Sunday, March 24, 2013

Another great skirt project thats fast and easy....

Very Cute Sweater Skirt
In No time!

Let me start by saying I love fast and easy projects that produce a pleasing result. So that said I have seen these sweater skirts on and off around town and thought yep I can make that. Then when there was a liquidation event at the local thrift store aka quarter Thursday I saw this red sweater. Yes, I did buy this sweater for a quarter. Um score!

I started by cutting the bottom of the sweater off at the arm pits. I showed in the pic two cutting methods so you can use your preference.

 I then grabbed my trusty single fold bias tape. I used red to match.
 Sew along the fold at the top of the tape along the outside of your skirt.
 It should look like this.
 Then fold it over to the inside of your skirt and sew all the way around. Be sure to pin it at the with of your elastic. Don't forget to leave a gap when sewing so you can put your elastic in the casing you just made.
 After you have done that and sewn your gap down try it on and check out your easily made trendy sweater skirt. See how easy that was and so cute too. I paired mine with tights. Pardon the miss matched top but that was not supposed to be seen. My five year old did the best she could with taking the pic for me. :)


Have a fabulous week everyone.

Allison

Friday, February 15, 2013

Show and Tell

I have found some awesome things I want to share.

We all know the economy is tough and there are lots of us who are constantly searching for more for less.

I find things here and there but not every day. So I wanted to share with you some items and how I came across them.

The first are two bolts of fabric value at close to if not more than $100 a piece retail. They are 100 percent cotton and cotton is always useful to a sewer. I found them at a moving sale by driving around one Friday morning. The woman was a quilter and was selling all if her inventory for extremely cheap. I got the two bolts for drum role please 3 dollars a bolt at 20 yards each.  My advice is to drive around some older neighborhoods where some older sewers may be leaving and want to unload their stash. I have found many great fabrics doing this.

Next I found some wool at one of my frequent haunts. They sell their fabric no matter what it is for a $1 a yard. If you can find a resale or something like that where you can breeze in to check it out frequently without the need to dig then start checking it out. Wool is a great find at a dollar and all I did was walk in and grab it. It also helps to know what your looking for. Keep you small list in your head or on a not pad. This will keep you from buying fabric you don't need and keep a stash you know you will use.

Last is something I picked up for fun. It is a cotton. My daughter likes watching the old Care Bears shows and when I saw this hand made curtain set I snatched it up. It has enough fabric to use for several things for her. So think outside the box. If you aren't seeing what you want in raw fabric then think about using fabric from something else. The curtains did cost six dollars but there is more than enough vintage fabric there that I didn't pay top dollar for. Vintage fabric costs more on line or from other private sellers.

So if you can learn to think outside of the box and make the unbeaten path a beaten one then you to can have great finds you will want to show off.

Have a great weekend.

Allison