Men's Shirt Into a Skirt

In November I bought an armful of men's shirts to turn into skirts. This project got shoved aside for Christmas, but after the recent passing of my snuggle bunny, I needed something light to distract me.

I want to maybe get more creative with some of these shirts, but the blue pattern is busy enough that I was okay sticking with a simple design. Using this tutorial for the rough idea, I sat down with some Law & Order: Criminal Intent and my seam ripper. I decided to start with the blue patterned shirt. The first step is to remove the cuffs...I hate these cuffs. They were triple stitched onto the sleeves. I was ripping them out for at least two episodes. For comparison, I removed the entire sleeve of the polka dot shirt in 15 minutes.

Sewing the waistband went rather well. I consulted some of my books, chanted "I can do this! I am awesome!" In 30 minutes, I had a beautiful waistband...that was backwards. Frustrated, I abandoned my project for the night.

The next night, I fixed the waistband and pinned the skirt in place. I felt I couldn't finished the edged and get it properly pinned, so I'm going to get some hem tape to make things neat. Finished pictures in a couple days!

Darn It!

It's been a terrible week, so I'm catching up on my hand sewing while I distract myself with TV. I really hate hand sewing, but any sewing at all is good right now. Plus, I feel empowered to save my socks. I will darn them to salvation!

Source: realphotography.com via Muriel on Pinterest

On the list of items to fix (aside from socks), sewing buttons back on jackets, darning some studded cashmere Michael Kors arm warmers I bought for a steal because of a hole, and picking apart a men's shirt for a later project.

Where Am I?

I haven't posted in a month because I've been busy covering Fashion Week (a misnomer as it's really four major fashion cities showing one after another) for Fashion Me Fabulous. Because of this, I haven't been able to spend time sewing. This season's been a little interesting since I've taken up sewing. I noticed the seams more than ever. I cared about the fabrics and draping more. Poorly cut pants made me more nervous to try them.