The Susse Skirt

There are so many things I want to get sewn before I leave in January. Clothes for me to wear on the World Race. A new fall dress or two for right now. Some things for my mom. Things to sell in order to raise money so that I can actually leave in January. Then, of course, clothes for my sister, because she's growing like crazy and is really fun to sew for.

On one hand, since she's growing fast, and outgrowing her clothes, I have a good excuse to sew for her. On the other hand, she needs to stop growing, she's getting too big! Ok, no she's not. She's doing exactly what a 12 year old girl is supposed to do, but since she's my little sister, she's supposed to stay little forever. Ok, no she's not. It's actually fun to see her growing up (most of the time). There is one problem though, it's getting incredibly hard to find cute patterns in her size. Every time I sew her something now I have to first either size up a too small kids pattern, or size down a too big women's pattern, or totally re-design a basic existing pattern in her size. Most of the time I don't mind doing this. I love learning more about pattern drafting. Occasionally, however, I think of how nice and easy it would be to just pick a pattern and sew it, without having to re-make the pattern first.

On instagram Steph from "The Eli Monster" kids patterns put out a call for testers of her new girl's skirt pattern, the "Susse Skirt". I fell in love with it. I really like most of the patterns she puts out. The best part? The Eli Monster patterns come in sizes 12months to 12 years. Yes! Size 12, not 8 or 10, but 12, my sister's size! This new pattern was a full gathered skirt with shoulder straps and a scalloped hem. I knew my sister would love it! So, of course, I applied to be a pattern tester, and was excited to hear I'd been picked!

Step one, picking out the pattern, done, next came finding fabric. I showed my sister a picture of the skirt and she had definite opinions on what fabric she wanted. Finally she decided on a pink and red cotton floral print for the skirt and a pale pink cotton for a matching blouse. 

That done, I received the pattern to test and received a very nice surprise, this pattern has pockets! (As you know, pockets are mandatory in almost any dress or skirt I sew.) This PDF pattern consists of three things, the instructions with clear pictures illustrating each step, the pattern pieces, and the cutting chart. There are pattern pieces for the scalloped hem facing, the waistband, the shoulder straps, and the pockets. The skirt itself consists of three rectangles, cut out according to the cutting chart. This makes it really easy to cut out with a rotary cutter.

So, I got the skirt cut out one Saturday evening before I went to hangout with my friends. Then the following Sunday afternoon I got the skirt sewn together. This skirt is easy to sew with each step nicely explained in the instructions. Before long the skirt was done and it was time to make the matching blouse.

I adapted the bodice pattern of Simplicity 1174 (used here to make the Gryffindor Dress) to make the blouse. I made the plain short sleeves slightly puffed, added a keyhole neckline and a ruffled collar, eliminated the neckline facings, and finished the blouse off with some bias tape made from scraps of the skirt fabric. The resulting blouse turned out just as I'd hoped and paired perfectly with the skirt!

My sister was delighted with the whole outfit! I sewed the skirt a straight up size 12 and the fit is perfect!

The full skirt spins wonderfully!

The straps are removable. The pattern suggests attaching them inside the waistband with buttons. (I used snaps, but I think buttons might have worked better.) This means the skirt can be worn with or without straps, or you can crisscross the straps in the back so they don't fall off the shoulders.

This was a fun pattern to make, and the finished product surpassed my expectations. A huge thank you to Steph for letting me test it! The pattern is now finished and for sale here, if you're interested in it. I already have plans to make a couple more of these for both my sister and other little girls I know.

Meanwhile, my sister is wearing her new skirt as often as she can.

The Upside Down Buttercup Jeanius Refashion

The Refashioners 2016 was drawing to a close and I still had two pairs of jeans in my stash I wanted to do something with.

Something. I really needed to figure out something to turn these jeans into. I'd picked them up for free at the beginning of August specifically for the Refashioners challenge, despite the fact I already had plenty of old jeans. So, for that reason they really needed to be turned into something else before the challenge ended yesterday evening (Midnight U.K. time, 6 p.m. my time)

Finally, early this week I came up with a plan for those jeans, and yesterday I put it into action. I cut a 20 inch section off the bottom of each leg.

