided by 2 plus 1". So i marked 18" on the fold.

The length of the tube top is from under the arms down to the middle of the buttocks, plus 1.25". The 1/4" is for the seam at the top  and the 1" is for the hem of the top. Mine is 19.25"

so the rectangle for the tube is almost a circle. 19.25x18".

Next cut the frill which is the same width on the fold as the tube top 18". It is 8" tall - this includes the same 1.25" seam allowance for top seam and hemline of frill.

**Of course if you use jersey this hemming of both tube top and frill won't be a problem, just add 1/4" seam allowance to both lengths if not making hems.

2. Zig Zag all rough edges together except the part of the rectangle that would be the hem.

3. Put right sides together on both frill and tube top, and pin in place.

 Make a straight stitch 1/2" from the open edge side of the frill and tube, to make the one back seamline.

4. Iron out seam lines. Make two 1/4" folds at the bottom of the frill and at the bottom of the tube top, to make the hem. Pin in place and sew using a straight stitch.

5. Keep the tube top right side in, and the frill right side in, but insert the tube into the frill, matching up the zigzag edges at the top. Pin.

Sew a 1/4" seam all around the top to join the frill and tube together.

this is what the seam looks like under the frill

6. Flip the tube inside out on the right side and iron the seam down. 

Mark downwards a little over 3/4" and use a rule to mark a striaght line all around the tube.  sew an elastic casing all around the top of the tube. Leave an opening under the frill to insert the elastic.

7. Cut elastic at right size and insertwith a safety pin. Close the casing.

Finished!

The complete Set

Learn to make the skirt by watching this video:

Wear it with a belt and give it a slight buff.

 Cover up with an Ises Wrap

How to Sew a Modest High Low Dress

Blessed Love

So I decided to combine two separate styles into one dress for this tutorial, a high low skirt (well sorta hehe) and a drawstring top which is modest but cool. And what I love is that this dress can be casual for shopping or any day activity, or worn on date night with the King-Man *wink wink*
I making multifunctional pieces because I choose to dress very nicely wherever I go - being a homebody and all lol. This High-low style is a special conservative style for the Sistren - not above the knees or showing too much leg that would deemed inappropriate.  I found this really nice retro knit print fabric to match the high-low style.

So check it out Sistren!
I will be posting quite a few sewing tutorials this strong coming, and also to create some vlogs dealing with Virtuous Wombman principles, including the covering and wraping viedo 3. So stay tuned to the blog and youtube... the videos will be in youtube before being posted here.

Ila

How to Sew an Ethiopian Banner

In the Bobo House, youths are offered up unto JAH (blessed) wearing white garments and swaddled in the Ethiopian rainbow banner. Every family buys one for the ceremony from a particular Empress, who is like the deputy Leading Empress of the camp.

Here’s my princess with hers. It measured 31 x 41 inches. This is something that she will always have in her room. Her gown was actually my niece’s, it was like 11 years old when Nile wore it!

Besides using it for blessing the youths, the Ethiopian banner is hung around the home – outside the home, at all or the main exit/entrance doorways to the home, and over all bedposts. It is also placed in the direction of the East so that Idren face it when chanting Ises. The banner is not only a reminder of JAH RasTafari and Ethiopia, but it is viewed as a talisman, a symbol of JAH’s Love surrounding I and I through the ever-living rainbow. Moses in Exodus 17:15 "built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner," showing how much the Ithiopian banner symbolizes JAH Selah. Every RasTafari home has a banner even if it has the Lion symbol (which represents the Reign of the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Yehudah) or the black star (Ghanaian flag) or a picture of King Alpha and/or Queen Omega. But it is important to have the plain one, which symbolizes the blessing and Itection of the family.

There is always a “preference” that RasTa have regarding the order of the colours in the flag. Some want the green up top, some want the red up top – this tutorial makes a banner that can function either way. The green up top is the traditional, original national Ethiopian flag. Green represents the fertility of Ethiopian soil, yellow the religious freedom and richness, and red for the blood of the people who died to keep it free.

