Shirt to Skirt Refashion

Hello Everyone! I am finally done with the semester and it feels great! I have one semester of nursing school behind me and just three more to go - but first I will enjoy the summer. A few weeks ago, I went shopping at one of our local thrift shops. I found this shirt on sale for $2 and since I've always wanted to try refashioning something, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity!

 

 

As you can see, the shirt was huge on me. I decided to make it into a simple elastic waist skirt.

 

 

It was very simple to make - I just cut across the shirt at the armholes so I would have a straight edge to sew my elastic on. Before sewing the elastic, I used an overcast stitch to finish the edges. I used 3 inch wide elastic and left it exposed on the top of the skirt. So simple - it took less than 20 minutes!

 

The skirt ended up being way too short to wear as is because I never wear anything above my knees. That was an easy fix though. I just put on a longer, straighter skirt underneath. I think it works and it adds color to the tan skirt.

 

My favorite part of making this was that I didn't have to hem it! I think it will get a lot of wear this summer now that the weather is finally starting to warm up.

 

~Elizabeth

 

 

Linking up with some link parties found here.

Polka Dots and Denim

Hello everyone! A couple weeks ago, I was shopping at Joann Fabrics when I came across this:

White polka dots on denim! As soon as I saw it, I was already imagining a cute denim skirt that would be perfect for fall/winter weather! I knew the perfect pattern to use. I had to have it! It was a fashion denim, so it was more expensive than plain denim, but it was 40% off, so  I didn't feel too guilty buying it.

After buying the fabric, it sat for awhile because I had no time to sew. Then, a couple weeks ago there were no classes! I could use that day to sew my skirt!

I used the Route 66 skirt pattern from the Long ladies at marie-madeline studio. This was my third time using the pattern, and I love it. The instructions are very easy to follow and everything is written in a way that is easy to understand. I think it is a good pattern for seamstresses of all skill levels.

Since I was making this in my apartment at school, I cut it out in the living room, because there was more space there than in my bedroom.

 

This was before cutting anything out. There are only two pattern pieces. The gore piece and the facing piece. The skirt is made up of twelve gores and it comes in sizes 2-18.

 

 

This is what my fabric looked like after I cut everything out. I thought it looked funny, so I took a picture! The pattern requires 2 3/4 yards for the mid-calf skirt I made.

 

The skirt only took me 6 hours to make! I started in the morning, and I only stopped for lunch. When I start something, I have a hard time stopping in the middle.

 

Here's my finished skirt!

 

 

 

 

The skirt has an invisible zipper:

 

 

I still need a lot of practice with invisible zippers, but I'm getting better. Without this tutorial, I would be lost! Kay Whitt does a wonderful job showing you how to put in an invisible zipper with a regular zipper foot.

 

I love everything about my new skirt. It is the perfect length and the gores make it nice and full at the bottom but narrow at the waist, providing a flattering fit.

 

 

 

Didn't my sister do a great job with these photos? We had a lot of fun taking these pictures at the park!

 

 

This will be the perfect skirt for the fall and winter! It can be worn as a casual everyday skirt or you can dress it up for more formal events. It is a very comfortable skirt and I know it will get lots of wear!

 

Have you ever made a Route 66 skirt? Or a denim skirt?

 

~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

A Bubble Skirt

One quick and easy tutorial + one girl who loves to sew = one ridiculously comfortable knit skirt!

I made a skirt last night. My mom emailed me a tutorial (Thanks Mom!) to an adorable bubble skirt she found! The tutorial was for a size 2T, but it can be made in any size. I adjusted for my measurements, and made it right then and there in my room at college. I am a sewing nerd...so far I have not met anyone else who brought their sewing machine and ALL their fabric with them to college.

The tutorial, which can be found here is so simple and quick! I made it in less than two hours. I think the cutting took the longest, because my knit was super stretchy and did not want to cooperate. It was just some plain black jersey knit that was originally going to be a infinity scarf. The skirt is made with a total of 3 rectangles (waistband, outer skirt and inner skirt).

The only problem I ran into was that when I finished my skirt was shorter than I wanted it to be.  It fell just above my knee. I wanted it just below my knee.When I cut it out I had to straighten it a lot to get it even and I ended up taking off more than I wanted. I should have made my waistband 6 inches instead of 4 inches. I was able to make a fix by sewing a second waistband on top of the original with some green scraps of knit I had. I didn't have enough black. You can't see the green when I'm wearing it anyway. Now it is the perfect length and it is so comfortable!!

I will definitely be making another one of these skirts. I want to make one for my little sister too.


~Elizabeth

The Tailored Skirt



A few weeks ago, on a Saturday afternoon I had the intentions of doing homework. However, some bright springy fabric started calling my name...and a week later I had myself a skirt. The fabric had been bought during the summer, after I received a gift card to my favorite quilt shop. I had also just received a sewing book. What a perfect opportunity to buy fabric for a skirt!

I had just planned on tracing the pattern onto freezer paper, but one thing turned into another. Soon, the pattern was traced, pinned onto the fabric and cut out. By then, I couldn't stop and I started sewing. I traced, cut and sewed in my college dorm room!

Close up of invisible zipper

Me wearing the skirt and trying to take a picture

Close up of one of the pockets

I love how it turned out! It went together really fast, and I will definitely be making another one with the same pattern. I used a pattern from Kay Whitt's book Sew Serendipity. It is a great book, with clear and detailed instructions. The hardest part was the invisible zipper. I have only done two other invisible zippers, but I was impressed with how it turned out!

I will be wearing this skirt on Easter and to my cousin's wedding, which is the week after Easter. I am really excited to wear it!

~Elizabeth

New Skirt!

Hello!

It has been a few days since my last post, but I've been busy sewing! Yesterday, I finished a skirt that I have been trying to make. It took me three tries, but I finally got it right! The skirt is from the pattern "Stella Strip Skirt," by Serendipity Studio. There aren't any pattern pieces because the skirt is made entirely from 2 1/2 inch strips. You can make it any length you would like. The skirt has pleats, and it was my first time working with pleats. That is one reason I messed up on the first try. I sewed the pleats backwards!! It was very upsetting at first, especially since I used my favorite fabric. I decided to try again. The pleats looked great, but it didn't fit! I made the wrong size!! Finally on my third try, everything went well. I sewed the pleats the right way, I made the right size and I only had to use the seam ripper for minor mistakes. I had one issue with the waistband though. The waistband has four rows of 3/8" elastic, and it was supposed to lay flat. Well, mine wasn't laying flat so I emailed the designer, Kay Whitt. She is a genius! She knew right away what the problem was - I didn't pull the first two rows of elastic tight enough. Sure enough, after I did that the problem was fixed.

Without further ado, here are pictures of my new skirt.

Me wearing my new skirt.

Close up of my new skirt.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures! This skirt was very easy to make, once I made it the right size and understood the pleats. It took me two days to make. I will be wearing it for my high school graduation and entering in the fair for my 4-H clothing project!