Mending Monday: Taking In A Skirt With Pleats and a Side Zip

Yes, I'm aware it is actually Tuesday, lol. I had this ready to go but didn't get to take an 'after' picture until this morning. So here goes!

I know the title is a little intimidating, but it will make sense as you read on :) This skirt has been in my possession for around 3 years now. I got it at a thrift store and wanted to adjust the fit. At the time I didn't realize how complicated this alteration would be, but didn't have the know-how to do it. So, it has hung in my closet ever since.

Cute, huh? It's actually just a Mossimo brand skirt from Target, but it is surprisingly well made. Anyway, what needed to be changed you may ask?

It was a size 20W! Not that I'm a size 6 or anything, but this was way to big on me - it wouldn't even stay up at all, lol.

To figure out how much to adjust it, I put the skirt on and held it up where I wanted it to sit. I pinched the excess together and stuck pins into the seam where the new seam would need to go. Then I took it off and measured the distance between the 2 pins. I know the picture looks like 4.25" in the picture, but the fabric was a little ripply there - it actually needed about 5" taken out! Now, when I bought this I thought that I knew that it had a side zipper, so I thought I would just take it in at the other side seam and call it a day. This would have been a fine plan ... if the skirt didn't have pleats across the front. If I just took it all from the one side, it would have shifted the pleats and looked ridiculous. So, I decided to take the plunge and rip the seams open and get to work doing things the right way.

The more I dug into this skirt, the more interesting/complicated it got. The zipper cam out no problem, except I did slip and rip the fabric - but it was in the section that would be cut off anyway so it was ok. Once the actual side seam was open, I had to rip out the enclosed waistband. The waistband not only functioned as a waist band, the seam there is top stitching that holds the paper-bag style skirt on. So it had to look nice when I put the stitching back :)

Next came marking my new stitch lines. I had to divide 4 so that I could take it in evenly on all the fabric edges. This meant that each side came in 1.25" from the previous stitch line. I marked it in chalk, put the zipper back in one side and then sewed just the front of the waistband on the opposite side. I tapered the seam down from my new stitch line to the old stitch line at the sequin section so I didn't have to worry about cutting into the sequins. Next I had to figure out how to get the waistband enclosed again, lol.

I started off at the zipper. I cut off the excess, pressed about 1/4" under and sewed the very top (to make sure the zipper tape top wasn't visible) and then at the old bottom of the waistband (this held the skirt up as well). I left the edge along the zipper open on the back to be done later.

I stitched the whole side of the skirt down from the paper bag section and tapered down to the sequins again. I had to stitch at the top a few different time and then check it until it ended up exactly the same length as the waistband so there would be no puckering.

I also wanted to reinforce the top of the seam now that it had cut edges that were folded under, so I just topstitched around the entire top.

The nice thing is that the topstitching is a normal feature on ready-to-wear clothes, so it looks like it was always there :)

 The only remaining thing to do was to stitch down the opening I left inside next to the zipper. Since I didn't want to have to remake the entire waistband, I just tacked it at the top and bottom with the machine, meaning I needed to hand stitch this part.

 It was short, so it wasn't a big deal. I hid the end of the thread in the opening and just stitched it down like a blind hem. You can't see if from the front at all.

Then I had to re-attach the hook and eye (I put the zipper a smidge low, so this wasn't an option). Technically it was finished at that point.

The last step for me was just a silly one. The tag still said 20W, but the skirt no longer was, so I just used my seam ripper to pull out the embroidered number...

And it was now just a skirt with no official size :) Easy-peasy.

I know it's a crappy picture, but it's all I could manage before work (and I really wanted to post this!). Now the skirt fits! It's a miracle :) I've worn it several times already and it fits great. This is yet another testament to how much I learned in the Tailoring Ready-To-Wear Class on Craftsy. I'm such a nerd with it too, every time someone compliments my skirt I just want to turn over the waistband to show them what I did, lol.

I am now addicted to altering skirts. It's great because you get all the satisfaction of making something from something that was unusable before without having to cut out the fabric (my sewing nemesis).

I love my new skirt and am so proud that I did it!

Mending Monday: Altering A Dress Hem Line (Plus Craftsy Class Review!)

