Well, my lovely readers, I would like to announce that my Shirt to Skirt project is now completed! I put the finishing touches to the skirt today and I'm really happy with how it's looking, another big happy success on the vintage revamp front :)
However, let's not get ahead of ourselves, before you see the finished article I'd like to share with you the final part of it's creation: Part 3: Fiddly Bits and Pieces.
By this part of the process I had completed the main construction of the skirt, but the things I had left seemed to be the most time consuming, all the little fiddly bits basically! Firstly I made the straps from the jumper, using the fabric from the sleeves of the original shirt, sewn together in strips and once again matched perfectly (if I do say so myself! I'm very proud of my newly acquired plaid matching skills!). I backed the straps in the green fabric I used to lengthen the hem, so that they can be reversed to add variety to the outfit.
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| Strap, plaid side |
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| Strap, green side |
I also used the green fabric for the waistband, I just love how the green looks don't you? I've also reinforced the waistband with some horsehair canvas sandwiched between two layers of interfacing - that waistband is not going to be all naughty and fold over the second I bend!
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| View of the waistband and skirt facing |
The picture above shows the inside of the skirt, showing the waistband and also some of the skirt facing which I added to both sides of the opening, again in the green cotton (are you seeing a pattern in my work?!). I'm actually very proud of the innards of this skirt, just as much as the outside. I'm trying hard to achieve a high standard in the finishing of my sewing and I'm loving the turned and stitched seam look, it's so easy and looks so smart and professional!
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| Yummy seam finishes :) |
You may remember from the fitting stage of this project that the skirt was looking rather long after I added extra fabric to the hem, so I ended up chopping off about 3 inches of this added length to get the look I wanted. I hemmed the skirt by hand - a favourite technique of mine :) - and I also added some white rick-rack to the join between the plaid and the green, just because. I think it looks purdy :)
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| Hand stitched hem |
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| Rick-Rack, you're cute :) |
The thing that probably took the most time at this part of the process was the buttons and buttonholes. I had to work 15 buttonholes and then sew on their respective buttons, that's a fair bit of work! I was originally considering sewing bound buttonholes on the skirt, but I chickened out and used my sewing machine instead. Sometimes there are details that even I think may be too time consuming!
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| Buttonholes! |
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| Buttons! |
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| Button and buttonhole on a strap - see the reversible strap?? :) |
I also decided to retain the pocket from the original shirt and add it to the skirt after tarting it up a bit (i.e. adding some more rick-rack. Rick-rack is fun)
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| Pocket, post tarting :) |
Now you're not going to see me modeling this project until Part 4 - the bog reveal needs a post all it's own! - but here are some more shots to keep you going until then. I really hope you like what you see so far!
That's it from me for today, but join me again soon when I'll be taking this project out on the town (as long as it stops raining long enough for me to get some good pictures...). I must admit I'm excited, this is definitely the most challenging project I've undertaken to date, so I can't wait to show off the finished outfit!
I hope you've all had a fabulous Friday, bye for now!
P.S. I may have started adding a little bit extra to the skirt at the last minute, I just couldn't resist! Here's a taster...
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| Ooo...! |
5 comments:
wow, well done so far :)
Looks amazing, cannot wait to see it in it's full glory.
It looks fantastic! I like all the meticulous work, it really adds to the end product. Great job!
Ooh cant wait to see it on, especially after all the buttonhole work, I woulda went nuts! :)
Thank you all so much :)
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