Refashion

We all have clothes that we don't wear, right? Whether we changed sizes and the clothes no longer fit, or we bought them when we shouldn't have, we all have a few garments we just plain don't wear. I like to go through my closet a couple times a year and purge all the stuff I don't wear. If it's in good condition, but doesn't fit, it goes in a bag for my sister. If it's torn or stained and I was stubbornly holding on to it, I force myself to throw it out. If I have discovered that it doesn't flatter me, or I hate wearing it, then I donate it (or send it to my sister). But what about those garments that I just really really really want to wear?

I have more than one of them. Things that are fun, exciting, and trendy. I want so badly to wear them, but I don't. Maybe I can't find outfits to go with them. Maybe they're a little too much, and I feel insecure in them. This skirt falls into both of those categories. I spotted it in a store a year or two ago, and fell in love. I was smitten. The bright pink colour, the gathers and drape, the hi-lo hem, the way it flowed and flared out behind me. I loved wearing it and walking down stairs. I loved the way it moved when I spun. I really really loved it.

But I hardly ever wore it. And to be honest, I used to wear it more. But I moved, changed jobs, developed a new friend group, and found my personal style changed. This skirt hung in my closet feeling dejected. I pulled it out a few times, tried it on with something, examined my reflection, and hung it back up in the closet. I went through that routine half a dozen times, before the skirt ended up shoved in the very back of the closet.

I pulled out a few weeks ago, and lovingly fondled it. I was still smitten with it. Since I was short on fabric (I don't keep much of a stash), and I wanted to sew something, I decided to refashion my skirt. I put on a Netflix show, and curled out on the couch with my seam ripper and this skirt. About six hours of Netflix later, I had two pieces of pink polyester knit, an elastic waist band, and a pile of pink serger thread. I pulled out the patterns I had, and tried to squeeze a couple different ones onto it, but that front skirt piece was just so short that I couldn't get much onto it.

Until I tried my Seamwork Aurora tank. I managed to squeeze the front and back of the tank onto the back panel of the skirt, and I cut the yoke out of the front of the skirt.

Let me just say - I'm completely in love with this tank. The front gathers and back pleat offer just enough shaping to be flattering, while still subtle. I love the options for colour blocking, and I love the length and hem line. I didn't even have to lengthen this pattern! Mind you, I couldn't for this version, because I barely had enough fabric as it was. But I don't think I will next time, either.

Skirts & Pockets

Oh hey there. I've been busy lately at my sewing machine, and I thought I should share some of the fruits of my labour with you.

Do you know what I love? Skirts. I freaking love skirts. I live in Saskatchewan, and suffer through -30 winters, and yet I will happily wear skirts all through January (Mind you, I wear tights and leggings with them - frostburn is not for me).

Do you know what else I love? Pockets. Seriously. All clothes should have pockets. I've bought dresses in years past simply because they had pockets. I'm not even kidding. I had this one dress that was too short for me to feel comfortable in and too tight through the thighs to wear tights with. It also had strange shaping that I never thought flattered me. The neckline was too low, and the sleeves were too tight to lift my arms up. But that dress had pockets. So not only did I buy it, but I stubbornly wore it multiple times.

Now that I'm sewing my own clothes, I've set a couple of goals. One of those goals is to add pockets to almost everything. To be fair, I haven't really gotten there yet. I've made a few garments that could have pockets, but I'd have to draft my own, and that's scary.

However, I made this skirt! And look! It has pockets! I made the skirt using this tutorial.

However, I have happily dumped this skirt into my mental Still-Learning bucket. There's a few things I don't like about it, and I did those things on purpose. But, I learned my lessons, I learned what I do and don't like about clothes, and I won't be making those mistakes again.

1. The pockets. I had to draft my own, so I drew the shape shown, pretended to put my hand in, and cut them out. But they're just too small all over, The opening isn't big enough for my hand to slide into comfortable and the inside isn't deep enough for even my phone. Lesson learned - Make pockets bigger.
2. I didn't draft the waist band large enough to actually go over my hips. I'm not completely sure how I made that mistake, but it means I have to put the skirt on over my head. Lesson learned - Double check sizes when self-drafting.
3. I didn't have 1 1/2" elastic, but I did have 3/4", so I decided to use two lengths of that, one on top of the other. Lesson learned - Just buy waistband elastic.
4. I did a mock fitting to see how the waist band would fit, and cut the elastic from that. Then I zig-zag-stitched the length of the elastic down to the inside of the back waistband. But I don't really like how that makes the back of the waist band look. 
5. During my mock fitting, I decided I wanted to skirt to sit on my high hips, rather than my natural waist. Lesson learned - I prefer shapes that hit my natural waist, and I want skirts to sit that high.

 I still like the skirt, and have worn it on occasion. I still love the fun polka dot print, and the fullness of it. But most of all, I appreciate the many lessons this skirt taught me. I know this isn't my last Still-Learning garment, and that's okay. It's okay to make mistakes, as long as I keep learning from them.