Video: Small Changes = Different Sweater

 

Did you know that you don't always have to buy a new pattern to make the sweater you're dreaming of? I had a specific look I was going for with my Crazy Rainbow Cardigan, but I wasn't finding any patterns in my stash that ticked all the boxes perfectly. Instead of buying a new one, I just found a pattern with the bones of what I wanted and then with a few easy alterations, I now have a sweater I love. Head over here or click through the box below to watch the video on My You Tube Channel.

FO: Halloween Costumes 2022

I just posted my kids' Christmas dresses thinking I had finished posting about last year's makes. Wrong! I skipped Halloween, lol. I went into last Halloween a few months before thinking I would sew my kids' costumes. They ask me if I will make them a _____ for Halloween all year long, and I always say yes, but they change it every few days all year long. When it gets closer to the actual month it will happen, I pay attention to what they as for, and they had both been stuck on something very specific for a few months by the time Halloween actually came around. One wanted to be Brutus from The Rescuers (a crocodile, lol), and the other wanted to be a Blue Fairy. I thought this wouldn't be a problem, but I honestly looked for 2 months for green fabric that wasn't fleece and I couldn't find anything. My sister happened to be at Target and saw an alligator costume for $25, so I decided that her being happy and me being off the hook was more important than me feeling like I made the whole thing. I bought one. 

So one girl was done, but the blue fairy proved much more complicated. They had one fairy looking dress at Target, but it was not blue, and it was also $25 so I didn't want to spend the money if it wasn't what she wanted, you know? Then no joke 2 days later I was looking around in a thrift store and found THE EXACT dress I had looked at on Target's website. It was the right size and it was only $2, so I decided the universe was throwing me a bone and I bought it. 

So this was what I started with - a green and purple dress. I had about a yard of blue poly crepe satin in my stash that someone gave me who knows when. I used tracing paper to trace out the general shape of the bodice and then cut out a piece of satin. I serged the edges (because this stuff frays like the dickens), and then I just folded the edges under as needed and hand sewed it under the trim pieces. The trim covered the stitching perfectly and it worked great. The back got a little more complex, but honestly it still finished off cleaner than the store had left theirs (all these cheap costumes are just serged on the edges and then have velcro spots sewn on for closure).

Next came the skirt. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a few yards of each color of blue tulle they had. Tulle is just so cheap that it wasn't a big deal to grab a bunch to play with. At home I played around with layering the blue tulle pieces over top of the purple that was already there. I wound up using just one color of the tulle I bought but I believe this is 3 or 4 layers of it. I sewed a gathering stitch at the waist and then just hand sewed it under the green flaps at the waist to secure it. The blue tulle wasn't quite as long as the original purple, but this was actually better because it meant my daughter wouldn't step on the blue and rip the whole thing off.

I felt bad that my crocodile didn't get anything made by me for her costume, so when she asked me for hand and feet covers, I decided to go for it. I grabbed some cheap green fabric at Hobby Lobby (this is that paper stuff they make reusable shopping bags out of) simply because it was the only fabric that was the right color. I grabbed the shoe covers from a costume they wore years before (a puppy) and just eye-balled the same shape but made them fit their current shoes. Then I took triangles of green felt and sewed on claws. I added an elastic strap across the bottom of the foot and it was good. The hands are done in a similar fashion but with 2 straps of clear elastic to hold them on. Done!

For this part being so cheap and thrown together, I was actually pretty pleased with how they turned out. My little crocodile was happy too.

Next she kept saying that she needed to be fat like Brutus in the movie, so I used the remainder of the blue poly satin and sewed a pillow to stuff in her tummy. 

So things might not be as home made as I wanted them to be, but I'm pretty proud of what I was able to pull off for my little ladies. They both loved their costumes and still dress up in them now all the time.

We went to our church Trunk or Treat as well as trick or treating around my parents' neighborhood. They weren't too sweaty, which is quite a feat in Florida, and they got lots of candy. The crocodile even had glow in the dark spots. Everyone was happy, which is really all you can ask for, right?

I'm glad I was able to make my girls the exact costumes they wanted and that they got to choose things to customize them. They love Halloween and I know this coming year with be no different. Sheesh, I can't believe it's already almost the fall. Gotta start planning, lol. 