Just to worn you - this is a very picture heavy post. I wanted to really illustrate what I did :)

Probably about 6 months ago, my fellow thrifting friend, Tara, brought this dress to me and asked if I could make the hem straight and remove the ruffle part.

I know that top photo isn't great, so here is a better shot of the details. Really, the top is very cute and I agreed with Tara - that asymmetrical hem had to go. The dress was made by A Byer too, so it was a decent quality piece and well worth saving. Back when Tara brought the dress to me, I seriously had no idea how I would complete the task. Normally, I would have just chopped the hem, folded it under and sewn a new hem line. The problem with doing that to this piece is the length - this baby is short! And if I used even more of the scant amount of fabric to roll under for a hem, it would have been down right indecent, lol. Over the last few months though, I've watched the Tailoring Ready-To-Wear class on Craftsy.com which has taught me so many valuable tips and tricks. Only after watching that class did I figure out a plan for altering this dress, and this is what I did:

First I had to mark where to chop the fabric for the new hem. I measured from the top of the ruffle part to the bit of piping at the waist of the dress - it was 16". Since the piping was symmetrical across the whole waist, I just measured down 16" from it and made a mark.

Next I laid the dress out on a table connected my spots with chalk. I made sure to do this on both sides to ensure I wasn't cutting the back uneven.

I chopped that ruffle off and this is what was left - already much better :)

The next step is actually a trick I learned for lengthening pants in the class. Instead of folding your fabric over, you just use a wide bias tape to add the length you will need on the other side. The fabric was a cotton/spandex, so it had some stretch and I knew that regular store bought bias tape wouldn't work. Luckily, I had that ruffled piece I just cut off the dress :) I laid out the lining from under the ruffle on my cutting mat and got it lined up as straight as possible. Then I measured 2" out, laid down my ruler and used my rotary cutter to cut it off. The best part of using this lining piece was that the edge already had a knitted bind off, so I didn't have to finish the edge at all :)

Once my bias tape was cut, I had to shorten it to match the new hem. I matched up the side seam on one side and marked where the new hem ended with a pin. Then I used an overcast stitch to sew the new side seam together and cut off the excess. The overcast stitch looks very similar to serging, so it matched the other side pretty well.

Then I pinned the cut edges of the bias tape to the right side of the cut edge of the dress and did the same overcasting stitch to hold them together. 

I was a little skeptical as to if this would hold the fabrics together well (I've never really used the overcast stitch before), but as you can see it made a nice seam and you couldn't see it from the outside at all - perfect!

And inside it looked so professional - just like a serger :) To make sure that the new hem facing doesn't constantly flip to the outside, I needed to understitch the seam allowance.

Understitching is where you stitch right along the seam allowance line on the facing fabric, and when the seam allowance is tacked down to that side, it basically helps to keep them bent toward each other and it won't flip out easily.

Since this was a stretch fabric, I used a very tight zig zag stitch for the understitching and this is what it looked like (above).

Next I had to press the new hem really well. I made the front fabric roll toward the onside just a bit to make sure that you can't see the bias tape while its worn.

The final step was a bit tricky. I pinned the edge of the hem together just to make sure the fabrics didn't slip around, and then I folded the fabric to do a blind hem. I've never really done this on a machine before, so I had to pull out my manual, lol, but it was very straight forward and I was able to get it lined up pretty well.

Next I just put it under my presser foot and stitched the blind hem. This was a slightly scary moment and I kept stopping and looking at the area I had just stitched to make sure it was truly a "blind hem". Much to my surprise, it looked great! You could see the stitches a little bit at first, but once I gave it a good press, it set the stitches where they should be and it looked just like a hem from something you would buy in a store :)

This is what the new hem looks like (left- outside, right - inside). I should have put the stitching closer to the edge of the bias tape inside, but this is a seriously minor point considering that I was able to do this at all :) I'm really pleased with how it came out.

And this is the finished product :) This is my first legitimate clothing alteration, and also my first opportunity to really use my knowledge from my Craftsy class. I would absolutely recommend this class to everyone! Angela Wolf (the teacher) was very entertaining to watch, but also very informative. She had done alterations for a long time and the class is purposely designed to teach you how to get started with your own alterations business. Pretty cool, right? She gives lots of time saving tips that she has learned from her own experience. You learn how to shorten and lengthen pants so that you can't tell it was done (even with jeans), how to fit a t-shirt, a dress bodice, a jacket sleeve, and even how to fix hems and invisible zippers :) She breaks things down to make things easy to understand even if you aren't an expert seamstress. I would even like to take more of the classes taught by Angela just because I liked this one so well.

