White Summer Skirt

When I saw this white fabric at an estate sale, I thought it was cute (although it also slightly reminded me of a tablecloth). The fabric was taped up, so I wasn’t sure how much yardage there was, but I happily bought it for $2. When I got home and measured it, I found it was a 45 inch fabric with two yards. I thought there was probably enough fabric that I could make a skirt with it.

I decided a pleated skirt would work well with the fabric’s horizontal woven pattern, and chose this 1950s skirt pattern as a reference. I’ve used this skirt pattern before (with some adjustments), so I knew it was a simple skirt to make. And I didn’t have any major issues with this skirt (beside some slippage of the pleats when basting, which was annoying).

The main addition I made was adding a lining to the skirt since I thought the white fabric had some transparency issues. I selected some cheap off-white broadcloth from my fabric stash for my lining. I used a simple A-line skirt shape from another pattern as my basic pattern (disregarding the darts and shortening the length); the main point I had to keep in mind was the lining’s circumference had to match the skirt’s circumference. The lining tacked on some additional hours, but I think it was well worth it.

The original pattern called for more length in the skirt, but with the limited amount of fabric I had, I had to shorten it (which I think worked out fine). Also, instead of the prettier hem using bias tape the pattern specified, I decided on doing a narrow hem out of necessity.

If I had more fabric, I would have liked to have used the woven pattern horizontally across the waistband, but sadly, this was not to be. Overall I’m happy with my skirt. It is a bit large, but it’s not a huge issue. I think this skirt cost about $7 in total; $2 for white fabric, $3 for lining fabric, $1 for thread and $1 for the zipper and eyes and hooks. And I think it’s a really great skirt for summer.

Pleated Tote Bag

Most of my sewing projects revolve around making clothes, but I decided I wanted to make a bag. I’d never made a tote bag before but it didn’t look hard. There were tons of bag tutorials online from the very simple to the more complicated. Mostly I looked at the basic construction of the bags (which were often similar from tutorial to tutorial). Instead of picking a bag design from one of the many, I decided to just design my own.

I didn’t want to make a complicated bag, but I didn’t want to make the bare minimum simple tote bag either. So I decided to add pleats to my bag. I love pleats; they’re a simple design element that adds visual interest (to just about anything).

I used a two-tone canvas as my main fabric. I wanted a fairly neutral colored bag, and this was a heavier basic fabric I happened to have in my fabric stash. On the inside of the bag, I wanted to use a different fabric with a bit more personality, so I chose a Japanese pattern for the bottom section of the bag.

As with everything I sew, it’s not perfect. I can see the flaws, but it’s serviceable. I like my bag; it’s simple but I don’t think it’s boring.

Simple Pleated Skirt

Not long ago I picked up some blue fabric and a vintage pattern, Simplicity 2433, from a thrift shop, and I used them to create my new skirt. I used this pattern as a starting point, and changed things according to what made sense to me.

I think the skirt portion of this pattern is the simplest thing ever—it’s just a rectangle that is pleated across the top of it. That’s really the only part I used from this pattern. I used a waistband from another skirt (since this pattern had a very narrow waistband and I prefer a thicker one). I also used a zipper instead of snaps as the main closure.
 

And finally, I decided to use a button (instead of an eye and hook) for the closure at the waistband. I thought this would be a good project to finally use a button. I chose a simple plastic button from my jar of buttons I got at a thrift shop. 

I Can Read…Really

I had bought this cheap fabric and wanted to make a skirt with it. Simple enough. Except that I made a fatal mistake: I cut the fabric incorrectly. [Sigh.] I suppose it was bound to happen eventually, but it was still utterly painful to realize that I didn’t have enough fabric to cut the piece again.

Little Red Skirt

Last month I was walking in town wearing the navy skirt I’d made, and a woman passing by complimented me on my “cute skirt”. I thanked her and in that moment I think my head grew three sizes (but luckily I kept my wits about me and refrained from regaling her with tales of how I’d sewn it myself). While it’s always nice receiving a compliment, it was doubly so getting one from a complete stranger on something that I had created. There’s a certain thrill in having sewn something that is uniquely yours, and while what I sew is hardly perfect, it’s still mine. I decided on what pattern to use and I decided what fabric would be appropriate and I was the one who sewed it (for better or for worse).

Pleated Change Purse

My old change purse was dying a slow and painful death. I had used it for many years and filled it to the brim with change; it was fraying and filthy and far from its once cute state. So instead of purchasing a new one, I thought I’d create one with some of my fabric scraps.

I had a basic idea of what I wanted to do: a small purse with a zipper closure. Simple enough. I didn’t really follow any directions because what I needed to do was fairly straightforward. I selected a sturdier cotton fabric for my change purse (left over fabric from my navy skirt). Instead of doing the bare minimum of using two flat pieces of fabric to create my change purse, I decided to use inverted pleats as a design element. It wasn’t that much more difficult; I just had to use a bit more fabric for the width, measure where my pleats would be, press the pleats down and then baste the pleats in place. It’s simple but I think it adds some nice visual interest.

The second thing I did to make this change purse a bit more interesting was using a contrasting zipper color. I happen to have this cream-colored zipper and thought it would match well with navy. It was my first time shortening a zipper (which turned out to be super easy). As usual I made mistakes along the way, but it was a good small (and necessary) sewing project for me.