 

FO: Navy Skirt Refashion

This was a case of fabric love at the thrift store. I was searching the skirt rack of my favorite shop during a bag sale (everything they can shove in a paper grocery bag for $5), which  means I was being much more open to refashions, when I came across this lovely skirt. The fabric is 55% linen 45% rayon, and it's a 6 gore style with a button front. The only problem - it was extremely small. Actually I believe it was actually a size Small considering it had a 26" waist (the size tag was gone). In spite of its waist measurement, the skirt was very long and very flared - like almost a circle skirt - so I knew it was a great candidate for a refashion :)

I started by measuring my waist (39") and then measuring at various points down from the waist of the skirt to find the spot that fits my waist measurement. It happened to be about 6" down. So I made sure to add seam allowance and chopped the waist off.

I had to make sure the top button hole would still be accessible, so I had to fudge around with where to cut, but I got there in the end. Next I overcast stitched the cut edge (this stuff was already fraying like crazy) and pressed 1/4" over from the edge. I decided to use a ribbon for the inner waistband (from a spool of also thrifted ribbon). I cut the ribbon to measure plus a bit to fold over, then I melted the edge and pressed about 1/4" inside to give a smooth edge at the button bands. I edge stitched the ribbon at the pressed line of the new waist. Basically I understitched the ribbon to the fabric. This way I could just press the ribbon inside and it was all invisible from the outside. Then I top stitched around the other edge of the ribbon (about 7/8" down). My thread was such a dead match that the top stitching sinks right in. I had to do some forceful pressing to get the ribbon to curve around the waist, and I had to fold the ribbon under at the button hole so I didn't cover it, but it all looks fine from the outside now.

Next I had to figure out the buttons. The skirt already had lots of buttons, but with the new length on me the buttons stopped about 5" above my knee. That's a bit high for my comfort, so I took the buttons off the section I removed from the waist and made new holes for them below the original buttons.The bottom 4 buttons in the photo on the right are all new ones I added. I also had to decide on a finished length. After changing the waist it hit me about mid-shin, which is not generally a length I go for, but it wasn't awful. I just had to decide if I should leave the length or go just below the knee. Eventually I decided on just below the knee to keep with the summery feel (I just really like knee length skirts).

I now have a delightfully swishy linen skirt :) I love the fullness of the skirt - it really makes this feel more girly and fun. I was hoping this skirt could replace a previously much loved Refashioned Navy Blue Skirt. I wore that skirt until it was coming apart at all the seams. I still miss it, lol. So this new navy skirt helps to fill that void. This new skirt is certainly a bit fancier feeling being a linen/rayon blend and having such a wide hem span, but the color goes with a lot and most of my wardrobe is a bit dressier anyway so it works great in my wardrobe.

 Back view - I love the way this drapes. I'm narrowing down more and more clothing aspects that I like or don't like, and I don't really care for true circle skirts because they end up with pools of fabric over the tummy area. It just feels like I have to fiddle with them to keep them looking good. This skirt doesn't pool until below the tummy, giving a nice smooth look over my area I want to distract from, which I love. I will admit that the buttons seem a bit heavy for the angle of the grain of the fabric, meaning that they like to sink between the folds of the rest of the fabric (you can see this in the first photo), but that's a minor issue.

And what's a big skirt project without a twirl photo? I really like this skirt. Having worn it a few times now I may change the ribbon waistband to a petersham ribbon - the polyester I used was a cute color and I had enough, but it's a bit scratchy on my skin sometimes. Other than that I love this and know it will be a great piece to have in the Florida heat. And even better it only cost me about $0.50 to make :)

Yay for refashioning!