I give this class 5 out of 5 stars! I can't believe how much I learned from it and I know that it will prove useful on many more projects to come. I would never have been able to do this alteration on this dress without my class knowledge. I hope this will encourage others to give it a look - you really have nothing to lose :)

*I did not receive any compensation for this post. I just really love the class! All opinions are 100% my own and not influenced in any way.

Mending Monday: Repairing Unraveled Buttonholes

Well, it's Monday again and here I am with another pair of my husband's pants, lol. He has quite literally loved these almost to death. They have paint all over them too, but you know ... comfy pants must be kept ... I dig it. 

At first, Justin just told me he needed a new button at the waist, but when I took a closer look I saw that just a button wouldn't really get these babies in wearable condition...

Half of the buttonhole had unraveled! Yikes! I was feeling really ambitious (plus I was in the mood to do nice things for my hubby), so I went the full mile and re-embroidered the buttonhole stitching! It sounds very impressive, but it's really not hard to do. This is how they used to be made before sewing machines were invented anyway, so I'm doing it real old school :)

I found a thread that relatively matched - it's a bit dark, but seriously look at the pants. I can't see that it would matter at this point lol.

I cut a long thread, put it on the needle, and tied the ends like you would to sew on a button. Since the fabric for the actual pants and the waistband had already separated, I put the needle in between the layers of fabric and brought it out through the waistband fabric. This way, the hole is hidden and secure between the fabric layers.

Then I just started stitching. You want to put the needle through the fabric on one side, pull it through the actual buttonhole, and then push the needle through right next to where you put it in the time before. You are literally wrapping up the edge of the fabric and encasing the frayed edges in your "embroidery".

*Disclaimer* I know my stitches look just awful, but I was just slapping this out and really didn't care to take my time since the pants are so old and ratty anyway. If you want your stitches to look nicer than mine, just pay close attention and go slow. Make sure you are stitching in a straight line and right next to your previous stitch and it will look much more even than mine does.

When I got to the corner, I made one big stitch to "bridge the gap" and pull the sides back closer together, then I just continued stitching upward.

The fabric had ripped and frayed up above the top of the buttonhole, so I stitched through both sides of the rip, encasing the ripped part so all you see is the brown seam. It caused a little bunching because of how far out from the fray I had to stitch, but I doubt it will feel any different worn.

Once I had the buttonhole done, I had to select a button from my handy stash. I seriously love having so many different single buttons - thank you Rochester Button Company ordering cards!

Now my husband not only has a new button, but a fresh buttonhole as well so the pants will actually stay closed :) This took me about 20 minutes from start to finish, so this is a nice quick fix up to save your pants!

Mending Monday: Hand Hemming - Blind Style

My husband has only had 3 uniforms for work for over a year. This means they get washed all the time - seriously - and this gives them A LOT of wear. 

It seems that all 3 pairs of pants have hem seams that are falling out. I'm still not comfortable enough with my sewing machine to fix them that way, so I had to sew it by hand.

It doesn't help that the place that did the alterations didn't really do it well.

So I selected a thread - I ended up using navy even though the uniforms were originally black, lol. That's how many washings these have had. So I threaded my needle, tied the thread to itself at the ends, and started my stitches in the side seam.

I stitched along the same blind hem that was previously there. The stitch involved catching a good amount of fabric along the piece that would remain inside and just barely catching a few threads on the other side. This makes the stitches almost invisible from the outside (hence the name "blind hem"). I continued this stitch all the way around, then tied off under the side seam allowance.

Now my new hem is less visible than the one that was professionally done :)

And this is the view from the inside :) It may seem like a simple thing, but I'm pretty proud of the results and now my husband doesn't have to feel self conscious about his pant hem, lol.

So that's it - another simple mending project for the week. Incidentally the week after I hemmed these, my husband fell while wearing them and ripped a big hole in the knee, lol. Something to fix next time!