Going Green

A few weeks ago at the thrift shop, this billowy, green creation jumped out at me from a sea of staid khakis and black polyester prints. I guess it was supposed to be kind of a gypsy skirt, with a deep yoke and lots of gathers and fullness. Well, I liked the ethnic feel of the fabric, but the gypsy skirt look is not for me. Besides the fullness, the other thing I disliked about the skirt was how the border print ran straight while the skirt's hem was curved. That always bothers me!

At first, I considered using the fabric to make a shirt, but my last experience with turning a skirt into a shirt taught me that shirts take a lot more fabric than you think! I would have had to either make a sleeveless top or add another fabric to make it work. Neither of those choices sounded appealing, so I went with a skirt.

The first step was to separate the skirt from its lining. The lining was constructed just like the skirt, except not as full. I was actually able to remove it whole, zipper and all, and it could be worn as a skirt by itself. Maybe I'll try a freezer paper stencil on it or something. This is how it looked after I'd hacked it up. See how crooked the design is around the bottom?

I used my favorite skirt pattern, New Look 6843, because the hemline is not too curvy. Also, to further camouflage the straight/curvy problem, I made it so the hem would fall in the densest part of the design.

This is a shot of my zipper secret: strips of iron-on adhesive to hold it in place.

Instead of cutting a waistband from the fabric, I went the easy route and used bias tape. You can see how much shorter the finished product is in this shot of it with the lining hanging behind it.

And here I am ready for work this afternoon!