Refashion: A Few New Hems for Old Lady Skirts

This might not be the most exciting post, but I always like to show the simple fixes as well as the more complicated ones. As an avid thrifter, I come across many of what I call "old lady skirts". These skirts are the type that you take one look and know the age of its previous owner. They are from brands like Alfred Dunner and Bon Worth, among others. They usually have a high, elastic waist, and they have hems of indecisive length - are you a midi? or are you just for short people? Back in January I found these skirts for 50¢ each and saw their potential, and this time I actually got right to work at fixing them so they could be worn :)

First is this floral number. This one is elastic all the way around on the waistband, which I normally stay away from completely as it doesn't really do my shape any favors, but I could not help but be drawn to the fabric. Not only is it a pretty floral print, it's also one of the nicest feeling poly crepes I've come across. Also - this baby has pockets! I decided it was worth the 50¢ to see if I would wear it. So I put it on, pinned up the hem until I liked the length, and cut it shorter (this one was about 5.25" inches off the finished hem), pressed under 1/4", pressed under 5/8" and top stitched. I was finished in about 20 minutes :)

These photos are for documentation only - I would never wear this with a shirt tucked in, lol. Now the skirt just covers my knees - my favorite length.

And check out the pockets! How can you resist a skirt with pockets? This feature alone takes this from a pretty looking skirt to one that is functional for work (I keep keys in my pockets all the time, so it's really inconvenient to not have pockets at work).

And check out the swish factor! I really love the drape of this fabric. At the risk of being shunned for admitting that I like a polyester, poly crepe ranks up there in my favorite fabrics to wear on my bottom half. They make for such a swishy and fun skirt, but they are nice and opaque so I don't need any other layers. They pull away from the body, making them really comfy for the hot Florida weather. I just love them!

Back view - I also really appreciate that this skirt is pleated at the waistband instead of just gathered. Gathers add bulk in a way I don't love, so I stay away. These pleats lay nice and flat :)

Realistically, this is how the skirt is worn in public - with my shirt untucked to cover the elastic. It looks particularly nice with a woven fabric shirt, but the knit tee isn't bad either.

I lucked out with this project because I happened to have the perfect color periwinkle purple thread. I love that even though it's top stitched, you really wouldn't know unless you look close.

Here's where it gets a little odd (at least when you start to think about it). This skirt is Koret brand, but there is a name written very haphazardly on the tag: Conny Frost. Having had elderly family members, I know this means that this belonged to a woman named Conny Frost who luved in a nursing home of some kind. Meaning that the fact that she wore it at the end of her life, and the fact that it was at a thrift store more than likely means she is gone. I know that's often the case with most things in thrift stores, but I've never bought anything that had such a vivid reminder of where it came from. So now I call this the Conny Frost skirt.

Thank you, Conny, for you pretty skirt :) I hope it made you happy, and I will certainly enjoy wearing it as well. And I'll really enjoy those great pockets.

The second skirt is even Bon Worth brand, lol, which I usually stay away from. But this was another case of a fabric I loved so I knew it had potential. The original skirt was just a bit too long to be flattering on my legs, also the extra length seemed to peg the skirt in more which I didn't like. So again I just measured how much to cut off (4.25") and followed the same double turn and top stitch process for a skirt I can now wear everyday and feel comfy.

Again - these photos are for documentation, lol. This skirt has a slight tulip shape, which I normally don't love on me, but it's not that bad here. I love that it's a button down, and I love that it's such a great basic fabric: a charcoal gray cotton/linen blend. It's sturdy and pulls away from the body without being super stiff. Also this is another skirt with fantastic pockets - they are slanted, but they hug the body nicely and they are nice and deep so I can fit all kinds of things in them, lol.

AND here's the old lady-ness coming out, lol. This one has a gathered elastic waistband on the back, but again I will never wear it tucked in like this so now one will know. It does lay nice and smooth on the back though.

This is how it looks when worn realistically. I'm all for it :)

Here's the new hem. I made sure the new hem was just long enough without showing another button hole (which is on the inside of the hem now). Again I lucked out that I had the perfect color thread on hand, so this actually looks identical to the original hem - I made it the same depth and everything. 

And the front view with how I actually wear this. I've really worn this skirt quite a lot in the past few months. It's just such a great basic! It has all the things I want to reach for everyday, plus since it's gray it looks great with everything and matches some of my favorite shoes (which are also gray).

Sorry if this was a long post for two such simple projects, but it's always nice to be reminded that alterations don't have to be super involved to be worthwhile :) Sometimes all something needs is a simple change to make it into something fresh and new and ready to be worn and loved again.

