Skirt Bag

Years ago, I had some wool skirts that didn’t fit me too well, but I liked the fabric so I ripped them up thinking that I would use the fabric someday. That day finally came. I decided I needed a new tote bag since my old one was raggedy and gross, and thought this was a good opportunity to use up that wool fabric.

I had three fabrics from wool skirts to use, a black, a dark gray and a red. I ironed them and measured them to see how much fabric was available to me and sketched out a design for the bag.

I realized that I didn’t have quite enough fabric from my repurposed skirts. So I decided to use some vintage wool fabric my grandmother gave me. The checkered red, gray and cream fabric matched well with my color palette. The one problem was that the fabric had quite a few moth holes, so I had to position my cut outs just right. I barely had enough fabric.

After I had sewn the fabric panels together, I saw that one of the black fabric blocks had a moth hole smack dab in the middle. This was unfortunate as I had already cut the fabric and didn’t have enough to replace the damaged piece. So first I used some thread to sew over the hole, hoping to patch it enough that it wouldn’t expand. Sadly, this looked like a pimple breaking out on a forehead. I didn’t like the way it looked and wanted to cover it up.

So I decided to put a pocket on top of it. Ideally, I wouldn’t have to do this because I wanted the bag to be simple. And quite frankly, I dislike useless pockets. And I’m never using this pocket…for anything. However, it fulfilled its purpose of covering my moth hole. [Sigh.]

The red fabric in the handle wasn’t initially part of my design. However, the black strips of fabric for the handle seemed short to me, and as I didn’t have any more black fabric, I could only use what I had left, which was the red.

When I pinned the straps to the bag, the thickness of the fabric concerned me. I didn’t think my sewing machine would handle it well, so I decided to hand sew it. Unfortunately, my hand sewing skills aren’t very pretty. I used embroidery floss to help cover my poor stitching.

The bag is reversible. At first, I thought I wanted the black and gray side to be on the outside of the bag, but I soon realized that I preferred the red side more. The bag is a bit larger than I anticipated, but it fits everything I need.

The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction

I got The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction book from 1959 for $2. I didn’t need it. But I found the “trimming details for the quality look” pages to be inspiring. I love nice details. Here are some of my favorites:

I liked the details around the buttonholes.

And these collar details are so cute.

I love these buttonholes made from tubing.

These bow details are cute.

I like the graphic look of the added felt to the dress.

The cut out parts on the collar were interesting. And I love the button pattern created on the collar.

Altered: Navy Pants

I bought these old lady pants at a thrift shop thinking I might be able to alter them. And I did. I cut about four inches off of each pant leg, and then sewed elastic at the bottom of each leg. It was simple and I finished it in a couple of hours.

Truthfully, I’m not sure if I will wear these pants out in the world; they might just be pants I wear at home. They’re pretty comfortable as they have an elastic waistband. And I like that it has pockets.

Navy Dress

I've sewn a raspberry version of this dress some years ago. I remember it being fairly simple to make, so I thought I'd make it again. My new navy version of this dress turned out…okay. I admit, I didn't go back and try to recall what I did on the raspberry version of the dress, and I pretty much made the same mistakes as I did before. [Sigh.]

The first error is that the skirt and bodice seams don't align properly in the back—it's about a quarter of an inch off when I zip it up. Which is why it's good to wear a belt or sash over my mistake.

The second error is that dress was too loose in the bodice. So after the dress was sewn, I just sewed the sides in. I know it's super sloppy, but I didn't want to undo everything because I'm lazy. So the dress fits a bit better than it did before, and I can and will wear it, but the craftsmanship on this dress isn't particularly good.

DIY: Button Bag

 
My mom wanted me to sew her a bag for Christmas. I initially did some sketches of bags and picked one that I thought would be simple to sew. I used some fabric I had on hand to sew a draft of the bag. I got about halfway through…and I didn’t like it. So I simplified the design and tried again—this bag I finished and liked.

With my draft finished, I cut and sewed my mom’s bag. The flap can be buttoned in the front or back of the bag. I wanted some versatility, where the flap could be used to help close the bag, or buttoned in the back to make it more open. In addition, since two fabrics are used, buttoning the flap to the back of the bag allows for a different look, with the interior fabric showing.