But the Red Gold Green is not only about Ethiopia, the colours of I and I banner are also representative of the ever-Living God, JAH through the real rainbow in the sky, which is primarily made up of red, yellow, green. The red is always up top in nature, being the truest banner. The rainbow represents the Covenant of Noah, which ideally is a promise that JAH shall not destroy the Earth by water. It represents mercy and JAH’s omnipresence and tending over the world. The full moon also has a night rainbow when it is surrounded by hazy clouds. A complete ring of a rainbow is usually formed around it, and it is always distinctly red, gold, green. This full circular rainbow represents again the continuity and fullness of JAH in the Iniverse – the Rainbow Circle Throne.

It is important to know that even though there is partiality, the Red Gold Green and Green Gold Red are indeed cosmic and terrestrial mirror images of The One. The order of the colours is in fact related to the Shield or Star of David, where the up triangle points to the heavens, “as above” and the down triangle points to the earth, “So below.” This is demonstrated by the moon’s full circle rainbow. If you cut the full circle rainbow in half, you are left with two separate bows – one will have red up top, and one will have green up top. I hope you see my point!

And finally, the reason why many Rastafari will also place red up top, is because (and I am going based on what is written in The Rastafarians by Leonard E. Barrett, Sr. about the Movement in its earliest days) the banner is also an adaptation of the Garvey banner which places red first, then black then green. Barrett says that in every camp the Red Black and Green could be seen painted everywhere – it was when dress and tams started being made, that the yellow which was in the Jamaican flag (green yellow black) was added. The red always remained up top. Either he is right, or he didn’t get the memo about the Ethiopian flag having gold in the middle. But it was with the creation of clothing that yellow started to make its appearance and was mixed with Red Black Green – so the Rastafari colours became Red Gold Green Black. Coincidentally, the Red Black and Green banner shares the #1 spot with the Red gold Green banner in the Bobo House, most houses have both banners, so please use this tutorial to make your Red, Black and Green or Garvey banner. The Red stands for the blood shed by the Black race for freedom, Black for the true colour of Afrika and Israel, the colour of the race; and Green is for the vegetation, the land which is the hope of the race in Zion.

Ok, I’ve said my full on the importance and significance of the Banner in the Rastafari Home – onto the banner tutorial. Remember Empress, you can use this banner in the home, or you can sell them, put a print on them , bless up your sistren or anyone you know trodding Fari and could use a lil strength.

Materials: 1 yard of red, yellow, green cotton fabric each at 45 inches if you want to make it big enough for the youth blessing purpose. Black cotton thread, sewing machine, scissors, pins, chalk, yard stick.

Note: you are cutting both your red and green sections with a selvedge side, so that you only have to make hems for two sides of the banner. If you are making two banners from the 3 yards, which I did, then one of them will have to take 3 finishing hems instead of two. Note also that this tutorial is also a basic guide on how to do patchwork.

This banner I made was from the scraps I had from making a jean skirt (tutorial to come), so it’s an odd size: 28 x 32. Note the width is the side along a solid colour, the length is the side with the tricolour. Each panel was about 10 inches long x 34 inches wide. I used a 1 inch seam allowance.

First, cut three panels the same size as shown above. Use the ruler and chalk to help get it as straight as possible. Whatever size you want your banner to be, add an extra 1 inch for your seam allowance. Smaller seam allowance if you can get it smaller of course.

Next, join the panels together in this order:

Yellow panel over red panel and pin:

On the other side of the yellow: Green panel over yellow panel and pin:

This is how it will look when pinned:

   

 Sew the 3 pieces together at these two points, using a ½ seam for both lines. Zigzag ends together.

    

Make the necessary hems to complete the banner. Press in two ½ inch folds and pin.

Sew all around with straight stitch

Iron over all seams. You are finished!        

I hope this tutorial is clear, it is very very easy! Time to get sewing one of your own!

Blessed Love

Sis. Ila

How to Sew a Turban for Your King-Man

Blessed Love in the Name of JAH RasTafari!

