The Skirt Adventures Continue!

Yesterday I created a new version of the simple elastic waist skirt I love so much. Let's call it Skirt version 2.0 shall we? This new version was inspired by this skirt from Anthropologie:

The one thing I didn't like about my skirts before version 2.0 was that the elastic waist wasn't the prettiest thing to look at. That's why I liked this skirt from Anthropologie so much! With the cute sash you can tuck in a tank top it looks great. So I decided to make one myself, using one of my husband's old dress shirts. Unfortunately the dress shirt didn't have enough fabric to make both the skirt and the sash, so I decided to alternate panels of the shirt fabric and some extra scrap fabric that I had laying around. I was pretty pleased with the end result:

I apologize for the poor picture. I forgot to take a picture of the skirt before we went out with friends last night, and this was the only pic from that night which showed the entire skirt. But here it is! What do you think?

4th of July Adventures!

I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July weekend--I know I did! B and I went up to Gig Harbor with a bunch of friends for the weekend. The weather was beautiful, the food was delicious, the fireworks were slightly terrifying, and the friends were amazing as always. Just an amazing weekend overall! Before we left on our 4th of July adventure, I did hem up the skirt I made from a men's dress shirt:

Before I had just used the shirt's original hem, but it was very obvious that it was from a shirt.

So I decided to hem up the bottom of the skirt so that it was even all around. Since the sides of a men's dress shirt are hemmed higher than the front and back I had to hem it up quite a few inches. I was afraid that would make the skirt too short, but I actually like the length!

This was such an easy project, I will definitely have to do it again!

Adventures in Shirt Refashioning!

I was recently looking at Urban Outfitters online and came across this skirt:

My mind immediately went to a pile of men's shirts in my craft room. When we moved I had my husband toss out all the shirts that he doesn't wear anymore, and of course I couldn't just get rid of them. I am a terrible hoarder--everything has crafting potential in my eyes! So today I decided to try to turn a men's shirt into a skirt. I'm not quite sold on the finished product, I don't know if this is something that I would wear out in public:

What do you think? Is it too obviously the bottom half of a men's shirt? I might try sewing a straight hem on the bottom instead of using the existing hem. Any feedback would be most helpful!

More Adventures in Skirt Modification!

Today I went back and redid yet another skirt! I'm finding that as I make more and more of these fun skirts I am finding new ways to 'upgrade' them, which is pretty darn exciting. This is a two layered skirt that I made a few weeks ago along with my 'Twitter' skirt. As you can see, it's okay--but not fantastic.

I felt like it was too long, and with the two layers of fabric it was a little heavy on the elastic waistband. I did really love the bright print of the main fabric though, so I decided to forgo the second layer of red...

The result--two thumbs up! I used a little bit of the red fabric to add pockets, my new favorite addition to my skirts!

I love it! I think I will wear this skirt out tomorrow for a double date! So fun!

Adventures in Pocketland!

Remember that first skirt I made? The extremely gathered one with the jersey knit waistband? Well, I ended up taking it completely apart and starting over again. There were several things that I did not like about the skirt. Since I chose a very lightweight fabric I had to use two layers of it, and that created a huge bulge of gathered fabric at the base of the jersey waistband. And that bulge was not attractive. I'm sure that if there wasn't so much fabric at the waistband then it would have worked much better. And the skirt was so extremely gathered that it was a little too poofy. Normally I'm all about poofy, but this was just a bit too much.

I still absolutely adore the fabric, so I decided to start completely over! I made a skirt in the same style as my other ones, but this time I decided to try adding pockets! I absolutely adore skirts with pockets, and wanted to try it for myself. I found this tutorial from The Owls Are Not What They Seem to be extremely helpful. And here is the finished product!

I absolutely love it!!! So excited to wear this out in public, the pockets turned out beautifully, and I cannot wait to add them to all of my skirts!

Help! I'm addicted to sewing skirts!

It's true. My name is Mariko, and I am a skirt sewing addict. Right now as I am typing this entry there is someone here to install cable in our new house. So I figure, what better way to get my mind off the fact that this man is about to punch holes through the walls of my pretty little house than sew some skirts! I have just made three different skirts, and I am in looove with them all! The third I will keep shrouded in secrecy because I made it as a birthday present for a friend. Until they receive it I won't post about it here. But the other two were made just for me!

