15 for 15 remix - My 15 items

Here are my items I chose for the 15 for 15 remix that Ashley at Bramblewood Fashion is hosting. My 9 year old sister decided to do it with me too. Here is what I picked:

Six Tops

Six Skirts

3 Pairs of Shoes

Here is what my sister picked:

Six Skirts

One Dress and Six tops

Two Pairs of Shoes

I am excited to see what different kinds of outfits I can come up with. It should be a really fun challenge.

~Elizabeth

Gabrielle Godet Skirt and 15 for 15 remix

I have another skirt to show you today! If you haven't already guessed, skirts are one of my favorite things to make. They are quick and easy. This one took me a few days, just because I did not sit down to work on it all at once. It is called the Gabrielle Godet skirt and it is from Kay Whitt's Fashion Formula Skirts Volume 2.

This was my first experience with godets and it went fairly well. They aren't perfect, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I love the fabric! It is a very long a flowy skirt; perfect for summer!

In other news, I have decided to participate in Ashley's summer event called 15 for 15 remix. The idea is to take 15 items (tops, skirts, dresses, pants, shorts, shoes, any item you have in your closet) and you remix them for 15 days. Accessories don't count as part of the 15 items. I have never done anything like this before, so I am excited to try it. I think it will be a good challenge for me! It runs from June 1 - June 15. I will have a post with my 15 items soon.

~Elizabeth

Jolie Pouf Skirt

Here is another skirt I made recently. It is the Jolie Pouf Skirt from Kay Whit's Fashion Formula Skirts, Vol. 2.

This skirt was very fun to make. It has everything you could ever want in a skirt - scallops, ruffles, a drawstring, an underskirt and an overskirt.

The ruffle is attached to the underskirt, and the overskirt and underskirt are sewed together. Then the yoke is attached. I decided to make a drawstring waistband, instead of elastic. The scallops are made at the very end by making markings a certain distance apart. For my skirt they were 11". Then, you make accordion pleats and sew the pleat down with a tight zigzag stitch. After some pressing and pulling you have nice scallops.

There were no pattern pieces for this skirt. The directions were very detailed and easy to follow. I know it is going to be a new favorite of mine because it is very comfortable and fun to wear.

I used cotton fabric that I bought online from Canton Village Quilt Works.

Just for fun, I wanted to twirl in this skirt:

Have a great day!

~Elizabeth

Black and White

This past week I have been sewing up a storm! This is the first skirt I made, the Corinne Pleated Skirt from Sew Serendipity. The pleated portion of the skirt was made with forty 2 1/2 inch strips. I used a jelly roll with black and white fabric, bought on eBay.

At first, I thought the skirt would be too busy with all the prints, but I really like how it turned out. It is very full and it hangs nice. I used a green cotton fabric for the yoke to add some color.

The pattern gave two options for a waistband - elastic or drawstring. I decided to do an elastic waistband. I like the length. It falls about mid-calf on me.

In my opinion, the skirt was very easy and fun to make! If you don't have a serger (I don't) finishing the edges takes some time. It is worth it in the end though! There is a lot of pressing and topstitching to help the pleats lie flat. The directions are very well written, with many diagrams to go with each step.


Skirts are one of my favorite things to make, so I was very excited when a new blog I found, crafterhours, announced Skirt week. There are many different categories, including A-line skirts, full skirts, straight skirts and children skirts. I will definitely will be participating and I hope you will too! You can enter any skirt made since July 1, 2011 and you have until June 8, 2012 to enter them into the flickr pool. You can find more information here.


~Elizabeth

Skirt Refashion

I have three pencil skirts that I never wear. They are ankle length and hard to walk in. I decided I wasn't going to get rid of them - I was going to give them a new life and make them wearable!

I plan on refashioning all three skirts, but so far I only finished one. It took me about 15 - 20 minutes. I did not get a before picture of the refashioned skirt but here are pictures of the other two that are exactly the same except for the color:

These skirts are ankle length and have a 10 inch slit. I laid the skirt on my cutting mat and cut off the skirt starting at the top of the slit. Now it was above my knee. I wanted to add about 7 inches back, so I cut a black piece of fabric 16 inches by 60 inches, sewed it into a tube, doubled it, and made a ruffle. I attached the ruffle to the skirt and topstitched. Finally, I pressed some intentional creases into the ruffle to help it hang better. I love the result!

Close up of the ruffle

The skirt is so much easier to walk in now and I know I will be wearing it a lot more.


~Elizabeth

Thrift Store Finds

What a stressful week this has been! I finished my last final and I can officially say I am done with my first year of college!!

I love thrifting! I went to Salvation Army the other day and left with so many treasures. I was looking for suspenders because I read about using them for colored elastic here. It is such a unique and clever idea! I found one pair of navy blue suspenders for $1.

I didn't want to leave with just the suspenders, so I did some browsing around the store. As I was looking around the back of the store by the sheets and bedding I turned and I saw.....FABRIC!!! People were walking by ignoring it, but it drew me in. There were three small containers full of rolled up fabric. Some of it was ugly, but I kept searching and found several things I liked:

My finds 

My favorite - a cotton floral

A brown floral knit

A sheer fabric - maybe silk?

It is hard to know what the type of fabric is. I think most of them are cotton or cotton blends. Most are a yard or more. I spent a total of $14! I foresee many great projects!

What have you found at the thrift store lately?


~Elizabeth