Friday, December 3, 2010

With the Band vintage skirt refashion

with the band skirt after 1
This skirt has quite the story... I saw it in the window of Modern Millie, the amazing vintage / consignment shop in town, and couldn't stop thinking about it. I stopped by the shop a few days later and it was still there! I knew I had to have it.

with the band skirt before 1
Except... there were problems. The salesgirl warned me, as she was taking it off the mannequin, that the waist was small. Really small. Like, 18" of small. So small, in fact, that she couldn't take it off the mannequin's hips and had to fight to get it off over her shoulders. Ummm... a problem, for sure, but how fantastic is that print?!? "It needs some love," the salesgirl said, and I knew I was the one to give it, so I bought it.

with the band skirt before 3
When I got it home, I did some investigation, and here's what I've figured out:
  • This skirt is homemade (see gathering stitches showing under the waistband)
with the band skirt before hem
  • This skirt was probably for a child (see tiny waist, and hem that was let down twice)
with the band skirt selvage 2
  • This skirt is old: selvage was still attached, and the fabric design is copyright 1953!

Thankfully, the skirt was also long enough that I could make the necessary alterations. Here's what I did:
  • Used my seam-ripper to remove the existing waistband
  • Carefully un-gathered skirt
with the band skirt ungathered
  • Pressed the heck out of it (check out the fading!)
  • Cut 3" off the top of the skirt
  • Cut a slit down the center back to remove the hole and insert a zipper
with the band skirt after zip
  • Sewed a seam in the center back and inserted a zipper
  • Re-gathered the skirt to fit my waist
  • Fashioned a 1" waistband from the 3" I cut off the top
  • Attached waistband to re-gathered skirt and added a snap closure

with the band skirt after 4
And here is the finished skirt! It really wasn't that much work to fix it, and the new length hits a few inches above my knees, which is perfect! Also, because the skirt is made of two lengths of fabric sewn selvage to selvage (there are two sets of selvages--one at each side seam), there's still a lot of volume. And that print! Oh my--I am in love!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Commission crafting

JJ scotty dog 2
Well, I'd been hoping to get this post up in November, but... The holidays are here! That means 'tis the season to craft like a maniac but not be able to reveal what's been crafted! So, maybe it *is* a good thing that I'm behind on blogging my projects... These were all made for friends by their requests. Above are a mini lap quilt (about 31" x 40" finished) and a Scottie dog made for my friend JJ's parents. The lap quilt was just pieced from pre-cut squares from Connecting Threads. It's put together the "cheater" way, with no binding. There is a layer of batting and the backing is a cozy flannel.

JJ scotty dog 3
The Scottie dog is another attempt at this pattern. I really like how stately this guy looks with his little neck bow!

Sandy apron 2
This apron was a request by another friend and is an improvised pattern from me. I now wish I'd made it a little smaller in the bib top and in the drop to the hips/ties, but it's an apron, right?!? Too big is okay, and I realize I'm on the petite size of average (read: shorty) so just because I had to gather it up at the tie doesn't mean everyone will have to!

Back to my elf-cave of holiday crafting, but more soon!