I absolutely adore the fabric for this skirt! Isn't it the cutest? It reminds me of some of the cute Orla Kiely items that were in Target this Spring. I cannot wait to wear it out in public!

And I made this skirt out of a jersey knit fabric that is the softest thing imaginable. It is so comfy, I never want to take it off!

I am really enjoying sewing these skirts! And my husband is quite impressed with me as well, which is always nice :)

On another topic, I have to share this website that I am newly obsessed with-- The Uniform Project. It follows one woman as she wears the same dress every day for a year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. She wears it a little differently every day, and it is absolutely fantastic. So beautiful and creative! And if you want to donate money, all the proceeds go towards the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots organization that helps provide uniforms and school funding for children in the slums of India. Check it out!

Aha, I hear the sounds of television! This must mean we are hooked up and ready to go! I believe I have some So You Think You Can Dance episodes to catch up on...

More Skirt Adventures!

Yesterday morning I continued my adventures in skirt sewing and created two new skirts!

I love how they turned out!

Aren't the fabrics fun? I have been hanging onto these for about a year now, waiting for the perfect project to come along. One of my friends refers to the skirt on the right as my 'Twitter skirt"!

And here I am ready to go to a wedding rehearsal in my new skirt! I really enjoyed the fact that I made a skirt in the morning and then wore it all day long! I got so many compliments on it, it was fantastic.

My next skirt adventure? Adding pockets! Can't wait to see how it turns out!

My First Skirt Adventure!

I made my first skirt this morning! I used a tutorial from Altered Cloth, and I really like how it turned out! It is super comfy since I used a jersey knit fabric for the waist. This also means I didn't have to deal with zippers or exact measurements! Yay! Here are some pics:

Clearly I haven't hemmed the skirt yet, but here it is! I think it will be perfect for the warm summer months ahead and I cannot wait to wear it. I have a wedding rehearsal tomorrow that may just be the perfect opportunity to debut my new creation!

I have always enjoyed sewing, I just haven't taken on many big projects such as clothing before. But as I was making this skirt I was constantly reminded of my Grandmother. She was the Queen of Sewing and made absolutely everything. My sister and I had many a matching outfit sewn by her when we were little. I am actually currently using my Gradmother's old Bernina sewing machine, which brings back fond memories. The fabric that I used for my skirt and some buttons that I recently found really reminded me of her:

It's something about the texture of the fabric and the color and style of the buttons that just seem to capture the essence of my Grandmother and her sewing room. As I am taking on more and more sewing projects I am really enjoying all of the happy memories I have of my Grandmother and her sewing room. I hope that I can make her proud!

One man's trash is another man's treasure!

Or in this case--one art teacher's discarded encyclopedia set is another crafter's treasure! I am a high school English teacher by day, and just recently I discovered an amazing ritual that takes place in the halls of the school. At the end of every school year the teachers all go through their books and materials and discard the things they don't want/need anymore. These items go into the hall with brightly colored sticky notes prominently displaying "DISCARD" on them. Most of these items I didn't give a second glance to, but then I spied these beauties:

A complete encyclopedia set, still in good condition! The art teacher of all people was discarding these, and so I pounced on them. After lugging several boxfuls of these books into my car and then into my new craft room I have them proudly displayed on my shelves. Just think of the crafting possibilities! I am giddy with excitement and anticipation! I also scored about a dozen dictionaries that were really in bad shape:

Even though they may look a little rough around the edges, the insides are still in great shape for crafting! I seriously cannot believe how many books I got for free! And they were just going to sit in a landfill anyways, so I feel like I am giving them a much better home and a possible beautiful reincarnation!

Today my friend Lindsey and I went on a few adventures in Portland, where I bought some fun fabrics to make a skirt with. I am going to attempt to make the skirt this week--wish me luck! This is the biggest sewing project I have attempted, and I am a little intimidated by it. I will post updates as soon as I am finished!