I cut the seams off the edges. This gave me 8 rectangles, 4 light, 4 dark. I rounded one end of each rectangle into a scallop. Then I sewed the 8 rectangles together and added a waistband, a hem facing, and two snaps,

Oh, and two pockets. That's right. I made my sister a skirt. 5p.m. yesterday evening, no time to spare, my last jeanius refashion was done!

I called my sister to my sewing room, she tried on her new skirt and declared it looked like an upside down buttercup and she loved it! 

I'll put this last jeanius refashion down as a success! My sister loves it, I love it, and I used up those two old pairs of men's jeans! Time to move on to another sewing challenge, my wardrobe for the World Race!

The Jeanius 5-Pocket 7 1/2-Pair Jean Jacket

I wanted a long full skirted jean jacket. I've wanted one for a while now and my ample supply of old jeans seemed just the thing to become said jacket.

This has been my plan since before The Refashioners began. Once I heard what this year's theme was I knew I would be making this jacket. But, dang, I am a procrastinator.
"The jacket will happen." I kept thinking.
"It's too hot to make a jacket now." I told myself.
So here we are, at the end of September, the day before The Refashioners contest ends. It's finally begun to cool off, and my jacket is finally done!

I began it last week. I picked McCall's M6800 as my base pattern. I gathered up my materials. The the cutting began. I seam ripped open the inner leg seam on pair after pair of jeans. 6 pair for the body of the jacket.

Once the seam ripping was done I laid the jeans out flat and cut out the skirt sections of the jacket. Then I squeezed the bodice section of each piece out of what remained once the skirt section was cut out.

Then I was ready to cut out the sleeves, and I was running out of decent jeans. The few pairs that remained were very stained and torn. So, I picked out the best of the worst for the main sleeve pieces, trying my best to avoid the biggest stains. For the smaller sleeve piece I used a pair of jean legs left over from making cut offs once upon a time.

Finally everything was cut out and construction could begin. Construction wasn't hard at all, just time consuming. Lots of long seams to sew, serge, and top stitch with white thread for a finished look. Then came my favorite part, the details.

 While planning this jacket I decided I wanted to attempt to use a jeans waistband to make the neckline. So I choose a waistband out of my stash of old jeans and sewed it onto the jacket neckline. Then I pleated the upper edge of the waistband neckline until it lay flat.

I stitched each pleat down flat.

The result turned out just as I'd hoped!

One of the only the only things on this jacket not reused from jeans are the three metal buttons down the front. They came from my best friend's mom. I've had them in my stash for months, just waiting for the perfect project. This was it.

For the cuffs I used two more jeans waistbands. For the hanging loop, a belt loop.

In keeping with the reusing of the original jeans pieces, I added three back jean pockets to the front of the jacket. Two on the skirt, and one as the breast pocket.

In addition to those, just because I love pockets, there are two large inseam pockets in the skirt, made from the scraps of a shirt refashion from last year. With 5 pockets total I should have plenty of places to stash stuff!

Whew, all that planning, all that work. I wasn't sure if I was going to get it done in time. Finally, this evening, with less than 24 hours before the end of The Refashioners 2016, and about 45 minutes till dark, my jacket was done! All I needed now was a willing photographer. I threw on my crinoline, my fabulous green wrap dress, and my newly completed jacket. Outside I went to track down a family member.

My dad and brothers are building lean-to addition onto the barn, and they graciously paused their work to snap a few pictures for me!

All done! A long full denim jacket made from my old jeans.

Complete with paint stains from painting my friend's room, a grease stain from fixing my truck, ink stains from tattooing goats, and glitter glue from who knows what.

With all that I don't need to worry about messing it up, so now all that's left to do is wear my new jacket as much as possible!

A HUGE, HUGE Thank You to Portia from Makery for organising The Refashioners 2016. My old jeans stash is much diminished! I feel like I need to shrink my fabric stash before I leave on the World Race in January and the Jeanius theme has definitely helped me with that!

Now, has this contest greatly inspired me so that I have more jeanius ideas than jeans left to refashion? Of course! Just like with the men's shirt refashions of last year, this is not the end of my jeans refashioning. There will be more!

