Upcycling a jumper into a skirt

For my birthday just before Christmas, a group of lovely friends, who know me and my crafty ways very well, clubbed together and got me a subscription to Mollie Makes. The first issue that they got me (issue 48) included lots of pretty projects, but one thing that really caught my eye was an upcycling project from Rethink Remake Relove to refashion a jumper into a skirt. I was feeling in need of a simple project and the skirt looked great so I had to give it a go!

All you needed was basic sewing supplies, 5cm elastic (which I had left over from making belts) and an old jumper. Now, I quite like all of my jumpers and I wasn't sure that many women's jumpers would give me a skirt with enough room for my hips, so I hit the men's jumper sections of the local charity shops and, after a bit of hunting, found this...

I liked the colour, I thought the cables would provide an interesting detail, it definitely gave me enough material to work with, it looked like it had never been worn and it was only £3.50 - decision made!

The project was really simple - you just remove the jumper arms, cut out your skirt shape from the front and back body pieces, sew the side seams and attach the elastic at the waist, and the ribbing round the bottom of the jumper means there's no need for hemming. I did deviate slightly from the instructions in the magazine by folding the top of the skirt over to make a casing for the elastic instead of just stitching it on. Even with the extra time it took to thread the elastic through the casing it was still a really quick project - the longest part of the process was probably the time I took dithering about precisely how long I wanted the skirt! If you want more details and don't have a copy of Mollie Makes, there are plenty of tutorials online for similar skirts (such as this one from My Poppet and this one from Pearls & Scissors).

I really love how the skirt turned out. Having a more fitted skirt is a bit of a departure from my usual style, but it's good to be different every now and then, and this has to be one of the comfiest skirts ever! It's the kind of thing that feels like you're wearing pyjamas it's that comfy. Plus as it's made from a jumper it's obviously nice and warm for the colder weather.

I'm not sure whether it'll be my most hard-wearing creation (unlike my Malu jacket which I'm wearing here - I've worn it so much this winter!) because I think the ribbing around the hem might stretch out a bit with the amount of walking I tend to do, but hopefully I'll be proved wrong. Even if it doesn't last that long, I'd still definitely use this idea again and I'll be keeping an eye out for more jumpers as possible skirt candidates.

Are you inspired to cut up your old jumpers now? Personally, I'm on the look out for creative uses for the arms that I cut off the jumper - any suggestions?

Gabriola in Greece

As soon as Sewaholic released the Gabriola maxi skirt pattern, I knew I would have to sew myself one pretty quickly. I love maxi skirts, particularly if they're nice and swishy as the Gabriola definitely is, and I had a holiday coming up so wanted to get one finished ready to take away with me.

I spent last week in Greece consuming roughly my own body weight in feta and aubergines and twirling about in my lovely new skirt - I apologise for the pasty whiteness of my skin in these photos, my skin doesn't tan really, it's white or it burns so I figure it's best to stick with the whiteness.

Gabriola is a lovely pattern and was pretty straightforward to put together. It has some added interest thanks to the angled panels around the waist - they're completely lost in the print that I used (and are partly covered by my top - tucking this top in didn't look right), but I promise you that they are there and they definitely do a lot to give the skirt such a great shape. I may have to make another version at some point with contrast panels to make them stand out more.

The skirt flares out beautifully and swishes about really nicely when you walk, as I was trying (and probably failing!) to show in this picture.

I cut a straight size 12 and didn't need to make any alterations. As far as I'm concerned, a maxi skirt should definitely be a maxi (as long as it can be it without the risk of tripping up on it when you walk!), and this skirt definitely fits that bill. I'm on the taller side of average so I was a bit concerned that it might end up a bit short but it's a great length, but this might mean that some people would need to remove extra length when evening out the hem.

Speaking of which, getting the hem even was probably the most difficult bit about making this dress. All the lovely swishy-ness means there's a lot of hem, and the way my fabric flows about meant that each bit ended up looking different lengths every time I moved. I enlisted the help of my Mum and after some perseverance, and me standing on various items of furniture to give her a better view, we finally sorted it - thanks Mum!