Like the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Aaronic Priesthood, the Rastafari Priest wears fabric wrapped around his crown to signify his worship and service of the Most High JAH. The Bobo turban is however, much more fabric and made of cotton rather than white, fine linen. It is usually made by the leading empress or an appointed empress of the camp, and a brethren receives it from the leading priests of the tabernacle in a special ceremony, after a period of culturing and transformation. The time when a prophet or apostle or priest is crowned or brought into altar service, is determined by the Leading Priests of the community, who would have monitored his attendance to service and gathering, progress in the Livity and Scripture, and heartical attitudes for a period of months. The state of his household is also considered if he has one.
 The crowning of the turban is indeed a baptism, just not with water. It comes at a time when the RasTa Man is totally read to "take up his cross" and walk in the path of JAH, Melchizedek, the King, the Priest. The Bobo prophet or priest must now walk with honour and live in cleanliness every day, never defiling his crown by sinning against the Laws of King Emmanuel, the Commandments or Priestly Order of Leviticus. That’s one of the reasons I raspect the Bobo Shanty, because those brethren make a serious commitment in covering their dreads, much like I and I Sistren make in covering up. Bobo Husband and wife perfectly reflect one another in their coverings, it is such a beautiful sight.

So with a slight tip-toe around technicalities (which may land me in some fire later on too), I wouldn't make a turban for anyone who is not living righteously and is not conscious of the Nazirite and priestly code of the turban. But I thought for the strict Bobo Empresses out there who may not have a Taba or camp to go to, whose King-Man (who has been officially crowned already) may want turbans but can't access them regularly - this might be nice for the Sistren~ This method also serves for the Empresses too, in making a headwrap out of Afroprint!

Making a turban or headwrap is very easy – the hardest part is just having patience to go through all that fabric, pressing and pinning, then sewing! Note that this turban tutorial is for a brethren with a big crown or dreads past the buttocks. For those who have shorter requirements, just cut the excess before starting using an old turban as a guide. If you don’t know how long it should be, and the dreads are shorter than waist length, try 1t o 1 1/4 yards until the fit comes. To determine the size, the brethren can wrap and when he reaches the shape and neatness, he can stop and the remaining fabric cut and hemmed. That would be the length to cut future turbans at.

You will need: 2 yards of 45 inch fabric, scissors, lots of pins, iron, sewing machine and corresponding needle to match fabric (just the regular needle should be fine), yard stick, matching thread. The size of this turban will be 21 1/2 inches wide about, and around 4 yrds long.
Having a middle seam can leave a dark mark on the bredren's foreheads, so it is also a good idea to buy the total length needed and make two turbans out of it. Avoid middle seams!

Press out all the creases as much as you can, out of the 2 yrds of fabric.

Fold the fabric in half, selvage edges together, to form a long narrow rectangle.

Pin the edges together and press down this fold well.

Cut the rectangle into two along the side with the fold (opposite the pinned side).

 Don’t move anything during this next part. Pin the two rectangles at one of the short sides. Unpin the long side. Selvage edges together still.
*if you are using the full length of the fabric, without the middle seam, skip this part and just press and hem the raw edges.

Along the short end, Zigzag the edges and sew a 1/2 inch seam. Iron this seam out. 

Starting at the top corner of the right short-rough cut end, start pressing in the first fold of the 1/2  inch hemline that will run along the non-selvedge side of the turban.

When you get to the left short end, go back to the beginning and start the second 1/2 inch fold of the hem. Pin this time around, not too many pins close together as the seam should hold from the iron alone. Too many pins makes the sewing part tedious with pin removal. Always put the pins in sideways or horizontal to the hem and not along the fold, so the machine can run over them, and you don’t have to be unpinning and stopping all the time. (As you can see I broke all my rules in the pictures below, but that’s why I can tell you now to avoid giving yourself the extra hassle!)

(Also note in my pictures I made my hem big – the smaller it can be the neater, but really no one sees those edges anyway so no stress about that!)

 When you have finished pressing and pinning, take your “train” to the machine and start at the top right corner again, that way you can just sew without having to stop. When you get to the corners, stop, lift up the presser foot, turn the fabric, put back down the presser foot and continue sewing.

Iron out all the seams with a hot pressing! When it’s finished this is how it looks on the wrong side. The Seam is a middle seam and the brethren uses that seam as the mark for the middle of his forehead. 

This is how the finished turban looks (Sizzla Kalonji):

 Well Sistren, I hope this tutorial helped the I! If you make a turban for your King, be sure to send I a picture of his stepping out!

