Recycled Skirt

Last Sunday a friend from my church gave me some scraps of fabric, bunches of spools of ribbon, some old patterns, and three pairs of old blue jeans to use for my purses. However, the pieces I could get from the jeans wouldn't be big enough, plus none of them are my size. I knew there would be something I could use them for, but what? Then I had a revelation! Recycled blue jeans skirts! And with all that ribbon and scraps from my purses I can really decorate them up.

Of course the first thing I needed to do was figure out how to make the skirts. I've had an old pair of black Capri pants that I've been wanting to turn into a skirt for a really long time now, I had even take the center seams out a few months ago. I decided I would practice on them. But as hard as I looked I couldn't find a single thing online for how to put a recycled skirt together! After looking at a few skirts on Etsy, I had a general idea, but I still had to guess on how everything was put together. I'm sure there's a much easier way to do it, but this is how my skirt turned out.

And the back.

So, what do you think?

Simplicity 3673: 1950's Retro Jumper

Here I am, finally getting a post up of my newest project, a gray jumper made from Simplicity's 3673 retro jumper pattern. This is the second garment I've made from a very large piece of gray fabric that was given to me by a friend at my church. And there's still plenty of it left! I found the pattern to be very easy to put together, and I especially love how the bodice is completely enclosed! The petite instructions also worked perfectly as I didn't have to worry about fighting with the pattern to get it just right.

Anyway, here it is:

Because I have very narrow shoulders, and also because of the shape of the jumper's neckline, I decided to make a mock-up of the bodice first to see if it would be too big. And sure enough, it was looking like it wanted to gap in the front and lay too far to the edge of my shoulders.
My mom told me that the easiest way to fix this was to take in the front by a half inch, and add the same amount to the sides. I did that, and it worked wonderfully! However, the next task was to make sure the rest of it fit right. Based on my measurements, and the finished size of the pattern, it looked like I needed to make the bust a size 10, the waist a 12, and the hips on down a 14! So that took some thought to decide just how I wanted to angle everything. But then, after all that work, when I tried it on before hemming it, the hips turned out to be way, WAY too big. >_< So I took it back in to a 12, but it still seems a little big. I'm thinking that next time I make this pattern I'll just stick with a size 10 all the way, and see it that works better.

Naturally of course, my dear sewing kitty, Guinivere wanted to help me hem it!!

Custom Purses

I just wanted to share a couple pictures of two purses that I recently made for custom orders. They both came out really nice. The first one was actually ordered back in September, I think, for a Christmas present. I got it done the Monday before Christmas!



Here's the second one. I really like how it came out. ^_^



I made this one for my sister-in-law for her birthday. My mother-in-law picked out the stencil design. It sure looks pretty, but boy was it a pain to cut out! When I use it for my Etsy purses, it's only going to have the center design. ;D

In other news, I just got some fabric from my mom so I can make some more purses in different colors. I just have to get some more fabric paint to finish them. Next week I'm going to start working on them, so I'll be able to post some more pictures soon!

Until then, God bless you!

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!