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

Hooray!

Hello Everyone! I don't have any new projects to show you, even though I want to sew! This has been a very busy week for me. Today was my last day of classes. Next week I have finals and then my Freshman year is over!! I have nearly conquered my classes! I can and will keep going until my last final is over. It does not help to look at sewing blogs and see all the wonderful projects people are creating. I  have a whole list  of projects I want to sew, but I just have to be patient.

Today in my Statistics class, we did not learn anything new. My professor just talked about the final exam and what to expect. Then he told us that if we don't remember anything from his class, he wants us to always remember to keep things in perspective. When you look at the big picture what really matters? He said to enjoy the college years because time flies. That is not something you often hear from a professor, but it was great to hear.

Classes are important but I have to remember to take time to relax. This week has been stressful, but now classes are over. I have learned so much this year in and out of my classes. Some have been life lessons. It has been an amazing experience and I can't wait to see next year holds.

I will hopefully have a post about sewing soon! Have an enjoyable weekend!

~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