What Can You Make With a (comfybutunflattering) Dress?

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve posted a What Can You Make With A . . .? project, but I have one today! The inspiration was this blue dress. It was soft, swingy, and SO comfortable, with pockets in the side skirt seams, perfect with a black cardigan for chilly days . . . and what’s not to love about polka dots? But my mirror (and an “honest” family member) told me that this was not my best look and added more than a few pounds to my curves. So, out came the scissors.

• The skirt is PERFECT as . . . a skirt! And I still get to enjoy the lovely color, fabric, and pockets. I simply cut it off a little above the empire waist, nipped and tucked here and there, and used the top of the cut-off piece to make a waistband. I love wearing it with my black pullover sweater, tights, and boots.
• You’ve already seen the laptop case I made with the sleeves and neck elastic. I LOVE it and use it every day. It’s especially fun when someone asks where I got it!
• That left just some bits and pieces, so I cut them into strips, twisted and stitched them into a flower, and used it for a-la-mode on a fun spring pillow I stitched up with some bird fabric from my stash. (Spring WILL come, right???)

Ahhhhh . . . much better! ♥

Easiest Skirt Ever!

I LOVE my new “5-Minute Skirt” designed by Amy at Angry Chicken. It took me a little over an hour to make the pattern, sew, and press it. It’s a perfect fit, and I get lots of compliments every time I wear it, including raves about the fabulous fabric from my bloggy friend Laura’s LC’s Cottage Etsy shop! This was my first time using foldover elastic, too, and I’m now a fan . . . especially when it has a fun design like this (from Jo-Ann)! Following are a few tips to go with Amy’s excellent tutorial:

• DON’T skip the part in Step 3 about trying on the skirt after sewing up the side seams. I had to take mine up another seam’s width on both sides.
• I had a little trouble folding, holding, and stretching the waist elastic all at the same time. So, I first left it flat, holding it against the wrong side of the skirt and stretching and zigzagging, THEN folded it over to the right side and zig-zagged around it again. You might not need to do this, but it helped me!
• After completing Step 4, I noticed that the sides hung a little longer than the front and back (a pattern creation error on my part, I’m sure), so I measured and marked the length all the way around from the bottom of the waist elastic and evened it up where needed before hemming.

P.S. I just saw another fun pattern called a “10-Minute Skirt” on The Frugal Crafter. You can check out a cute finished version made of vintage fabric by Stefani at Jewels for All. ♥

Pattern Love!

I now have two more pattern stores on my Shop Love! page!

(1) I can’t WAIT to make this Ailsa Large Market Bag pattern I bought from Susie D Designs! Susie also has patterns for many other tote bags, travel bags, diaper bags, hobo bags, shoulder bags, wallets, iPad and Kindle sleeves, and more, and her customer service is SUPER. Check out Susie’s blog here, her Etsy store here, and her Craftsy patten store here. Thank you, Susie!

(2) I won a pattern for this adorable Charlotte Skirt from Joanne at Stitch and Witter. Joanne’s blogging friends at Stitch Me Softly have recently created By Hand London, and I’m one of the lucky ones who gets to try one of their brand-new designs! Thank you Joanne . . . you’ll be seeing one of these skirts on Pillows A-La-Mode soon! ♥