FO: Altered Navy Pin Dot Skirt

I purchased this rather large skirt from a thrift store probably a year ago (maybe longer, to be honest). I was good and started pinning out the excess, but then had to stop for some reason ... and there it sat ... for probably that full year ... in my "wip" drawer. It still had the pins in it when I decided to unearth things in that drawer a few weeks ago. I'm not sure why I never finished this, but it was quick and easy and now I have a lovely new skirt!

I ended up removing about 5 or 6 inches from the waistline of this skirt. I split the difference between both sides, tapered out at my hips, then just angled ever so slightly out to the original fullness at the bottom hem. Seriously, this took an hour from conception to finish and I just love it - bless you center back zippers! It is only because the zipper is at the center back on this skirt that this was such a quick project. And by quick I mean that this was basically one long seam on each side since there is no "waistband". So simple!

The original tag was cut out of this by the previous owner, so I'm not sure of the brand or original size. The fabric is a lovely navy rayon-ish material with white pin dots and a navy blue lining. It's a little longer than I usually make my skirts, but I didn't want to mess with the narrow rolled hem yet. I'm actually quite surprised at how much I like the length, but if I ever decide it's too frumpy I can always go back and shorten it a smidge.

The best part of this skirt - it's swish-ability factor! It's so wonderfully drapey, but full enough to have a fun swish, which I love :) Hooray for quick, fun projects that leave you with a great wardrobe staple!


Summary:
Fabric: thrifted rayon skirt (navy blue with white pin dots) - $1.00
Notions: thread - stash
Hours: About 1 total

FO: (Altered) Maroon Skirt

So, I have a cute new skirt ... that I didn't make, lol. I picked this up at a thrift store probably a year ago, and I finally grabbed it out of the pile to figure out my minor adjustments. Just to show you, originally it looked like this:

Isn't that a sexy photo? You are so welcome. The skirt is clearly from the late 1980s judging by the weird length and the tag style. It has elastic across the back waistband, which I originally hated when I purchased it. When I bought this skirt, I had every intention of making a big time alteration like I did on my navy button down skirt, but when I pulled it out and saw that it already fit fine, I decided to take the easy way out and just make it shorter. I tried the skirt on and just pinned it up until I liked the look of the length, then ended up cutting off 9 inches(!) from the hem. Then I just turned under 1/4" and then another 1" and stitched it down.

I checked my thread racks and didn't have anything close to the color I needed, so I perused my hoard of antique wooden spools of thread - I have an inexplicable urge to purchase all wooden spools of thread at thrift stores even though I never use them. I believe I read somewhere that thread gets brittle with age, so now I have nightmares of all my seams spontaneously splitting open, ha ha. Anyway, I happened to have two different spools of thread that matched this really well. One of the threads was slightly heavier than the other, so I used that in the bobbin. I had just barely enough thread :) Hooray for not having to go out to buy thread!

So now I have (what I believe is) a very cute knee length skirt that I will wear the heck out of :) I love the pockets in particular, and I love the fullness. And I know these pictures make the front seem longer than the back, but I just must have stood weird - I swear it's level.

In reality, I never wear anything tucked in, so this is how this skirt will look out in the wild. Not quite as retro looking this way, but I still like it. Also, I have yet to figure out any other colors I can wear with this skirt but white or black. Maybe navy, but I don't have any solid navy skirts, so we shall see. This thrifted white button down does the job well for now.

So, since this post kind of feels like a cop-out as it was such a minimal amount of sewing, I figured I'd bore you further with reports on some mending I finally took care of, lol. 

