Simplicity wrap skirt

 Happy Sunday one and all,

I trust you've all had suitably fab and relaxing weekends. After drinking more tea that should be humanly possible this morning, whilst listening to my vinyl Vera Lynn album (my new theme song is It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow) and reading trashy home mags, I finally launched myself into the day.

After a slight delay I finished my Simplicity 7352 wrap skirt and I have to say I'm pretty darn happy with it. My variations to the pattern included:

• making the skirt reversible by adding a contrasting fabric but I kept the yokes the same on both sides
• I added several inches length to the ties since those suckers are always far too short for my liking
• I top stitched the whole thing 1/8 inch which took a while but was worth  it

 

The very cute sewing themed fabric

I also toyed with the idea of adding a pocket at the side seam which would have probably been ok but having tried it on I'm glad I didn't as I fear it might have messed with the nice A-line effect.

All in all this was a super simple and straightforward make. I highly recommend it because the cut is really flattering on 99.9% of the population and is a classic style. It's quite similar to a modern pattern called the Miette doing the rounds at the moment by the lovely and talented Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons but mine is 37 years old!

Some of you may be thinking 'I don't know if a wrap skirt is for me. Don't those leave you with countless opportunities for unintentional knicker exposure'? I confess I also had these worries but they have been banished after trying this baby on. The back panels are of a very generous width meaning there's plenty to 'wrap around' if you know what I mean. If you were feeling particularly nervous about it though one solution could be the placement of a discreet press stud on the inside of the flap and outside of the skirt. A word of warning though, this can affect the drape of your skirt so you may want to get the help of a friend to place it carefully. You'd also need to do this before sewing the two sides together if it's reversible.

So, that's the end of my sewing adventures for another week. I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Another skirt adventure

I've been itching to make a skirt ever since I picked up a fab tablecloth last week so the how-to is over on the DIY page now.

Crafty holiday goodness

For the past week I've been in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales staying with the fella and the pooch in a wee cottage in lovely Sedbergh. If you're ever in the area I can highly recommend Farfield Mill if you want to get a sense of what the local crafters are all about. They actually still use the 80 year old looms in the mill to make all sorts of beauties such as rugs and textiles.

Anyway, as you would expect I did my own tour of the surrounding thrift stores and on the very first day of the holiday I had what can only be described as the shoe find of the century! Normally I only give the shoes in thrift stores the most cursory of glances before moving on to more interesting territory. After all, feet are very personal parts of the body and shoes are rarely given away in good condition. I nearly had a conniption in the Oxfam store in Penrith when I came across the glorious clogs you see below.

I'm going through a love affair with wooden shoes at the moment. The trick is to wear them in slowly over time I think and for the more fashion forward amongst us, you might brave wearing a cute ankle sock with a sandal like the one above.
Also in the weeks thrifty haul was the best part of Cumbria's supply of doilies and linens (apologies if anyone else wanted some!). Now although it's lovely just to look at these treasures and wonder what you'll do with 50 vintage tea towels and tray mats, it's also nice to use them in a crafty creation.

Recently I felt it was time to put some of my materials to use so I decided to make a skirt. With all the right tools, like a sewing machine, you can make this skirt in under an hour.

Materials:
I used a double sized flat bed sheet for this and I think the pattern is really delightful.
A length of elastic
Doily or any embellishment you have to hand.
 

How to do it:

•  Fold the sheet in half lengthways, right sides together. If you have the part of the sheet which was already hemmed at the bottom, you can cheat and use this as your skirt hem.
• The next step is to decide how long you want the skirt to be and then add approximately one inch to that for a waistband. Mark and cut across the sheet at that line.
• Now sew a line of straight stitching down the long side of your fabric so you have a tube. If you're a skinny minnie or want to have a less-full look to your skirt, you can simply cut a strip off the side before you start sewing.
• Now you've got your tube, still with right sides together, fold a half inch of fabric down and press all the way around the top of the skirt. Fold down another half inch and press again. This will provide the casing for your elastic.
• Sew a line of straight stitching all the way around the bottom of your casing leaving a small gap to thread your elastic through.
• Cut your elastic to fit around your waist (or wherever you want the skirt to sit) and add a couple of inches to that measurement.
• Thread your elastic through and had stitch the ends together. Close the gap you left in the casing either by hand or with your machine.
• Add any embellishment you fancy! I added a linen doily to this skirt so it had a pocket but anything goes. Enjoy!