Blessed Love

Sis. Ila Addis

How to Make a simple Princess Skirt with a Split

Materials: fabric, ½ inch elastic, thread, scissors, ruler, pins, sewing machine, chalk, iron, safety pin

I know there are lots of tutorials on how to make a simple elastic waistband skirt, but I wanted to do all the basic how to’s here on this blog too - so it can be a sure one-stop for all Sistren. 

The elastic waist skirt is great because it can be grown into, it can be made in any fabric you wish, and it can always be used as a template for other styles like a frill skirt or a dress. If you are making a  skirt past the knees, then you need a split. Realistically little girls do a lot of jumping and running, and will want the extra leg room. If the skirt is only about 12 inches long, it doesn’t need a split. That is more 2T-3T sizing.

The basic method to making this skirt is to take the following measurements and then apply a simple formula. Waist, hips/buttocks, length. Take the hip measurement and add 3, then divide by 2. This is the width of your skirt that you will cut out already inclusive of a ½ inch seam. So you are really adding 2 inches to the hips measurement, which allows the garment to slide on and off.

Eg: here are my daughter’s measurements. She 4 ½ yrs

Waist = 20

Hips = 22.5 (round up to 23)

Length (waist to desired length) = 15

Formula for skirt length:- add 2 inches for hem and casing 15+2 = 17

Formula for width of skirt:  23 + 3 = 26    26/2 = 13

Formula for elastic, take away 1 inch:  20-1 = 19

The skirt I am making is therefore a rectangle that is 13 inches wide and 17 inches long. 

Note: at this point you can decide to cut your fabric with two pieces, or cut the rectangle inclusive of the fold, so it would be a one-seamed skirt. If using thicker fabrics it might look better with two seams, with simple cotton knock-around play skirts, one seam is fine. They really don’t look different, however. 

I am making a denim skirt with this tutorial, demonstrating the 2-seam skirt. But I am only inserting 1 split. If you want to do 2 splits, you just repeat these steps on the second side.

First lay down the fabric flat, right sides together, and mark out your rectangle.

Pin together and cut out the rectangle. The splits are added when sewing up the 1 seam or the 2 side seams for the skirt. So draw in the ½ inch line on 1 side, and for the next side stop 5 inches up from the bottom (do this both sides if doing 2 splits).

Unpin. Serge or zigzag all the edges that will fray.

Pin the pieces back together, right sides together again.

Stitch up one side, then stitch up the other side stopping at the point where the split starts. Reverse stitch here. A space with two flaps is left.

 

Iron out the 2 seams. But this time you are pressing it open right down to the end, including the open flap. You will be bending both sides back in the same ½ inch that the seam itself has. 

 

 Next, make the hem. To make the hem, press in and pin the two ½  inch folds that make up the hem, starting at the right side and going around to the left. Pin in place.

 Straight stitch all around, completing the hem.

Though they are pressed in place, and now stitched in place at the bottom by the hem, you still have to sew in the two side flaps that are open to make the split:

Starting the at the bottom right hem, sew up to the top of the split, lift up presser-foot, turn skirt to side,

    

Sew across that short ½ inch space above the top of the split – reverse and come back again to secure it. 

Lift the presser foot and turn the skirt again, stitching down the left side to the other hem. The split is complete. 

  

Iron the split and hem.

Iron in your elastic 1 inch casing. You can tuck under the zigzag edge as another small hem, pin in place. Or, you can leave the zigzag or serged edge exposed – either way no one will see it and It won’t fray.

Starting at the seam, sew the elastic casing being sure to keep the line as straight as possible, but leave about 1 ½ inches free to insert the elastic.

Cut the piece of elastic, mine was 19. Attach a big safety pin to the elastic and insert it into the casing. Make sure the elastic isn’t twisted, join at ends and sew together going back and forth three times with a zigzag or straight  stitch. 

     

Spread the skirt out properly and using a straight stitch, close the elastic casing.

 

Iron out all the seams.

You’re finished!

So sorry my photos were so light and dark, but I tend to sew at night so the flash was kind of making everything light.

Here is a picture of the one seam skirt:

Bless!

Sis. Ila