I purchased these awesome dragonfly embroidered stretch twill capri pants at a thrift store and I didn't notice that they had two little holes until the first time I wore them. At least they were only $0.16, right? So, I finally decided to sew up the little holes. I just grabbed some khaki thread and pulled the holes closed. Done! Also, I caught my Golden Afternoon Renfrew on a door at work and ripped a little hole in the hem band. I was not happy at the time, but it was a fairly small hole, so I just used some sort-of-not-quite-matching thread and sewed it up. It's a busy enough pattern that you wouldn't see it unless I pointed it out, and that's good by me. I haven't worn this in probably 4 months, so it's nice to have it back in rotation :)

The last "alteration" I made was on these capri pants. I bought them at a thrift store for $0.16 (bag sales are wonderful things), and they fit great but I hated the cuffs. I know cuffs are supposed to be in or something, but I think they look pretty dumb, not gonna lie. Thankfully these were just barely tacked up at the top, so I just took a seam ripper to it and ironed it down with the clapper to help minimize the crease. I learned the clapper trick in the Tailoring Ready-To-Wear class on Craftsy. When you have a hem that was factory pressed, you just steam the living daylights out of it and press the clapper on it and it will minimize the original pressing line much more than just the iron alone. I'm sure it will level out with a washing or two as well. Now I have a pair of capris I will actually wear :)

So, I guess the moral of this post is that sometimes all things need is a really basic alteration or fix to be wearable. Three cheers for less work! Yay!

Summary:
Skirt: thrifted, $1.00
Notions: vintage thread, thrifted, $0.25
Hours: 1 from thought to finish (including searching for thread, lol)

The Classier Parisian (Alterations For The Win!)

Well, it looks like all I needed to get my rear in gear with altering my Almost Classy Parisian top was to blog about it, lol. I wrote the post on Friday, scheduled it to go up on Sunday, then took it apart and fixed it Saturday after work. This was technically fixed by the time anyone reading my blog saw it. If only I hadn't posted those highly unflattering photos, lol.

To see the top before alterations, click here. I went into this alteration just knowing it was too big. I put the top on, pinned up the excess length, then pinned in the sides to follow my curves. I unpicked the bottom band, then sewed up on side seam to my new adjustments, and put it on to discover it wasn't just the body that looked sloppy - the arms did too. I ended up taking in the entire body of the shirt by 5/8" (sleeves, body, sleeve bands and hip band), making this top now a size Medium as the pattern is drafted. And it's still not tight tight, just "fitted". Now that the rest of the shirt fits well, I can see that the upper chest could come in to remove those wrinkles at my underarms and the collar is a smidge wide, so next time I make this it will be a medium all over. Me? A Medium? This is the first time in several years ...

See the difference in the sleeve? I still see that blasted crease in the fabric even though I steamed the heck out of it, lol. Oh well, maybe when I actually wash the shirt. No more bagging around the tummy though!

And there's still bra-back-fat, but you can't have everything in life. Not a wrinkle fest in the back! Huzzah! I ended up shortening the top by a full 2 inches all the way around and it's still a fine length. And I have a long torso! So strange. 

These are the pieces I cut off. It doesn't look like much, but man what a difference, huh? This even helped with the issue I had of the fabric clinging to the edge of my bra. Who woulda thunk!

Ta Da! A fitted shirt that no longer looks dumpy. This is much closer to how Julia Bobbin fitted this top, which is the blog post that lead me to purchase the pattern in the first place. I have two things that I really want to reiterate with this post though. 1) If something doesn't fit, it's not that big a deal to take it apart and try again. Seriously, I pulled apart the entire shirt except the collar and it only took about an hour to get it wearable. And 2) Fitted clothes are more flattering. It took me a long time to accept this, but no matter what your size, you will look slimmer if your clothes hug your body a bit. Covering yourself in too long/too loose clothes just makes you look bigger! So hug a few curves and show the body you have to its best advantage. 

I really think being more "fitted" like this looks better with this style of neckline and collar, don't you?

Alterations: Turning a Size 6 Skirt Into A Size 14

This post is about a project that began with a pair of shoes :) Well, sort of - it's a project that got a kick in the butt by a pair of shoes. Modcloth was having a big time summer clearance sale a few weeks ago and I came across these Gee, Polly sandals by Miss L Fire and I absolutely fell in love. These babies were so mine - and for $29.99, I could not refuse them. This was actually my first ever personal shopping experience with Modcloth and I have nothing but great things to say. They have such cool designs that are so my style and their shipping was nice and quick. I'm sure most other women out there don't buy sandals at the end of summer, but I live in Florida - I will be able to wear these 11 months of the year. Plus they have birds, they have glitter, they have vintage style ... what more could you want from a shoe?!