The Second Swingy Jeanius Dress

One Swingy Jeanius Dress was not enough in my sister's opinion. She wanted a second. Being the indulgent big sister that I am, and really wanting a chance to get the neckline right this time, I complied.

Two pairs of Jeans, one darker, one slightly lighter, and a very light old jean leg left over from cut off shorts long ago, got cut up one evening.

Then another evening these old jeans got sewn together. Buttons were added at the shoulders. The result was tried on by my sister. There was no gaping at the neckline this time!

Using the satin stitch on my sewing machine I embroidered two butterflies on one side panel. This is a favorite detail of my sister's.

The opposite side panel displays a pocket from the lighter pair of jeans, also a very important detail.

I do believe this second swingy jeanius dress will be just as loved as the first. This will have to be her last such dress however as I see no reason why any girl needs three nearly identical dresses!

Refashioning jeans for The Refashioners 2016 has been great fun and my old jean stash is quite diminished, thankfully!

I am so grateful to Portia from Makery for hosting the challenge again this year so that I had a reason for tackling my out of control stash of discarded denim. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Portia for all the work you put into this!

My sister and I are pretty pleased with our new "jeans." Am I done refashioning jeans for now? 

No, Not yet. I still have a couple more plans up my sleeve. Here's hoping I get them done this week!

The end goal? Old Jeans-0 Wearable new garments- umm I'm up to 4 now so how does 6 sound? Check out my previous Jeanius posts to see all the fun I've already had! Now, on to the next project!  

The Burgundy Corset

3 weeks ago, underneath my blue paisley 1890's dress,  I wore my gold corset to the Japanese Festival. It was fine, for the first 2 hours, before the car ride. Then, after the 2 hour car ride, the corset pinched, gave me a sore back, and was too tight through the ribs. I loosened it some midway through the day and that gave a bit of relief, but by the end of the day I was done. Pretty as it might be, that corset was retired. I needed a new one before the Heritage Festival. That meant I had less than two weeks to get a corset made. Yikes, was that doable?

  At the beginning of that first week I picked up my pattern, Simplicity 1139, at a pattern sale at Joann's. I went through my stash and picked my fabrics. I found a yard of this burgundy striped cotton sateen, picked up at a thrift store once upon a time, in my stash and decided it would make a lovely corset. While not too heavy or stiff it was very strong with no give what so ever. After handling the fabric some I decided there was no need for a heavy canvas or twill interlining, the sateen would do its job. All I needed to line the corset with was an incredibly soft blue and white cotton sheet, the same one I lined the bodice of my 1890's dress with.

That decided, I realized I needed a new busk for this corset as well as a couple pieces of spring steel boning for the back of the corset and some grommets. So, at the end of that first week I ordered those and hoped they would come in with enough time left for me to assemble the corset before the Heritage Festival.

The first mock-up, too large

Over the weekend I made a couple of quick mock-ups. I discovered a straight up size 6 with no alterations fit me perfectly. By the beginning of the second week I was able to cut out the corset from my sateen and sheet and cut and tip my spiral steel boning.

Now, you will remember I said I had to order spring steel boning for the back of the corset. What's the difference? Well, spiral steel boning, which I keep a roll of on hand, bends 4 ways, front to back and side to side. Spring steel boning does not bend side to side, only front to back, so it adds a bit more stability to the corset. In my gold corset I discovered that while spiral steel is great for most of the corset, it's not stable enough for the center back, next to the grommets. Spring steel is really needed for that, so I ordered some for this corset.

Thursday of that second week, less than two days before I needed to wear my new corset, the boning, busk, and grommets came it the mail. Assembly could begin! 

Thursday afternoon I got the corset mostly assembled. Friday morning I bound the edges and put in the grommets. I tried the corset on.

It fit! I had my new corset done with nearly 24 hours to spare!

When I'm all laced up the gap is just over an inch. Still not the perfect 2" gap, but better than either of my previous corsets. 

And my waist measurement? 1/2 inch to an inch smaller than it was in the gold corset!

I wore this corset two days in a row and have no complaints about it. It's comfortable! No need for loosening in the middle of the day. I may have finally succeeded in making a perfectly fitted corset, in less time than I've made a corset before. Apparently I work well under pressure.