Broomstick Skirt

I finally finished the skirt for a friend of mine! Here's some pictures of the skirt along with a little tutorial on the method I used to broomstick it. Hope you enjoy.

Here's a before picture of the skirt. Cute, isn't it?


Now, this method is a little different the kinds most people use, but I find it makes the tucks come out way more evenly and it also dries quicker. To start the first thing you need is a 6" diameter 4 1/2' pipe, a rubber band, and an old pair of nylons. To start, the skirt needs to be quite damp, after washing it is the best time to brromstick it. Start by putting the skirt over the pipe and rubber banding the waist so it won't move.



Next cut off one of the legs of the nylons, then gently work it over the top of the pipe and onto the skirt making sure to keep the fabric evenly spaced.



Now this part is the most time consuming. Carefully pull the nylon down a little at a time and pull out the tucks on the skirt to make them even.





Set the pipe and skirt aside for a couple of days and let dry. Once you're sure the skirt is dried out completely, it's time to take it off!



And there you are, broomstick skirt. Let me know what you think!

Coming up with new ideas

I've been planning in the near future to add a new item to my sewing shop, skirts that have been broomsticked. For those of you unfamiliar to the term this is Wikipedia's definition: Broomstick skirt, a light-weight ankle length skirt with many crumpled pleats formed by compressing and twisting the garment while wet, such as around a broomstick. (1980s and on) I've looked on Etsy to see if there was anything similar, and found that there was not, so I hope I've found a good niche.

I've had an idea rolling around in my head for a couple months now, but today I finally sat down and drew up a first draft. Well, actually I came up with 3 different drafts! However, I won't make you look at my awful attempts at drawing; which by the way, it seems only I can interpret anyway!

In other news, I've been commissioned to make a broomstick skirt for a friend of mine. Even though this one is from a pattern, I'm still going to use it to get a rough idea of how long it would take me, and what a good price for my time would be. I really like the fabric she picked out, and I hope to post a finished photo of it here.

They're up!

Well, I've decided to put my two newest purses in a consignment shop here in my home town. The owner is really nice and even agreed to split the profit 70/30!! I hope I can get some sales soon so that I can buy some new fabrics. I can't justify making them in more colors until the one's I've made start selling.

My Two Newest Purses

Here's my two newest Celtic purses. I made them to sell at my local Friend's of the Library book sale. Unfortunately, neither of them sold, though I did get an order for a custom made purse. :-)

I really like how the green one came out. Probably because it has a different stencil design than all the others. However, in the process of painting this one I destroyed the stencil. :( I can't wait until I can get some quilters plastic to transfer my designs too.I still haven't decided whether I'm going to list one, or both of these on my Etsy shop, or try to sell them somewhere else.

Thanks for looking!

Getting Started

This is just a short post to say that I'm now blogging. This blog will cover such topics as my newest sewing projects and for personal use as well as for our business. More coming soon...