• Finished Projects

Here’s my latest refashion – I picked up this skirt while I was home in California for Christmas. It’s from Target’s fall collection this year, but I got it at the Goodwill because it was slightly damaged. It was also a size 16, which was great – it gave me some extra room to get a little creative.

I forgot to take a picture of the skirt before, but thanks to the power of Google, I was able to find a photo of it on the lovely fashion blog, The Love Hanger.

Toni, the proprietor of the blog, has a great eye for color – something I’m trying to work on. In fact, I loved how she has paired her skirt with olive and neutral gold tones so much that I also followed her lead.

Instead of just taking in the skirt, I decided to add pleats to the front. I also didn’t want the black hardware, so I removed the buttons on the belt loops and covered the belt buckle.

I was worried that covering the belt buckle would be difficult, but it turned out to be a cinch. I ironed interfacing to the back of a scrap of fabric and traced the shape of the buckle on it. Then I cut it out, leaving about a 3/4 inch allowance. I roughened up the surface of the plastic buckle a bit with a nail file, then used heavy-duty glue to glue on the fabric. Before the glue dried, I sewed the edges together at the back. This was similar to covering buttons – I just kept stitching wherever the fabric was loose or puckered until the front was smooth, and the raw edges all covered.

I also wasn’t happy with how the belt was puckered – you can see this in the before picture. I opened it up and discovered it had no interfacing, so I added iron-in interfacing. Then, because I’m a nut, I removed the belt loops, opened them up, and interfaced them as well. I think it was worth the extra work – they lay much better now.

BUT there is one very annoying mistake – do you see how, in the picture from the back, the skirt looks twisted? It’s not – it’s centered in the front. And the zip is going down the exact center of the back. However, I realized that I lined up my front pleats with the pockets – and they aren’t centered correctly, so one side of the  front is almost an inch wider than the other side! I can’t really fix it now… so I’ll just have to hope no one notices. Grrrr!