Skirt refashion step by step

I was itching to do some sewing this weekend and I have had this lovely piece of fabric with deer on it since before Christmas ( a fat quarter) and I have just used one strip of it on a cushion.  I also had a khaki skirt my mother in law picked up a charity shop for a pound because she said I would use the fabric.  Now the deer fabric is not very big but pretty, the skirt has a nice shape at the top but all pointy handkerchief bits around the bottom which I don't care for.  So I decided I would take most of the skirt away just leaving a sort of yoke at the top ( not sure if that's what you call it but never mind). I then placed my other fabric beneath it and shaped it so it would be 'A' line.

Here is the scary crumpled skirt, I didn't bother ironing it yet, not when I'm going to chop off most of it!

You can see here a lot got snipped away, I did check the length with another skirt to make sure it would be long enough when I added the new piece of fabric.

The fabric is brown with a salmon pink, beige and green deer. I think it goes well with the khaki.

                             Ha! More crumpled fabric this time the slip. It will see an iron, promise.

I also had a green slip dress in a lining that again my mother in law gave me from under a lace dress, I chopped and shaped the bottom of this to make a lining.
I stitched down each side of the new fabric, then laid it right sides together with the original skirt making sure side seams lined up then sewed all around.  I then turned it over and top stitched (number 24 on Toyota machine) so the seams were folded back toward the thicker fabric ( in this case the top of the skirt).

Then I sewed my lining in by turning it  through and just catching on the edge of the existing facing at the waist, I didn't machine stitch down the sides of the zip I did this by hand tucking it under as I went. I prefer to do it this way I think you have more control over how flat it lies.

Now it all got a really good iron and a try on. You can't actually see all of the top of the skirt with the top I'm wearing but who wears tops that short anyway in February in England? I like the colour combination, I also have a salmon pink long sleeved T shit and a brown jumper that would go with this so I'm  sure it will get lots of wear.

So I have managed to make that fat quarter into something wearable and recycled something at the same time.  The only part I may change is the lining, the slip was on the bias so I can feel that when I'm wearing it so it may annoy me, I have some other lining so if it proves to be annoying I will change it as that part is very 

quick to do.

So does anyone out there have any small special bits of fabric that could find their way into an item of clothing.  I have been looking at some of the fabulous bright clothes on the  Desigual site here there are skirts that look like they are made from about three or more different fabrics so lots of inspiration there.

I like this skirt

Kitchen cupboards makeover and some bargains

I thought I'd share a few of this weeks money saving bits that we have managed.  They did involve spending a bit of money but in all they have saved us quite a lot.  Firstly my husband came home last week with these fabulous bargains from the Tesco. They are selling off Christmas stock as they do at this time of year but I never quite understand why as they will be selling all the same stuff again next year.  Four rolls of wrapping parer at 10p a roll, three packs of Christmas cards and a pack of Christmas napkins, again all at 10p each.

Not bad for 80p, so now I just need to put them somewhere safe so I can find them easily later in the year. 

The next thing we did is to finally get around to changing the handles on my kitchen cupboards, I've never liked them and we have lived here six years but as I liked the cupboards I just kept putting off ordering any. Well this week I decided they were going and I found ones I liked on eBay at a pound a piece. My husband went one better and found them elsewhere at 80p each (there's that magic number again) so we ordered them. We needed 26 but my husband ordered 30 just in case we need spares.  He put them on in no time and I think it has transformed the cupboards.

These are the offending handles

Here are the shiny new ones

Now I'm not sure if I want to change the tiles later, they are ok but I would have chose something plain or a pale colour but not beige! Brilliant white or very pale aqua and none of the embossed tile bits. Any thought anyone?

I finished the book thief and it was amazing it had me in tears, I'm currently reading two books one with my son which is Ketchup clouds and he picked it up from the teen section and has now decided it has inappropriate bits in it (I agree) but we want to know what happened with the main character so I'm editing it as I read. (ha,ha).  I'm also reading The Woman in Black the sequel by Martyne Waites.

I just picked this up at the library and it is yet more WW2 stuff at the start so i hope I won't be all emotional at the end of this one, but if the original is anything to go on it's more of an eerie tale than a sad one.

Not a lot of sewing this week but I have altered some curtains for someone so that has brought in a little extra but as my little dog still has his sore itchy eyes (he is still at the vets every week) that little bit extra will probably be going to the vet along with a bit more.  

Fabric covered recycled belt tutorial

I finally got round to covering that belt I mentioned last week with the sarong fabric from years ago. I took pictures of what I did step by step so here they are below.  The colours as always look better in reality as I was losing the light again as I photographed it. I'm not sure about the gold on the buckle though and as there is some metalic craft paint in the cupboard I may change that to silver. My son doesn't like it and said you are not going to wear that are you! well! I know it will look different when put together with an outfit as things always do. Plus it is an exercise in learning to do something with something I didn't want as the elastic on the black belt was looking saggy. I also have enough black belts.

This is the original it's hard to see but the elastic has made it lose its shape

I cut the fabric 15cm longer than the belt, folded it then lay the belt on top I then hand stitched it around the buckle.

    

I stretched the belt and put pins in place so the fabric would not be too tight when stitched on. I then hand stitched it all the way along.

I machine stitched three rows  of top stitching on the right side while pulling the fabric so it would gather in the elastic. (You will not need to do this if your belt is flat and not elasticated.)

I used a zig zag stitch number 7 on my Toyota machine.

Here it is, it may not be to your taste but you can choose what fabric or style of belt you want to cover.
When I had finished that there was a bit of fabric on my table from a dress I hemmed the other day. It was just wide enough for a headband and I am fed up of my hair going in my face when I wash my face and take off my make up at night so this will come in handy.

I just folded the raw edge in and machine stitched it along, then measure my head making sure it was a bit smaller so it had to stretch a bit ( it is jersey) then sewed up the end.
You could use up lots of bits this way if you have girls to make Alice bands for them, you could add fabric flowers, leaves or a butterfly.
This week I have read Noah Barleywater runs away, with my son.

This is a really good book, it has lots of laughs in it and can seem quite bizarre in places which left us saying 'what?' a lot of the time but we enjoyed it. It is sad too, as you here about why he is running away. I will not say too much but definitely worth a read.
Right I need to go now and do some exercise. Xbox  fit game.