When my fantastic shoes arrived, I was immediately reminded of a skirt I bought probably a year ago with the intent of altering it - I knew the alterations were possible, but I also knew it would be a bit of a puzzle ... so the skirt languished. Seeing that I want to wear these shoes almost everyday, I needed to get any clothes I could into rotation for wear and get them now! This simple navy skirt with a button front is something I have always wanted in my wardrobe anyway, now these shoes gave me the push I needed to buckle down and make it work for me :)

So, I began with this casual, cute button front skirt. I snagged this at a local thrift store for $1.00 (totally in my revamping price range, lol). The skirt had a pointed yoke with an eyelet lace accentuating it and clusters of 3 antiqued gold buttons all the way down. So, what did I need to change about this already cute skirt? Well, it was a strange length for one, but the biggest issue was the size:

(These pics are much more true to the real color, just fyi)

As you can see, this skirt was originally a size 6. Yeah, there was no way I could even try to put this on, lol. Normally I wear a size 14 in most skirts (as a side note, I'm almost amazed that I am ok with putting my skirt size out there on the internet - do I get extra "good body image points" for that?) After taking the Craftsy Alterations class, I knew I could make this fit me. The skirt's saving grace is that it flares out and it had good length. So, I just measured my natural waist (where I wanted the skirt to sit), then measured down from the original waist of the skirt until I hit my waist measurement and chopped it off a little shy of that point (I wanted to make sure I had a seam allowance there). Once I made some cuts, there were many more to follow. I had to keep trying it on and pinning the excess under until I got it on my waistline and fitting me properly.

When I had the skirt where I wanted it, I noticed it was gaping at my lower back so I decided to make a dart to close the space - I'm making it fit me anyway, why not get it as perfect as possible? This made for a very involved step - the seams are each sewn and then the seam allowance is top stitched down on each side - so I had to unpick the top stitching and the stitching, pin out the excess, mark my dart and sew. This was another step that involved much trying on to get the fit right (I made the dart too short at first and it made a right angle over my butt, lol), but once I had it snugged to my back I re-did the top stitching with matching thread. Admittedly my top stitching isn't perfect, but it blends with the color so well that you wouldn't notice unless I pointed it out (and no one stares at my butt that much anyway, lol).

Next I had to officially decide the new waist edge and make a waistband. I pinned it all down evenly, then added my new waistband facing: bias quilt binding :) I couldn't find premade bias tape that was exactly the same color, but I couldn't be bothered to make any and no one will see the inside anyway. I know some may find quilt binding a bit scratchy for inside a waistband, but it really doesn't bother me at all so I went with it. If you were doing this alteration yourself though you could always make your bias tape and make it any width you want - mine was 1" wide double fold quilt binding that I ironed out the middle fold on to make it wider which made for a quick alternative. I pinned in the bias tape keeping the bottom fold of the bias tape along my new waistline on the skirt, leaving about an inch of excess on the ends. Then I stitched directly on that fold line all the way around.

The first pic here is my bias tape before I ironed out the extra fold. After stitching, I pressed the seam, trimmed my excess fabric left over from the skirt, then allowed the bias tape to fold inward along the stitch line. I kept the bottom edge of the bias tape with the factory fold, but I pressed the middle fold out (basically I made double fold bias tape into wider single fold bias tape). Sorry if I keep mentioning that, but I really hope it makes sense. This step made the bias tape go from how it looked in the first pic above to how it looks in the next two pics. I ironed the bias tape a bit lower than the edge of the fabric just to hide the color difference on the outside.

