I'm Too Ambitious

Since we're talking about sewing beyond my skill.

Arg! It's always something. Last time it was the fray of doom. That's in check now, but I seem to have reached beyond my grasp. Instead of putting waist pleats in this new shirt-skirt like I did with the previous one, I broke out my rockin' French curve and made some hips. It went quickly and well until it didn't.

Problem #1: My markers aren't unmarking. I got a pair of those markers that you can mark and wash away. Only, they're not washing away! No matter how much I wipe, I just end up moving a blue line around my skirt. GRR!

Problem #2: Part of the beauty of turning a men's shirt into a skirt is that some of the work is already done. The button holes are stitched. The buttons are attached. The hem and side seams are finished. Oh, yeah, the seams. I sort of undid that with my brilliant French curve hippy work. Nice. I literally spent half and hour reading up on seams to figure out how to finish these seams.

Problem #3: The answer is a mock French seam. To do a mock French seam, I need to iron my current seam flat. Uh, it's already curved. That happens when you use a French curve. To proceed, I need a tailor's ham -- a 3D ironing board.

Problem #4: I removed some cuff buttons to replace them for visual interest. I removed the wrong buttons. Now I have to sew them back on.

Sigh.

Fray of DOOM!

I'd already made the awesome lower half of my next men's-shirt-upcycled-into-a-skirt and was about to start on the waistband when I noticed this:

That is the fray of doom, people! It's right on the cuff, the top of the waist band.

I had planned on listing this skirt on Etsy and I was especially excited about it being a larger size (34 inch waist) because Etsy is full of tiny people. I'm sure I can stop the damage with fray check and fusible webbing, but I can't make the wear disappear. So do I not list it? Do I note that as an upcycled item there is regular wear to the fabric?

Upcycled Men's Shirt

Skills acquired: pleating, using hem tape

I made a skirt! This is the finished product of my upcycled men's skirt. I'm particularly proud of the pleating. I finished the hem at the waist with hem tape, a substance I will wax poetic about in the future.

It's a pretty simple design, so I'm trying to think of ways to jazz it up. Contrasting waistbands, upgrading buttons, piping, ruffles. When I have more, I'll list them on Etsy!