This is what I did.

—1—
Cut out two sets of pieces, one fabric for the exterior and one fabric for the interior of the bag.

—2—
With right sides together, sew the two strap pieces together. Trim the seams. And turn the strap right side out. Press and topstitch.

—3—
With right sides together, sew the front and back pieces of one fabric together. Trim the seams and corners. And repeat this with the second set of fabric.

—4—
With right sides together, put one bag inside of the other bag and sew the flap pieces together. Trim the seams and corners.

Note: The two sides need to be kept open to turn the bag right side out and to add the strap.

—5—
Turn bag right side out. Try to get the corners as square as possible. Press bag.

—6—
Put a strap end in about 2.5 inch deep into the openings on each side. Sew the strap to the bag. (Sew a square with an X in the middle to help add stability.)

—7—
Sew the openings for the strap down.

—8—
Press and topstitch the bag.

—9—
Mark the position for the buttonhole on the flap. Sew buttonhole. Sew one button on the front side and one button on the backside. Button Bag complete.

Bright Geometric Pullover Dress

I’ve made this pullover dress before—it was an easy dress to make and had wanted to make another one for quite some time. I finally got around to it. Since the pattern is so simple, I thought a more interesting fabric would be nice to use. For the bodice, I decided on using a bright geometric fabric that I got at a thrift store. For me, a little pattern goes a long way, so I picked a plain black crepe fabric I had in my fabric stash for the skirt portion to balance things out.

I didn’t run into any problems sewing the dress. But I’ll admit that I was too lazy to fix the seams where the pattern doesn’t meet itself properly. It was my intention to do it right, but I wasn’t paying too much attention when I was pinning the fabric together and sewing it. I realized my mistake after the fact, and truthfully didn’t care that much. I mean, how often are people looking at your side seams?

The one improvement I made was that I added pockets this time. The pattern doesn’t have pockets, so I took a pocket pattern piece from another dress and just added it in. It didn’t take too much extra time to do and was totally worth it.

Overall, I’m satisfied with the dress. I like the pop of color and interest the pattern brings—which is pretty vibrant in comparison to most of the clothes I wear. I also like the dress when I use a sash that I made some time ago (and is the same black crepe fabric as the skirt).

DIY: Voodoo Doll Pincushion

I saw different voodoo doll pincushions online and thought it would fun to make my own. I made voodoo doll pincushions (and travel sewing kits) for Christmas gifts. 

SUPPLIES

• Felt fabric (I used cream and black)
• 2 buttons (I used different sizes)
• Embroidery floss
• Thread
• Needle
• Pins
• Paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Water soluble pencil/chalk
• Stuffing

DIRECTIONS

— 1 —
Sketch out desired voodoo doll shape on paper. Draw where the eyes and mouth will be. Draw the heart as well.

Note: I added about 0.25 extra space around my initial drawing of my voodoo doll—this was to compensate for the edge stitches on the outside of the doll that took about 0.25 inch. I initially didn’t do this, and I felt my doll looked too “thin.”

— 2 —
Cut out the paper doll. Also draw a heart and cut it out from the paper.

— 3 —
Cut two pieces of felt that is a little larger than the height and width of the paper doll.

— 4 —
Place the two pieces of felt on top of each. Pin the paper doll to the felt.

— 5 —
Cut around the paper doll. Remove pins and paper doll. If necessary, smooth any rough edges of the felt doll pieces.

— 6 —
On one of the felt doll pieces, mark where the eyes, mouth and heart will go. (Keep in mind the space the edge stitching will take up, so don’t get too close to the edge with anything.)

— 7 —
Sew the buttons to the doll. (I used the embroidery floss to add a pop of color.)

— 8 —
With the embroidery floss, sew the mouth. For the horizontal line, I made three stitches across, trying to keep my stitches close together so there was a minimal gap. Then I made about five vertical stitches across the horizontal line.

— 9 —
Using the paper heart as a template, cut out a felt heart. Then cut it in half in a zigzag line.

