Saturday 7 May 2016

Two Rescued Skirts...

Last September I made a knit dress which was a mash up of the Tilly and Buttons Agnes pattern (bodice) and the Lady Skater pattern (skirt). Alas, the bodice section was cut too short and the skirt started too high up, making the dress look quite empire line. And an empire line on me is not a good look!

I didn't want to scrap it as the fabric (a grey cotton jersey gingham from Girl Charlee) was lovely, so I chopped the bodice off and made it into a skirt instead! Well, I put slightly more thought into it than that, but not much. I cut the bodice three inches above the waistline, folded the top edge in half and sewed the bottom edge to the waist seam (leaving a small gap). I then cut a piece of elastic to fit my waist, threaded it through the gap and ta-da: a new skirt!


The skirt sits just below my natural waist and is soooo comfortable. The cotton jersey is nice and lightweight for summer too - it will get a lot more wear as a skirt than it ever would have as a dress.

The skirt has been ironed, I promise you

As I was on such a triumphant skirt-making roll, I decided to rescue another one... this next skirt started life as the fitted, high waisted Megan dress from Love at First Stitch. Sadly I cut a size too small and the bodice looked so skin tight and dreadful on me that it never saw the light of day.

I didn't need to do much to rescue it. I removed the long back zip and cut the bodice off, leaving the darts exactly as they were originally sewn. I then inserted a smaller invisible zip into the back seam and finished the waistband with wide bias tape. That's it!


I didn't make the waistband as fitted as I could have which was intentional, but the darts still give it a nice shape. I now have a lovely, stretchy fitted skirt - not as super-casual as the Lady Skater skirt, but still really comfortable. Yay! 

In other news… my Big Vintage Sewalong dress is finished!! Don't forget to check in on Friday 13th May for the big reveal! x



18 comments:

  1. Your skirts are lovely - great saves!

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  2. Thanks for putting this post up. I am glad not to be the only one to make sewing errors! I'm still so new to this and it can be a little frustrating. Cute skirts! They look very wearable.

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    1. Everybody makes sewing errors! I think they'll be a lot more wearable as skirts than dresses! x

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  3. I made a Washi Dress not so long ago which makes me look pregnant. I'm going to turn into a tulip skirt me thinks because the fabric is just too lovely to just hide. Super job Jane!

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    1. That sounds like a good idea, best of luck with it! x

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  4. My mmm16 pledge is exactly the same. I am trying to put right some of the things that never really worked on me in real life and it is quite an eye opener to take a long look at your own mistakes but good to put stuff back to use. Jo x

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    1. I couldn't agree more! It's nice to give garments a second chance, especially when you've used lovely fabric in the first place! x

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  5. Great rescues. LOVE the gingham one. :)

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    1. Thank you! I wore it yesterday and it was a big success! x

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  6. Great refashions Jane! I'm sure you will get much more wear out of them now. Love the stripes on the red skirt.

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    1. Thanks Tamsin! Yes the stripes on that Megan skirt are my favourite part if it! x

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  7. I love the Megan dress idea. I made one last year but it's just never felt right across my shoulders and, consequently, I never wear it. It was my mistake of trying to fit my boobs in by letting out the seams rather than an FBA! You've now inspired me to convert it to a skirt as well. Thank you!

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    1. My pleasure, glad to have inspired you! x

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  8. I love how you rescued the gingham! Strong work!
    Birgit

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  9. We love the gingham skirt (obviously a little biased being that it is our fabric!) but it looks so pretty! Thanks for rescuing it from wardrobe darkness and thanks for your kind words.

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  10. It really like your sewing, skirt is super , beautiful pattern and fabric!

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