Refashion Month--Knit Dress to Maxi Skirt

House of Estrela is hosting her refashion month!
 

 

And, I'm joining in!

 

I found this dress at the thrift shop and it is completely not my style.

I prefer a more modest top, and it is see through....maybe it was a swim cover-up, I don't know!

Either way, I bought it thinking I could salvage the fabric for something.

 

 

Enter the Jocole's Yoga A-line Skirt.

This pattern is amazing--it has 9 different length options, slim and regular width, and wide or narrow waistband.

 

I chose to make the slim, petite maxi skirt, and I love how it turned out.

 

I threw in a second, above the knee length skirt to make the skirt modest--it's attached right at the waistband, with the side seams facing out to make it nice and comfy. And, that fabric was a long sleeved $3 tee from Walmart that I chopped up, so also a refashion!  

 

I used both original hems, so no hemming--this skirt was done from start to finish in less than 1/2 hour!

 

Now, the question is: What do I style it with?!

I had originally worn the grey shirt on the bottom, thinking grey and pink--one of my favourite combos.

But, my dear husband thought I should wear white with it.

And, I threw in the other option as a possibility--a bit of a layered look for fall, maybe?

Let me know what you think--would love to have your thoughts!

 

Either way, I love it--it's so comfy!

And, I'm eyeing my stash of knit fabrics thinking they'll make some more comfy maxi skirts...maybe I should just make another trip to the thrift store.

 

And, now for the giveaway!

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


And, you can add pictures to the Refashion Flickr Group to be entered to win a bundle of patterns as well!!

 

Make sure to stop by all the other stops for Refashion Month!

Gigggles & Beans - Nest full of Eggs - Friends Stitched Together - The Lachman Collection - Sew Straight & Gather - FABulous Home Sewn - Skirt Fixation - Swoodson Says - Gracious Threads - Sews n Bows - Carissa Knits - Sew Shelly Sew - Hamilton Chicklets - Climbing the Willow - Serger Pepper - xoxo Grandma - Threading My Way - Sara Made - The Land of K.A. 

Hanami Top and a Skirt

It is done! The Hanami Top by StraightGrain!!

 

 

And, I love how it turned out.

 

 

So does my daughter.

She wanted to wear it all day after pictures. Even though it's supposed to be a Sunday outfit, I let her. Partly because I thought it looked rather cute on her and partly because with such enthusiasm over something I've sewn for her, I just can't say no.

 

 

There were only a few pictures where she was standing relatively straight. I guess she had to try out how it felt in all sorts of different poses...sigh.

 

 

The fabric I used is from Madrona Road--wild carrot in pink, bought here.

 

And, the lining is some white cotton I had in my stash...I think from Walmart.

I made a size 4 so she could wear it this winter with a long sleeved shirt underneath and then wear it next spring and summer too!

 

And, the buttons are from Fabricland.

 I love that I have a number of boxes of buttons that match!

 

The skirt is a basic skirt--1 1/2 times as wide as my daughter's waist and gathered with an elastic waist.

I *had* to add a ribbon (from Walmart) to differentiate the back from the front.

 

It is made from Premier Prints twill, bought here.

 

Now, to get on with the rest of my ever-lengthening list!

 

 

 

 

Up-cycled T-Shirt Skirt Tutorial

I had recently gone through my closet and found a stack of tanks and t-shirts that were immodest. So, they were thrown out of my closet onto a pile in the hopes I could salvage the material at least.

 

 

Here are the three I chopped up the other day:

 

 

Notice the grey one has an elastic in there. And, it fits around my waist perfectly. Yes! One less step.

(If yours does not have an elastic in there, you can make a casing by folding it over by a 1/4", press, fold again by 1 1/4" and sew on the edge, leaving a hole to thread the elastic through. Stitch the hole shut  after the elastic has been threaded through, and the ends sewn together using a zig zag stitch.)

 

So, first of all, I cut the two colored tanks so that I had four 8.5" wide pieces.