— 10 —
Place one heart piece on the doll piece and sew it. Repeat for the other half of the heart.

— 11 —
Pin the front and back felt doll pieces together. Use a blanket stitch to sew the two pieces together, leaving an opening of a couple of inches.

— 12 —
Stuff the doll.

— 13 —
Finish blanket stitching the opening. Voodoo Doll Pincushion complete.

This is the completed sewing gift I made. I sewed a simple drawstring bag to put the Travel Sewing Kit and Voodoo Pincushion into. I didn’t create directions for a bag here, as there are many places online to find instructions.

Bed Sheet Culottes

I had to alter my culottes pattern, so I wanted a fabric that I could use as a muslin to test my alterations. Culottes require quite a bit of fabric, so I bought a bed sheet from a thrift store (and thus had an ample amount of fabric to work with).

I didn’t run into any issues sewing this pattern; it was pretty simple. It uses buttons for closures, rather than a zipper. And it has pockets—which is awesome. The culottes took me a bit of time to finish them (as I slowed slowly here and there during the weekends). And overall, I’m satisfied with the results. I’d like to try this pattern again with a heavier fabric, and perhaps one of the different versions of it.

Sleeveless Gray Dress

I decided to make another dress using the pattern I’d used to create my red dress. Looking over my fabric stash, I chose a gray fabric that had about 4 yards. Because I had so much fabric, I decided to use the longer version of the dress pattern.

Since I’d already sewn this pattern before, I didn’t run into any issues. It was quick and easy. However, in retrospect, I probably should have used this fabric for a different dress. It’s a slightly heavier fabric, so I think I should have made a dress with sleeves instead. [Pause.] Oh well.

Simple Red Dress

I wanted to sew something easy, so I picked this dress pattern. I decided on creating the shorter version of the pattern, but it still required a good amount of fabric. Looking over my fabric stash, I chose a red textured fabric that I had bought a long time ago. It wasn’t a fabric I loved, so I thought it would be a good test for sewing this pattern for the first time.

I tried to alter the pattern beforehand because I thought my measurements didn’t quite coincide with the envelope sizing. However, I tend to like my garments to have less ease than the envelope sizing, so in the end, I had to undo that pattern alteration because the garment was looser than I wanted. So that added some unnecessary time to my sewing.

Other than that, sewing this dress was fairly quick as there weren’t any complicated sewing steps. In the end, I quite liked my dress. I wanted a red dress (but I never seem to find one I like when I’m thrift shopping), so it was nice to make something that I wanted. I like the simple cut of this dress—which makes it quite versatile.

Revamped: White House Black Market Dress to Skirt

Shortly after I bought this White House Black Market summer dress at a thrift store for $3.50, I altered it. It was my initial plan from the beginning (as I do not like wearing strapless dresses). I wanted to do it sooner rather than later for two reasons: it’s summer now so I could wear it, and if I lost momentum and set it aside—I might never get around to doing it.

First, I marked on the dress where I wanted to cut it. Then I took out the zipper. The dress was well made so it took a bit more effort to take it apart.

I cut the skirt portion off. At first I thought I’d use the zipper that had been part of the dress as the zipper in my skirt. However, it was an invisible zipper, and I thought that a normal zipper would be easier to put in the skirt (as it already had a seam). Lacking a regular white zipper, I used a black zipper. I sewed the zipper to the skirt. It had a lining that I attached to the top of the skirt and around the zipper.

Ideally, I wanted a white waistband. However, I didn’t have any white fabric that matched exactly. And it would have really bothered me to have the pure-white skirt fabric next to an off-white waistband. So, I decided to use some black fabric I had instead. I cut out and sewed the waistband to the skirt. Then added eyes and hooks to the waistband and I was done.

This took me about 8 hours to do as I am not a speedy sewer. Overall, I’m happy with the skirt and think it turned out well.

Things I Didn’t Buy 18

I liked this College Typewriting cover that’s very simple.

This Volkswagen book was intriguing.

I liked this Singer Sewing Book.

And I liked this Money Management: Your Budget booklet. It had cute illustrations and useful information.