The fabric I used is a really pretty floral print viscose from Fabric Rehab. I love the fact that there are quite a few colours in it so I'll be able to pair it with lots of different tops. It drapes really nicely, it was slightly slippy to work with but not too tricky. It feels lovely to wear as well and doesn't crease too much - these photos were taken at the end of being worn for a day and it still looks good I think.

As you can probably tell, I'm really happy with my Gabriola - now I just need to wait for the weather to warm up a bit here so that I can wear it again!

Simple Denim Skirt

While it's always nice to try new patterns and learn new skills, sometimes you just fancy a simple sewing project using a pattern that you know and love. This was just the mood that I was in this week, so I set about making another version of the Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt, this time in denim.

The Hollyburn was the first thing that I made for myself when I took up dressmaking, I made a second version quickly after and I've worn the second one in particular quite a bit - the first one not so much recently but it'll definitely be coming back out this summer. It's a great beginner's sewing pattern, nice and simple and with no fitting issues - as long as you've got the waistband right, you're sorted! It's a shape that I really like and that suits me, so when I wanted a simple project this was the obvious choice. As with my second version, this time I made view C with the belt loops from view A.

The fabric choice was also a no brainer because a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win some denim and other related goodies in a giveaway from Winnie of Scruffy Badger Time - thank you again Winnie! If anyone fancies some denim for themselves, it's available with the other bits that I won as a kit from Minerva.

Anyway, winning the denim was quite exciting for me because I never win anything, and it was particularly well-timed because I needed a new denim skirt. I don't really wear trousers, so denim skirts are sort of like jeans for me - they go with everything and are easy to throw on so get worn a LOT.

My prize came with some fun gold ric rac, which I was going to use as a trimming around the pocket edges, and some nice contrasting top stitching thread, which I did even start using at one point, but then I decided to keep things totally plain this time so that the skirt will go with absolutely everything. And it means that the fun of using up my prize can be extended to another project!

The denim is obviously quite a bit heavier than the cotton and cord that I used for my first two versions of the Hollyburn, and that means that the skirt has a bit more body to it and hangs a bit differently which is quite nice. I think it'll probably soften up a little bit with wear - I've worn the skirt a couple of times already since I finished sewing it and I can already notice a slight difference.

All in all, this project did exactly what I wanted it to - it was nice and quick and has filled a little hole that had recently developed in my wardrobe. Now I'm ready to get my teeth into something more complicated again - watch this space!

Upcycled Deer & Doe Chardon Skirt

So, here's my first completed sewing project of 2014! It's a Chardon skirt from Deer & Doe...

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, this skirt started out as something a bit different. I love a bit of a bargain, and before Christmas I found this skirt in one of my local charity shops...

As you can see, it was massively too big, a particularly unflattering length and, I have been told, looked like something my great auntie would have worn. But I liked the material and it was only £1 so I thought that it was time to have a go at some refashioning.

When I got home and had a closer look at it, I decided that refashioning the skirt as it was would be tricky so instead I unpicked the side seams and all the pleats to leave myself with two big pieces of fabric. Getting the pleats out wasn't easy - a couple are still kind of visible now and I washed the material, left it hung up for a couple of days and pressed it as much as I dared (it's a wool/poly blend which the label said was dry clean only, but I'd already ignored that bit anyway!), but they're not too noticeable and the fabric survived so it's all good.

The Chardon skirt was the kind of shape that I'd had in mind when I first came across the original skirt in the shop, and I'm happy with the end result but there were a couple of problems along the way, which were entirely of my own making.

When I was sewing up the pleats, I was so focussed on making sure that the pattern on the material matched up, that I slightly took my eye off the ball when it came to making sure the pleats were exactly the right size - a bit stupid of me obviously! This meant that I ended up having to use a massive seam allowance on the centre back seam, so the back pleats are closer to the centre than they're meant to be. It all worked out OK and it's not a massive issue but it annoyed me at the time. On the plus side though, I'm pleased with how I got the pattern to line up.

