Copy cat...

I love this skirt, it's like my track pants. You don't have to shave your legs and it's quick and easy...of course I always shave my legs though....erm, OK not all the time.

The above skirt was bought from Target aggggesss ago (before my pledge not to buy new clothes) I still have not bought anything new. Except running shoes, but they are exempt anyway :P

This skirt is an exact copy of the above one. It looks different because the original was made with all the same fabric, but I couldn't resist buying all sorts of fabric.

I literally measured all the panels of the original, then I sewed each panel together so that I had four rings of fabric. I then set my machine on the longest stitch and gathered the tops of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tiers.

I gathered the top of the second panel to the length of the first panel. Then, with the bottom of the top tier and the gathered/top of the second tier (right sides together) I sewed them together, making sure that the seams down the side matched up.

I did the same with the third and fourth tiers, then hemmed the bottom of the skirt and made a casing for the elastic waist and using a safety pin I threaded the elastic through and sewed the gap closed.

As a rough idea, you make the top panel a few inches wider than your hips, then each subsequent tier gets wider and wider. You can make this as gradual or wide as you like, depending how much fullness you'd like.

The first garment I ever made was a mini version of this for kids. I plan on making them again. Keep and eye out for it...I'll be selling them in my etsy shop soon too.

A skirt for me...from fabric I bought for Sophie...sorry Soph :(

I got this idea from Disney... as soon as I read her post I knew what I would use.

In my 'ready to be chopped up' pile I had my maternity belt tube thing..you know, the thing you wear around your middle to cover your expanding tummy, and allowing you to wear 'normal' clothes for a little longer...not much longer thought, if you eat like I do when I'm pregnant :)

Anyway, I made a smaller and shorter tube and attached this fabric to it. This fabric was supposed to be for Sophie, but I couldn't resist...and she has so many clothes at the moment that she can't possibly wear them all before she grows again. That is my justification anyway :)

The top picture was made in a flash, but as you can see, it is way too big and bunches up around the band.

So I took it in and I LOVE IT!

Please excuse my puffy/red face... bleedin' allergies :(

Refashioned dress for my lovely friend

My friend had this dress is a bag ready to go to the charity shop. I asked her why she didn't want it and she said that it's just too dressy to wear every day and that she wished it was a skirt...well duh!!! I obviously jumped at the chance to hone my skills...or rather, swear, shout and throw a proper toddler tantrum. I thought this would be so easy, but little did I know I would meet my arch enemy - the concealed zip!!!

Now I am NOT a fan of zips, I find them annoying and fiddly so I tend to stay away from them, however once I unpicked this dress I though (stupidly) 'it'll be fine. I'll just move it down to the start of the skirt and sew it back in. Which is exactly what I did and if I showed you in photos (not that I have any) it would look serene and lovely, but if you were in my house at the time, you would agree with my hubby and call me an 'angry seamstress'...actually that should be the name of my blog. I haven't been so frustrated with what should have been a simple project since I started knitting and dropped a stitch about 20 rows down and had to take it to the bottom of the garden so that I could swear at it without my family thinking I was mental.

Well, I finished it, and it is SUPER!!! The photo does not do it justice as my friend and I are different sizes but I know that it will look lovely on her. My little fella didn't want to be left out. I apologise sincerely for the picture, but this was the best of about 20 pics - Note to self 'my five year old takes better pictures than my Mum', bless her, she couldn't keep it still and press the button - and no she's not old and frail, she's young and this is well within her capabilities...she just got out witted by my iphone :) I hope she reads this :P

The blue one...in a little more detail :)

One of my lovely new friends (frugalceo) wanted a little more detail on how this top was made so I thought I'd bite the bullet and do the blue one as well. I managed to convince DH to take both babies to the park so that I could get it done :)

Ok, firstly, rip open the seams with a seam ripper. I'm so sorry if I state the obvious in any way. It's not that long ago that I didn't even know what one of these things was, and I always like things in simple terms...not that I'm simple, well actually, that depends who you ask. Anywhoo...

This is the poor thing with its arms chopped off...

Now it has had it's arms cut open too...

And sliced into strips of a length and width of your liking...the best thing about this top is that nothing has to be exact.

You then lie the strips vertically against the collar ( I like to fold the end under, but it's up to you). Pin in place and sew along the edge of the collar and the top of each strip.

This picture doesn't really show it very well but what I'm doing is gathering the ruffle and sewing straight over the top while shoving the fabric all scrunched up, under the foot. Just remember to backstitch at the beginning and the end.

This is the last strip :)

I have no idea what this face is supposed to represent, but with the whole family watching, I can not take this seriously.

Thanks if you made it to the end of this highly technical explanation.

OOpppss!!! Must say that I got the inspiration for this from here, Lex does some amazing stuff, she's refined and delicate...much like myself :] erm, ok maybe not!

Something for me

I have so many things in my wardrobe that I don't wear for one reason or another... I don't wear this top as it is a little snug around the tummy after bubba #2. Also, I'm not a big fan of long sleeves. So I had a think about why I didn't like it and decided that I would chop off the arms and try to add some pretty details somehow. Once I'd chopped off the arms I cut them into thin strips and made them all roughly the same length. I then pinned them along the neck line so they were all dangling down - a picture of this might have been helpful ( I will do better next time) I then sewed and gathered at the same time. It was super easy and fun. I have had heaps of compliments on it. My non-sewing friends think it looks like it was very tricky!! Ha ha!

Apologies for my face in this picture. I can not take a serious photo!!