Revamped: Dress to Skirt

I got this dress a while back from a thrift store. The dress was a bit large on me, so I thought the easiest thing to do was to alter it into a skirt.

I cut the dress under its elastic waistband, and cut off a section of fabric to create the waistband. I undid part of the side seam and put in a zipper. This was done not as cleanly as I would have liked. The seam allowance was only at about a quarter inch, so I didn’t sew through all the fabric when I put in the zipper. So I hand sewed the fabric that didn’t catch, which made it rather sloppy. But I was just too lazy to redo it. I gathered the top of the skirt and then sewed the waistband to it.

Overall, it didn’t take as long as starting from scratch, but isn’t something I feel super excited about. It’s a fine skirt, wearable, but not something I love.

Super-Wide Leg Star Pajama Pants

Recently, I sewed another pair of super-wide leg pajama pants. I love the first pair I sewed, but noticed it was looking a little worn, so I decided to sew a second pair. This time I used this light blue with white star pattern fabric (that I got an estate sale).

I’m very satisfied with my pajama pants. They’re very comfortable, light and airy—perfect for when the weather becomes warmer. And as always, I love anything with pockets.

Potholders for Christmas

I decided to make potholders as Christmas gifts this year. I’d never made potholders before, but looking online, the directions didn’t seem too difficult. I thought they would be useful items to have, and I also thought they wouldn’t be too difficult or time-consuming to make.

First, I bought a yard of red cotton fabric and made bias tape…that took some time. I decided I wanted to make potholders with a pocket, partly because I think it adds visual interest and partly because I like the added functionality of it. I cut out squares in my chosen fabrics, batting and Insul-Bright. I quilted each fabric piece to batting or Insul-Bright. I added the pocket (that was bias tape edged at the top) to one fabric piece, and then basted all layers together to stay in place. I trimmed the sides. Then I sewed the bias tape along the edges.

In the past, I’ve used bias tape minimally and probably not very well. I looked at my sewing book for directions of how to sew bias tape around corners and tried to follow its directions. I had varying degrees of success. I think it got easier over time, but it still looks rather messy. I also had issues because I wanted a loop for hanging. I did it pretty horrendously the first time and had to redo it. I don’t think my solution looks super awesome (although it’s better than it was), but hopefully it’s functional.

I created four sets of potholders that were all made with 100% cotton. Three of them used navy (scrap fabric from a skirt) as a neutral and the red bias tape for a pop of color. The first set I used blue patterned fabric that was scrap material from a dress I made some time ago.

The next set used a blue geometric pattern that was also scrap fabric from when I made some bags.

The third set used My Little Pony fabric.

The fourth set (top photo) I used a yellow bias tape (that I made). I wanted to use this fun spoon pattern as the main fabric and chose a light gray as an accent color. This is my favorite set that I made (and it was created last, so I think it’s made a bit better).

Discounting the amount of time it took to create my own bias tape, I would say it probably took me about 4-5 hours to create one set of potholders. Some of this was because of trial and error and learning to create something different. I struggled using the bias tape more than I thought would have and was never very happy with it. I also think I’m just on the slower end of the sewing spectrum. Luckily, I managed to finish them all before Christmas.

Black Velvet Dress Altered to a Skirt

I got this very large black velvet dress from a thrift store for $5. Seeing the amount of fabric, I thought I could turn this dress into a skirt to wear to a holiday party. My plan was to do as little as possible because I didn’t want to spend a long time working on it (as I wasn’t going to be wearing it often). So I wanted to avoid putting in a zipper or hemming it.

First, I cut the dress at the waistline. I used some bottom weight fabric to finish the cut edge because I thought turning over the velvet fabric would create too much bulk. My initial thought was to put in an elastic waistband, but I quickly realized that the fabric was just too thick and would bunch unattractively.

So, instead, I decided to wrap the extra fabric in the front using two sets of eyes and hooks. This took longer than I anticipated, and I ended up moving the eyes and hooks a few times so the placement would fit my waist better.

I also sewed a sash using black bottom weight fabric; I thought it would help cover the skirt’s thickness, and act as a belt to help keep the skirt in place (and I thought it looked cute).