Linen Wrap Skirt

Hello Readers. I love linen and thought this piece would make a nice summer skirt. This linen came from my generous mother-in-law. She was a serious fabric collector. She has really supplied me well. Let's use this fabric and the simple pattern from book by Sheila Brennan, "One-Piece Wearables" to make a fabulous new skirt. 

 My daughter got this book when she took a sewing class in school. It honestly has some really great beginner patterns in it. The wrap skirt is one of my favorites.  

I had this fabric in my stash, my stash that actually is 90% from my mother-in-laws stash. Linen is great for hot weather, and this design is so pretty too. Who else is going to have a skirt with trees all over it?? No one, that is the fun of sewing. You can make really unique things. 

I cut my piece and marked all the darts I would need to make. This skirt needs darts at the waist, to make the waist smaller, to fit the curve of the waist well.  

I sewed all my darts. These are quick to sew. 

Then I made a very long waistband. It will also be the tie around my waist to keep the skirt up and on. 

I love how this skirt turned out. The pattern called for a mini-skirt length but I added some inches to make the skirt a bit longer. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  

A Golden Wrap Skirt

 Hello Readers. I have a small stash of fabric that my mother-in-law gave me and I am always trying to use it instead of buying new fabric. (I am really cheap like that.) I really liked this golden fabric. It was a weird shape and there wasn't very much of it. What could I make? 

Before and after.

 

It's not really gold but it is silk. This fabric came from my mother-in-law's stash. It was kind of a strange shape because it is a scrap from some other project. I like mustard yellow so I decided to try and make something out of this. 

 

This book has so many good patterns. I like the wrap skirt a lot. It doesn't take a lot of fabric to make so it will be perfect for this piece of gold fabric. 

 

I cut out the skirt. It was a simple shape.

 

This pattern has several darts. I marked all of those on the fabric. 

 

I sewed all the tucks and I hemmed the skirt.

 

I wanted to use a button closure. I dug around in my button collection.

 

This skirt was a quick and easy project to make and I love the sheen of the fabric. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- This skirt was a great fit but too cold for winter. I will get back to it in warm weather.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Asymetrical Wrap Skirt

 Hello Readers. I made a wrap skirt with an asymmetrical drape on one side. I have seen them and thought I could put one together for myself. 

This wool has been sitting in my sewing stash for a long time. I thought it would be perfect for a wrap skirt. It is a little thicker and heavier since it is wool so it will work well. 

I had more than enough for a skirt and 

 

 I liked the colors.

 

I started by wrapping the fabric around myself to see how wide it was and if it would hang the way I wanted. I was also checking what length I wanted.

I cut the length I wanted and moved it to my dress form. I pinned it to the dress form and wrapped it around the way I wanted it. I wanted excess fabric in front to create that draped effect.

I needed to make some tucks in the waist to improve the fit. I pinned 2 tucks in back and 1 on each side.

I sewed the tucks and I was almost done already. 

I didn't need to make a waistband because I used the selvedge side of the fabric as my waist. The fabric was woven like this and that edge was perfect for the waist.  

I didn't hem the skirt in the traditional way. I pulled the horizontal threads all the way around the hem so I would have a sort of "fringe".

When the fringe was long enough for me, I stitched with a zigzag stitch above the fringe. I thought this would keep it the threads from loosening more over time. I don't know for sure if this was necessary, I was just making all of this up as I went along. (That is how I usually approach sewing, and life!)

I used a large brass pin to secure the outside of the wrap skirt. I liked that because it was easy and because it would be easy to change the fit any time I wore it.

I secured the inside of the skirt with Velcro. I did that so it would be adjustable as well. I could have used a button or hook and eye closure but those would not be as adjustable. 

I liked the drape on the side. It is just a front panel that extends out wider than a normal wrap skirt. This was such an easy skirt to make, and it is so adjustable I know it will always fit me. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update***- This skirt was so easy to make and I still love it. The waist is adjustable so it fits even when I hit the cookies too hard.

Yellow Silk

 Hello Readers. If you have been reading along this month you may have noticed all the yellow. Yellow seems like a happy color and I really wanted to try and be cheerful. I don't know if all the yellow is cheering anyone up, but it can't hurt. When I decided to focus on yellow I started looking around my stash of sewing stuff for yellow things. I found this yellow silk that my mother-in-law passed on to me and was determined to make something out of it.

Before and after.

I had 2 pieces of yellow silk. I really loved the floral print. I just did not have that much of it. It was very thick because it is actually a decorator fabric. It should probably be a seat cushion somewhere, but not today. Today it is going to be fun clothing. I had more of the plain yellow fabric. It had a pretty sheen and would be a good buddy fabric, if I needed it. 

