Mouse House Creations Lulah Market Skirt & Flutter Tank Release

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Wow! It has been a LOOOOONG time since something new has come from Mouse House Creations! I’m so glad she’s jumped back in with two new patterns:  the Lulah Market Skirt and Lulah Flutter Tank. They are SO cute together and both are very easy sews!

Lulah Market Skirt

The Lulah Market skirt is the easiest sew as it’s just a couple of rectangles and elastic. If you’ve never sewn with knits before, it’s a great place to start! I used a French Terry with mechanical stretch only – not ideal for the waistband though. This FT had been in my stash for a really long time. I had bought it at G-Street Fabrics when it was close by my house and my plan was to make hoodies with it. I still hope to do that, but in the meantime, I’m glad to have cut into some of it!

It’s not in the instructions, but I always have a problem with elastic inside casings flipping around. To remedy this, I decided to use my cover stitch machine to do a couple of lines of top stitching around the waistband.

TIP: Quilt Basting Spray is my favorite thing for attaching patch pockets before stitching them down!

Lulah Flutter Tank

The Lulah Flutter Tank is such a cute sew, very similar to the Jalie Adele Top actually. It features two flutter strips that go down both the back and front of the top. The back has a lower neckline than the front, so keep that in mind as you sew it up!

While still an easy sew, the flutter tank is a little more complicated than the skirt. If you use a striped fabric, it will be really obvious if you screw up aligning your notches with the end of the flutter… But if you, like me, end up making this mistake, you can just declare, like me, that it looks more RTW (ready-to-wear AKA store-bought) this way, haha!

TIP 1: If you have trouble getting your flutter hem to be a nice, even 1/4″, grab your trusty washable glue stick (yes, the ones your kids use!) and baste it down with that before stitching.

TIP 2: When testing, we found that the flutters had a habit of flipping over to the wrong side. If this bothers you, make sure to use yarn dyed fabrics (I used yarn dyed striped cotton lycra from Wolf & Rabbit Custom Fabrics – but no longer available there, sorry!).

How to Create Nice Flutters

TIP 3: To create nice, even flutters, I like to use clear elastic for gathering. This takes a little practice, but here’s what you do:

• Measure clear elastic (I use Framilon) so it’s the same length as the distance between the front and back bodice notches, and add an inch.
• Divide elastic in half and mark with a sharpie. Mark 1/2 inch on each end and then mark the half way point between the center and each 1/2″ sharpie mark.
• Divide ruffle into quarters and mark with pin, washable marker, or notch.
• With the wrong side up, align the 1/2″ mark on the elastic with the edge of the flutter. Hold the end of the elastic and without stretching anything, use a straight stitch to begin attaching the elastic to the flutter. After about a 1/2 inch, continue holding the sewn part with your left hand and pull the elastic to align the first quarter point. It might be helpful to hold with a wonder clip as well. Using a basting stitch, stitch the elastic, keeping everything nice and flat. Repeat until you finish the flutter.

These two patterns are a great addition to your back to school wardrobe! Grab them while on sale this week! (They’re cheaper as a bundle too!) And while you’re at it, don’t forget to check out the rest of the MHC shop – the Clover Shorts are a super fun wardrobe addition too!

Link Summary

• Lulah Market Skirt – Mouse House Creations
• Lulah Flutter Tank – Mouse House Creations
• Lulah Bundle – Mouse House Creations
• Yarn Dyed Stripe Cotton Lycra – Wolf & Rabbit Custom Fabrics (NLA)
• Cotton French Terry – G Street Fabrics