 

And, I seam-ripped and cut the top off the grey shirt. It ended up being a 15" long 'skirt' on its own--not quite modest enough for me and pretty boring--just grey. I did leave the hem on since I didn't feel like seam ripping that.

 

I cut the four colored pieces open on one seam so I could sew the pieces together into one continuous piece in each color.

 

Now, with right sides together, I sewed the purple onto the grey, using a 1/4" seam allowance.

 

So, I had this:

 

*Skip this step, but this was part of my (ahem) learning process*

Next, I played around and was going to make a layer above the purple so that it would be a sort of layered ruffle skirt. It didn't sit right, so I seam ripped the whole green/blue piece off again.

*Continue here*

And, instead, sewed it to the purple, right sides together, lining up seams and again using a 1/4" seam allowance. Much better. 

 

But, in my seam ripping process, I got a bit of a hole in the grey fabric. That needs to be covered up.

 

 

I had cut the hems off the bottom of the colored shirts just above the stitching. I now cut just below the stitching and stitched a gathering stitch in the fold. This piece was approximately 36" x 1".

And, I gathered it.

 

And, sewed them together to make these ruffled flowers. To do so, you just roll the gathered fabric up into a circle, hand stitching them together.

I now have 1 large green/blue flower and 2 small purple flowers that are actually stuck together. I just rolled them up from opposite ends. 

 

After placing them where I wanted, and cutting all threads off, I hand-stitched them to the skirt, covering the hole.

I had some company while doing so:

 

Voila:

 

A skirt made out of upcycled t-shirts.

I did not hem the bottom or finish it in anyway--the knit fabric will not fray and I *think* I like the unfinished look. If I get annoyed with it later, I can always hem it another day.

 

I really like wearing knit skirts--they're so comfy! And, what better way than to upcycle unused shirts!

 

Whew! I hope that makes sense--this is my first tutorial type post. If you have any questions, just comment and I will try to answer them!

Layered Ruffle Skirt

Not so recently anymore, I saw this cute skirt and, I knew that one day, I'd HAVE to make one.

What better fabric to use than the bright, colorful, Rhapsodia fabric fat quarters? So, after I had made the Itty Bitty baby dress over here, I had plenty left to make this. So, I looked up the original tutorial here, and started planning and scheming away.

After much deliberating and pausing in my work (as in weeks), I finally decided on the lengths of the strips, and wether or not I'd add another layer of fabric to thicken the top white (Walmart cotton) layer, I finished!

I even added a ribbon to cover the top raw edge--my first sewn ribbon ever.

And, a ribbon tag to tell what is the back. Not that it matters.

I really like the layers upon layers of bright, colorful ruffles. And, so does my daughter!

Almost Summer Skirt

I recently found this double sheet at the second hand store for $4.99:

It's a lovely summery color perfect for a skirt, so I made a skirt.

It's basically a straight skirt with pockets and a thin waistband. I even added a zipper! It's supposed to be invisible, but this is the first time I tried an invisible zipper. The zipper was repurposed from the dress I had bought at Value Village--the one I made this dress out of.  

See, the zipper is not perfect but it does the job!

The bottom detailing, I basically took 4 lengths of elastic, stretched them as I sewed them in and, voila!

All for less than five dollars!

I may end up making some more modifications as and if I feel like it. I had these grand ideas of adding fabric flowers, but I think they may be too heavy and it may detract from the skirt as it is. What do you think?

Ruffle Skirt

A couple of weeks ago, I made this Ruffle Skirt out of some lovely ruffle fabric from Fabric.com. I had bought it a couple of months ago, but wanted to wait until I was 'unpregnified' before making this, as I was so close to the end of my pregnancy, I didn't want any more maternity size clothes!

Because the fabric is quite sheer when the ruffles aren't down proper, I added a lining with some black knit fabric I had lying around. I didn't hem any of the layers since it won't unravel anyway, and I love a quick project.

After sewing the two tubes of fabric together at the waistband, I sewed a casing about 1 1/4" wide and added a 1" elastic waistband.

I love this skirt! It's super comfy plus it's fancy enough for Church or an evening out.