 

 The floral fabric was a long narrow rectangle. It was going to be impossible to make anything big out of it. I knew it was a great piece to make a wrap skirt. Wrap skirts are usually just long narrow rectangles, so I was half-way done already. I went through this book and got out the wrap skirt pattern. This is not an ad. I just like this book of basic simple patterns.

You can see the fabric and the paper pattern here. They are both rectangles and they are already similar in size. This should be easy. The pattern shows where all the tucks need to go to make the waist fit well. All of those little triangles are important.

This is a view of the skirt. You can see a couple of the tucks I made at the waist. I followed the pattern directions and hemmed all the cut edges. But that waist needs a closure. (We all need closure don't we?)

I was running out of fabric. I almost made a waist tie from the plain yellow silk but then I saw this bias tape. It matched really well to the skirt and it was a lot easier since it was already made. 

I sewed the bias tape around the waistband and left some extra to tie it closed. The bias tape is great because it covers the waistband inside and out all in one step. 

 

Here is the finished skirt. It was thick enough that it didn't need any lining underneath. 

I added a little magnetic snap inside the skirt to keep the skirt layers in place inside the skirt. I sewed it on by hand.

This skirt was perfect for a charity concert in Washington D.C. You can see the Washington and Lincoln Monuments behind me.

 

 The concert was performed by the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. It was beautiful and supported refugees from the war in Ukraine.

My daughter took me. It was great.

 

 We did some snacking and tailgating in the parking garage before we went into the concert. Thanks for reading along, there will be more yellow silk next time. Now, go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- I love this silk skirt. I need to go somewhere so I can wear this again. I also still pack snacks when I go out.

Scarf to Wrap Skirt

 Hello Readers. I hope you are having a calm peaceful summer. If you have seen the news lately it seems like nowhere and nothing is calm or peaceful. If you are hurting or feeling overwhelmed, you are nor alone. I am not blind to what is happening and I hope for better days. Sewing helps me find some quiet peaceful time in my week. I think I keep sewing for my own good.

Before and after.

 

I made this infinity scarf a few years ago from some giraffe print cotton. It was a little bulky as a scarf but I didn't have much of the fabric and I couldn't think of anything else it could it be at the time. But now I have an idea.

I opened up the whole scarf and "removed the seams that held the scarf together.

I had a long narrow rectangle when I was done opening the seams. I wanted to turn this rectangle into a skirt. A wrap skirt to be precise. 

I made 2 large tucks in the back of the skirt to make the waist smaller. There is plenty to wrap in front of me for the wrap skirt.

Wrap skirts usually have a belt that ties around the waist or some kind of button closure at the waist. But I found a faster way to keep the wrap skirt closed. 

I found these buttons on Amazon. (NOT AN AD!) They can be used on jeans or whatever you want. They can go on the garment where ever you need them to go and they don't need any button hole. The pin goes through the fabric and the cover keeps the button attached. You can change the size of the waistband by moving the buttons. The buttons stayed on really well when I wore mine.

The skirt crossed over in the front like a wrap skirt should. I loved the print and the cotton fabric was very comfortable as a skirt.

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

*Year End Note From Chickie- This was so much better as a skirt, I am glad I made it a wrap skit so it won't ever get too tight.

Silk Skirt, Silk Pajamas

 Hello Readers. I was given a huge load of hand-me-downs by a friend (Thanks Sue C.!) and it was wonderful to go through the pile and add to the refashion stash. It will help so much with my plan to spend nothing on all my refashions in 2021. I do 2 refashions a week so it would really add up even at the thrift store. This green and orange wrap skirt was reversible and silk. 

When I looked at the skirt I thought it was a little too long on me. I was also struggling to decide how to wear the orange and green at the same time. It felt like there was a lot of color contrast going on. I decided to cut the orange skirt off the green skirt. The waistband and tie for the wrap skirt was green so I went with that and kept the skirt all green. 

I was done in 2 minutes and I had a lovely green wrap skirt. I love green.

But what about the orange layer of the skirt. It was large enough to make something out of, but what? I folded the skirt on itself and cut out 2 pieces to make a pair of pajama shorts.

 Silk pajama shorts? That's right! This fabric would not stay ironed and would not lay flat for any pictures. I loved the material anyway because it was so soft and it will be comfortable and breathable in the summer. I used yellow trim from my stash to finish the hem and I had a rusty orange elastic that I could use at the waist.

 I still had enough fabric to make a tank top to go with the shorts, if I used some lace for the shoulder straps. 

These pajamas were soft and comfortable. Mornings are not my best time of day, I don't understand morning people. I do not wake up cheerful or alluring in anyway. I wake up sad, cranky and a little puffy to be honest. I did actually sleep in these pj's, they did get really wrinkled and I still liked them anyway.

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Chickie's Year End Review-I still really love this skirt a pajamas. They are so light they are not for winter but I will be wearing these again.