Sew what?!

 

After my last sad sack of a post, I’m happy to report that life is returning to normal and we are moving towards getting settled into our new home. The daughter has left the building. She is off on her mission adventure. During the last three weeks, I was either in bed trying to shake the world’s worst flu bug or I was hunched over my sewing machine, making skirts for her mission.

Ryley showed me this skirt from Pinterest.

Source: shop.mango.com via Ryley on Pinterest

 

She wanted me to make that for her. I was less than enthusiastic. For as good of a seamstress as I seem to be, you would think that I would enjoy it more. You’d be wrong. I really don’t enjoy it that much, so with all I had to do around my house, doing a bunch of sewing wasn’t something I wanted to add to my To Do list.

However, we live in a small town with not a lot of shopping venues. My girl is tall and has hips that do not lie. She ranges over several sizes which makes it hard to find things that fit well. Add to the fact that we live in the Hoochie zone and apparently the only skirts they can legally sell in this area are “totes inapprope” as she would say.

I went to JoAnn’s and picked up this pattern.

Baby Girl was less than impressed. She did not see how the pattern could end up looking like the inspiration picture. However, I liked the waistband and the pockets of this skirt and I didn’t want to try to cobble together my own pattern for those two things.

With a few modifications to the skirt and with a made up pattern for the flap on the pocket, this is what I ended up with.

IMG_4437-001

Yes, it needs to be ironed and it was cold in the house that day so Rye tried it on with sweatpants and wool socks on underneath. The button on the waistband is just decoration. Originally, I was going to make the skirt open at the pockets, but I ended up putting a zipper in the back. She will probably end up taking the big button off. She was extremely happy with how the skirt turned out. I think I nailed this one.

Another skirt she wanted me to make was this one, again from her Pinterest board.

Source: indulgy.com via Ryley on Pinterest

 

She pinned a ton of skirts that were pleated, but I wasn’t interested in messing with pleats. I simply took 2 yards of fabric, tore it in half, then tore one of the half sections in half again. The fourth section pieces were the back pieces of the skirt. The larger section was the front. Again, I used the waistband and the pockets from my pattern. I gathered the sections and, after they were sewn on the waistband and ironed, they kind of pleated up.

I used a linen fabric which is a nice fabric for the skirt. This is the only picture I have of her in this skirt and it’s stolen from a video my brother-in-law took for me as she was entering the MTC yesterday. It’s a really bad picture. If they send me a better one, I will update it. Again, I nailed it and she was very happy with the skirt.

image

I also ended up converting two dresses into skirts. One was a maxi-dress that had a ton of elastic gathering below the bust line. I cut off the top the dress and put in a narrow hem at the cut line. I then hemmed the skirt to mid-calf length. Here she is on her day at the temple.

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By the way, that cute bag she is holding is a temple bag that was a gift from my mom. If you are interested in checking out these awesome bags, you can find them at MyTagBag.com. Thanks, Mom!

Finally, I reworked a navy satin dress into a skirt, but I don’t have any pictures of that. Again, she was happy with the end result and I’m happy knowing she will be able to wear things that are modest and fit her and that her Momma made for her.

Eventually, I plan to set up an area out in the loft for all my sewing. For now, I commandeered the dining room table, but I’m very ready to pack up my machine for the season. Usually, I like to do my sewing in the colder months and my painting and furniture restoration during the warmer months. However, that’s not going to happen this year. I have too much painting to do to wait for spring to arrive.

Up first is finishing the piano. Ryley started painting it as a project while she was home, but she ran out of time and energy before she left. I sanded down some drips yesterday and repainted and sealed it today. I hope to have a completed post in the next day or two.

There you have it. My sewing chronicles for the months of October and November. I did not include the skirt I added lace to or the shirt I replaced the zipper on or the temple dress I took in and repaired the zipper on. I’ll be ready to look at my machine in a few months. For now, give me a paint brush. I’ve got a house to fix up!

Suesan

Thank you for reading Frou-FruGal. For more projects, please click to my site, http://froufrugal.blogspot.com