I also decided I was going to line the skirt, which was all going fine until it came to having to change the centre back seam. It caused me more hassle than it probably should have done, but I got there in the end. There's a reason I'm not showing you any pictures of the inside of the skirt though! But at the end of the day it all looks fine from the outside and who is ever really going to look at the inside of my skirt?!

I think this is also a case where the fabric recommended for the pattern would have been better to work with, and I quite fancy stitching up a denim or chambray version at some point in the future.

Because of the slight problems I caused myself, this is never going to be my favourite creation but the skirt is comfy and cosy, and I work from home so they're the only criteria that go in to choosing what to wear at this time of year. Definitely worth the £1 investment!

Sewaholic Hollyburn: Take 2

Having been so pleased with the results of my first attempt of a Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt, I couldn't wait to make a second version of the skirt, and I'm happy to report that I still love the pattern second time around. Here's take 2...

I wanted it to be a bit different from my first attempt, so this time I made view C (the shortest option) with the belt loops from view A, and I used a very fine baby cord fabric with the intention that it would be ready to wear with tights and boots once autumn appears. Of course, I was excited about finishing the skirt so I had to wear it right away on a lovely, warm August day...

Not quite what I was envisaging when I chose the fabric, but if you ask me this just makes the skirt even better because it means it's nice and versatile and I'll get lots of wear out of it. The baby cord is navy but has a tiny white, rusty and green floral print on it so doesn't look too dreary on a sunny day, but equally it won't look too summery once the colder months arrive.

All in all, I'm just as pleased with this version as I was with the first one, and it proves that the first one wasn't a fluke! If anyone out there is thinking about giving dressmaking a try, I'd definitely recommend this pattern - you only really need the waistband to fit so there aren't any complicated fitting issues, the instructions are really easy to follow and you end up with a great result.

I'm excited about trying out some other patterns now, but I think there'll be more versions of the Hollyburn in the future - you can't go wrong with a pretty full skirt really can you?

Hollyburn skirt

Yesterday I wrote about Denman College and the dressmaking course that I went on, today I'm back to talk about what I made. We were asked to take a pattern for a simple dress or skirt and, after much consideration and reading of various blogs, I opted for a Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt - partly because it's the kind of skirt I wear a lot in the summer, partly because it's for beginners so I thought there shouldn't be too much danger of me not being able to cope and partly because Sewaholic patterns are specifically designed for pear-shaped women - a group which I definitely fall into!

The material choice had the potential to be more difficult because there always seem to be too many pretty fabrics around, but a trip to a local material shop provided the answer, and here it is...

It's Moda Recipe for Friendship. I'd already bought a fat quarter of this to use for small projects and loved it, and this time when I went back it was 50% off - decision made!

Making the skirt was great fun, and surprisingly simple. Admittedly I did have the benefit of having the talented eyes of May Martin watching over me, but I'm pretty confident that even without that advantage it would have been easy to sew up this skirt as the instructions are so clear and easy to follow.

I chose to make up view B of the pattern - a knee-length skirt with button tabs on the waistband.

The bits that I was most concerned about were the pockets and making sure I had a nice finish on the outside so that it didn't look too handmade. I needn't have worried as the pockets were a breeze, here's a little close-up of one of them...

And I think I did a pretty good job with the finishing too. Here's the back zip...

And here's one of the button tabs...

I quite fancied having cherry buttons on the tabs, but I couldn't find any that I liked and I thought these flowers were jolly and would pick up the red of the cherries well, so they were what I went with - and I'm pleased with how they look. 

And the final result? I love this skirt! Partly because it's my first successful dressmaking project, but mainly because it's colourful and fun and I know I'll get loads of wear out of it (as long as the sun stays out anyway!). Here's a picture of me modelling it (note to self: must have better pictures of myself in any future dressmaking projects)...

I'm already plotting a more autumnal version of the skirt, possibly view C this time. Watch this space!