Hi Everyone!
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Today I submit to you another one of my failures that became a design opportunity, AND stay tuned until the end of this post to see the fun summer giveaway I have for one lucky reader!
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As always, I will start with the after and then work backwards to show you the creation story. So here it goes. The skirt is the featured AFTER, but the top is thrifted too. It is a cute, crisp linen top. It came a little too large but I nipped in the sides and shoulders and it is good to go!.
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It all started here…
Check out this great little dress that had and age inappropriate style, but was purchased with the intent of making use of the lovely matched chevron stripe skirt. My first intention was to make a skirt with a little tie waistband.
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You can just picture it right? Well, I wish I had been brave enough to take a picture of my flop at the time, but I didn’t. Just trust me when I say it was too A-line, made my hips look massive, and the cute little tie just added bulk to my middle aged waistline. In order to feature the tie waistband, any top I wore had to be tucked in. Yuck! I do not tuck! Also, the weight of the fabric was too light to hold up and entire skirt. What was perfect for a flirty dress, did not work for a skirt. It was not a pretty sight, but I was unwilling to throw it in the rag pile just yet.
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TUTORIAL:
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STEP 1) MY little “Flop” sat in the stash pile for a while until I unearthed this basic little skirt from my closet. UREKA! I had an idea! I could salvage the great matched chevron stripe and make a panel in the front of this boring skirt. Here you see the first step in the project. The center of the waistband is marked, and the panel width has been drawn in with a chalk pencil.
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Step 2) I measured and cut a matching size panel to fit the panel I drew on my skirt. Here you can see that I pinned down the seam allowances on each side and pressed them down. I planned to topstitch the sides down in order to keep the panel more stable.
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Step 3) You can see in this picture that I altered the size of my panel from the original chalk lines. I wanted to create a perfect corner at the top of the waistband so you can see I pinned it in preparation to sew it across the top. You can also see that I have trace basted the new lines of the panel down the front.
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Step 4) Sew the seam down across the waistband.
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Step 5) Here you see the skirt pinned and ready to edgestitch around the sides of the panel and across the waistband.
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Step 6) Edgestitch, then make a quick hem across the front panel and you are done
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This is a floral canvas bag with bamboo handles, made especially for one lucky reader by ME!. It is fully lined and has a pocket for your cell phone. All you need to do to win is be an official follower of my blog. Then, post a comment so your name is entered. I will be picking and posting the winner on Monday July 7th. I am sorry my international friends but I will only ship in the US.
