Sunday, June 6, 2010

The Little Skirt That Could!

sew what header


What can I say about this skirt? Well, let's see. First, it is the longest running project I have worked on to date. From start to finish it took me nine days! I cut out and appliqued almost three fat quarters worth of flowers from a vintage bed sheet. But this skirt is soooo much more than that.


Patchwork Skirt
The little Skirt That Could AKA My interpretation of the Sew What Challenge #1 AKA Shabby Chic Meets Booty-liscious!


I could also call this skirt The Skirt of Firsts as it is the first time I:
  • Used Heat N' Bond
  • Appliqued
  • Used metallic thread
  • Made a D ring belt
Have I told you yet how much I love it? Because I do. I made it from one of my most comfortable pair of jeans and so it is a very comfy skirt. Normally, I would not hack up a perfectly good pair of jeans but this pair well, if you'll notice the front pockets at thigh height? Yeah, winter weight thighs did not appreciate the attention as a pair of jeans but as a skirt? *Muah* Bellissima!

This skirt was inspired by this one from I Make Stuff.Which was inspired by this technique at The Brassy Apple. But at the time I did not have the mula to order, so I thought; "Hey, I can do that!" and I could, but I don't think I could have complicated it any more than I did!

First thing I did was use a pair of jeans with front pockets. Dude. It is pretty hard to sew a 'tube' bottom to an odd shape top. I ended up having to tuck in almost half an inch under each front pocket right up to the waist seam. The, when I had the skirt base sorted, I cut out way too many flowers and stubborn as I am am, I appliqued (triple stitched)every last one of them. THEN I zig zagged with metallic thread over the edges of the flower, again individually. Thankfully I cut out a few bunches of flowers so that helped a little. It still took me about five days to sew it all on though, not including the metallic zig zagging.


Wristlet Collage


I topped it off with a matching d-ring belt and ran some metallic stitching around the skirt to kind of tie it together. I had a piece leftover from the belt that inspired me to make my first ever zippered wristlet. That kept me up the other night, having never worked with zippers before and being too stubborn to find a tutorial I agonized over how to make it a lined pouch in which the lining could be pulled away from the pouch. In the end I managed, it looked a lot like how I pictured it, except smaller because I didn't realize I need a much bigger zipper. Live and learn though right?


Patchwork Skirt


After every stage I tried this skirt on, loving it more and more the further along it was. I love it to death now and am so happy I can finally wear it out and about. (Or oot and aboot as we Canucks say.) I love how it fits both in the comfort and looks department. Seriously, my butt looks awesome in this and who does not love a skirt that makes their butt look awesome? I will make a skirt like this again but I think I will purchase Brassy Apple's pattern because it has to be simpler than my method. Until then, I think I did a great job at making recycled denim look fan-freakin'-tastic!

To see what Cynthia has come up with for the challenge click on the button below!




To find out what the next challenge is come back Monday evening and on Tuesday I will showcase the other skirts!

Thanks for sewing along!




I am entering the skirt in the following contests. :)


12 comments:

Sally said...

UBER ACE!!! Brilliant. Fantastic. Wonderful. Out of this world creative. Absolutely funky. Loving your skirt muchly. Way to go!!!

The Sewing Dork said...

Wow, genius!!!
That is amazing! What Sally said above! A-mazing.

Erin said...

Oh wow. Seriously... wow. You SHOULD love love love it. It's awesome!

Anonymous said...

Ooooh - what a gorgeous skirt! That is seriously booti-ful, and I admire your dedication, sticking with all that applique!! Well worth it, I reckon :)

Polly @ Pieces by Polly said...

This looks amazing!! Great job with the applique.

Anna said...

very very cool melissa. it looks great on you, too!

Marisa said...

This is so creative! I love how the join between the patchwork flowers and the denim is not straight - it makes the skirt in my opinion.

Fawnda@Fireflies and Jellybeans said...

Oh my! I love this skirt! It makes me want to hack up a pair of jeans right now!

Great job! : )

Anonymous said...

So glad I found this blog. Love your skirt and it looks great on you. I've got some old sheets, jeans and a long cold winter ahead of me. thanks

Agy said...

Found you through Flickr! Just love love your blog. Thank you for the inspiration :-) your newest follower!

Little Blue Mouse said...

I love it!

Lynn M said...

I just wanted to leave you a comment saying this is my most favorite refashion I've seen. I love your ideas.