Next I laid out the whole skirt and pinned the bottom edge of the bias tape to enclose the "waistband", I had to get creative with the button placket area - I folded under the extra bias tape to cover the exposed cut fabric edge, then folded the bias tape like with the rest of the waist. I stitched these edges first as they were really thick and tricky to keep everything held in place. I had a minor catastrophe here - I broke my needle AND IT FELL INTO MY MACHINE! This made me have to stop and take my machine apart in hopes of finding it - no luck. I even opened everything up and shook the machine upside down, still no needle piece. So, I cleaned out the residual fuzz from making the Princess Anna Cape, then put it back together knowing that needle would cause problems somewhere down the line. At least it's working now, right? Anyway, I then switched to a JEANS needle (like I really should have done from the get go) and stitched the edge of the bias tape onto the button plackets. I went right over the previous line of top stitching so you wouldn't even know I had done it if I don't point it out. Next I just went along the edge of the bias tape (using a foot with a guide to keep things nice and even) and stitched the waistband down. I took this fairly slowly so I could make sure the fabric was nice and smooth the whole way. This worked like a charm!

With my new waistband in place, I added a hook and eye to the very top to close it up and I was finished! Originally I was worried about not keeping any buttons as the top closure (I thought it would look weird without them to continue the design), but I am really glad I went with the hook and eye now. The buttons would have just added bulk at my waistline anyway, so now I don't have to worry. Nice and smooth on the tummy :) I actually like the "not quite the same blue" waistband inside. I think it adds a little interest when I put it on.

And the final result hanging up like the beginning picture. I think this pic really gives the scale of how much I cut off - the skirt started with 5 of the button clusters and now only has 3. I also worried that the buttons wouldn't go down quite far enough for this to be a knee-length skirt, but I haven't had any scandalous moments yet so I think it's fine :) As an added bonus, I have those 6 extra buttons in my stash now either to use if I lose one of these or to use as a set on another project - woo hoo!

And finally the finished product on me :) Sorry for the bad hallway mirror pics, but I had no one to take a pic for me. I really love this skirt! I love everything about it - it's one of my favorite neutral colors, it's a great length (not too short so I worry about flashing people but not so long that I look frumpy), it has visual interest with the button clusters, and it's full enough at the hem to be flattering. It even has a fun swish when I walk :) And even better ...

It's a fantastic vehicle for my new parrot shoes! I say this is a total mission accomplished, lol. I wore this outfit to work today and felt awesome. This skirt fills a nice hole in my wardrobe because it's casual without looking dumpy. My normal wardrobe has a lot of "work clothes" and then "t-shirts and lounge pants", so I'm always finding it difficult to still feel put together when I don't want to look like I'm going to work. This totally fills that void! And it goes with my favorite new Anthropologie sweater too - definitely a plus :)

There's the side by side view for ya :) Pretty cool, eh?

This project also happens to fall in line with the Repurpose Reuse Refashion competition put on by sew Amy sew. I found out about the contest through Sally from Charity Shop Chic, one of my favorite refashioners on the blogosphere. Sally has even written a few guest posts with refashioning inspiration for the contest, so it's definitely worth a look. I have to add my two cents to her affirmation at how rewarding refashioning can be. I mean, I bought this skirt for $1.00 and now have a wonderful wardrobe staple with just a few hours work. Refashioning is a great way to practice sewing skills without worrying about the cost - you're using items you wouldn't/couldn't have worn as they were so you're not really out anything if you mess up. It's a win win! If it doesn't turn out, you've lost very little (pretty much nothing compared to something you would sew from scratch) and you've gained the experience that you can learn from next time. Also, you're cutting down on garment industry waste which is such a big issue. Projects like this one make me feel like the smartest person around, because I've found a way to beat the consumerism system. I could wax poetic about alterations forever, lol, so I guess I'll stop. Just try it out, ok?!

If you'd like to enter the competition too, just refashion an item by the end of August and post your pictures to the Flickr group to be entered to win some great prizes :) It doesn't have to be anything super fancy or complicated - just take an item that wasn't getting any love as it was and turn it into something you can use. Easy peasy. If you need help getting ideas, definitely read Sally's blog - she's fantastic at this. I also can't recommend the Tailoring Ready-To-Wear class on Craftsy. I learned so much just from watching it (I've also got the Beyond the Basics class recently and I can't wait to watch it). If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you'll know my deep seeded love of anything from Craftsy, and I can honestly say this is my favorite and most beneficial class from them.

Anyway, I'll shut up now, lol. If you've hung in all the way to the bottom, I really appreciate it. I've got the refashioning bug really bad again, so I may tackle more of my pile to enter into the contest. We'll see :)