Elephant Skirt!

I saw this curtain at one of the thrift stores a few weeks ago and fell in love with it.  I'm a sucker for anything with an elephant print.  However, I thought it was a bit too much at €12 and let it slide.  I kept thinking about it for the next week.  When I went back, it was still there!  Yay!

This picture is really just to show the elephant print and that yes, it was a curtain and not a tapestry.  I mean, it's made out of the same type of cloth but the curtain was a bit longer.   

So, I took the border on all three edges and cut that off, cut it up slightly, and sewed it into one long strip.  It ended up being about 16.5" wide.  The center part of the curtain, I cut into two ~24" rectangles, making sure to get the max amount of elephants, and put the rest of the fabric to the side.  I ended up with two 36" by 24" wide rectangles.  This was a bit too wide at the waist for me so I cut it down by making them into trapezoids instead.  The top part of the trapezoid was 24" with the bottom staying 26".   

I sewed the trapezoids together at the sides, gathered the long border print and sewed that to the bottom of the skirt, and I folded the top of the skirt over a piece of elastic.  I sewed the elastic down to one of the seams but didn't sew it down to the fabric length ways.  I wanted the fabric to move irregardless of where the elastic was.  

The finished skirt!   It will be perfect for summer.   There is a ton of yardage in the border print and the fabric is a nice heavy cotton.  

Easter Dress!

For my Easter dress this year, I used McCall's 7804 with a linen cotton blend I bought at Fabric Mart.  The dress is actually even nicer than the photos and a LOT of fun to wear.  It's a pull over so it's a bit loose but very, very comfortable.

The pattern pieces were straight forward and I didn't bother with directions.  The only real change I made was I forgot to cut out the back facing piece so I just zigzagged the back neck hem.  No biggie.   

The bib front can be a bit tricky but I just ironed everything in the middle of putting the dress together and it came out fine.  I also used a frixon marker to mark where the neck opening should be and sewed around that before cutting.  That seemed to help a lot.

The lace at the bottom hem is a vintage lace I had in my stash.  I wanted a bit of lace added to the dress but nothing too overly frilly.  

Overall, I'm going to use this pattern again.  The dress is comfy and looks nice on.  I might try the longer version of the pattern - I almost did with this fabric but I didn't feel like cutting out three curved flounces, each on a fold, and then gathering that up when I already had to gather the skirt itself to the waist.  Too much gathering.  

Mega Big Post of Random Things I've Sewn Lately

So, I have been sewing.  I just haven't been posting.  Once my sewing/computer/guest room is better organized, I'll post what that looks like and be able to work on more projects.

I finally found my sewing mojo again.  I've been sewing modern stuff lately but will get back into the historical stuff next week (I need a dress for the Mayday Renn Fest!!!).  I think I've just been overwhelmed by the amazingness that is Italy.

This is a simple tiered corduroy skirt I made back in February, I think.  I used Simplicity 4334 which is OOP.

I think I got the corduroy off of ebay and the guy said it was velvet.  It clearly wasn't when I got it.  It's a lovely teal corduroy that doesn't show well in the photos.  I've worn the skirt a few times to work - it's a nice spring/fall skirt.

Next are the trousers I made for Saint Patrick's day!   I ordered one of the 6 yard bundles from Fabric Mart when they were having one of their "free bundles if you spend over X amount!" sales.  This tight, heavy green knit came as part of the bundle.  It looks like twill until you have it in your hands, practically.  

I used an old pattern I recently acquired from a lady who was selling a whole bunch of patterns dating from the 1960's until the 1980's.   It's Simplicity 5357 from 1972!   I narrowed the leg at the ankle because I did not want bell bottoms.  Other than that, I pretty much followed the pattern.   

The next up is a lavender skirt I didn't make but I did make a minor adjustment to.  

The skirt is a linen cotton blend that I got from the thrift store for €4.50!  I immediately fell in love with it when I saw it and noticed the waistline would fit.  Yay! Right?  Nope.  Turns out the zipper only went down a few inches on the side.  I couldn't get it up past my bum.  

Ignore the fading henna on my hand.  I was holding the zipper open as far as it would go to show how bad it was.

Luckily, there was a good amount of zipper left on the inside!  So, all I had to do is rip open the seam and resew the zipper down, right?

Sort of.  The way the skirt was sewn, I had to open it up a bit in order to get rid of this "ridge" and make the seam open for the zipper.

Before I sewed the zipper down with the fully open seam.

The lovely lavender skirt once the zipper was redone.  It's not a perfect job but it fits!   Yay!

I've also made a black cardigan sweater out of some sweater knit I bought years ago.  I need to post that one was well.  

My Easter Dress will be done soon.  It's a linen cotton black background floral that I love.  I've cut out the pattern; I'm using McCall's M7804.  We'll see how that comes out.