Several years ago, I bought a green work skirt that I adore. It's got a half-elastic waist, so it looks smooth and dignified in front, but is gathered in the back and comfortable to wear at a desk job in ways that (in my opinion) zippered dresses aren't. It's made of fairly thin cotton gauze over an underskirt, however, which means it's slowly gotten more worn, the seams are loosening, and one edge is starting to fray. Not so horrible that it doesn't look nice in an office, but all it would take is one good snag, or getting caught on something in the washing machine, and it'd be dead.
On a seemingly unrelated note, I'm dressing up as Anna from Frozen this year, and as I was looking through my small stash of fabric, I found four yards of a perfect dark blue for her winter skirt, in a light, flowy fabric. Since I do not currently have time, skill, or supplies to replicate the embroidery/ patterns on the original skirt, I figured I could take artistic license with the pattern, kill two birds with one stone, and recreate the green skirt so I can use it again after Halloween (I have slight issues with one-time-use things, especially when I'm handcrafting things).
I'd already taken a rough pattern off the green skirt, and scribbled out sewing instructions detailed enough to make the outer shell (see the purple modesty skirt here), so I transferred the pattern pieces to a roll of brown butcher paper, made sure all the edges matched, and started in on making a real replica. Long story short, the underskirt made it a bit more difficult, but I was able to make it work. There was some amount of nail-biting when I threw the finished product in the wash, but it came out not only still intact, but also beautifully, uniformly wrinkled (the fabric is meant to be such) and still looking good.
Here's the part I'm really proud of, though. I redid two pattern pieces, based on noted I scribbled while sewing, then took all my scribbles, sketches, and shorthand, and made it into a real pattern:
The pieces are labeled and folded up with the instructions in an envelope for when I get some free time, so I can make as many of the dang things as I want. No more roaming the mall for hours, vainly searching for things that sort of fit me... I'm making my own wardrobe now. :)
On a seemingly unrelated note, I'm dressing up as Anna from Frozen this year, and as I was looking through my small stash of fabric, I found four yards of a perfect dark blue for her winter skirt, in a light, flowy fabric. Since I do not currently have time, skill, or supplies to replicate the embroidery/ patterns on the original skirt, I figured I could take artistic license with the pattern, kill two birds with one stone, and recreate the green skirt so I can use it again after Halloween (I have slight issues with one-time-use things, especially when I'm handcrafting things).
I'd already taken a rough pattern off the green skirt, and scribbled out sewing instructions detailed enough to make the outer shell (see the purple modesty skirt here), so I transferred the pattern pieces to a roll of brown butcher paper, made sure all the edges matched, and started in on making a real replica. Long story short, the underskirt made it a bit more difficult, but I was able to make it work. There was some amount of nail-biting when I threw the finished product in the wash, but it came out not only still intact, but also beautifully, uniformly wrinkled (the fabric is meant to be such) and still looking good.
Here's the part I'm really proud of, though. I redid two pattern pieces, based on noted I scribbled while sewing, then took all my scribbles, sketches, and shorthand, and made it into a real pattern:
The pieces are labeled and folded up with the instructions in an envelope for when I get some free time, so I can make as many of the dang things as I want. No more roaming the mall for hours, vainly searching for things that sort of fit me... I'm making my own wardrobe now. :)
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