In the middle of setting up the house and fighting the moths, I sneaked in a bit of sewing. I finally did some sewing projects I wanted to do for a while: a navy skirt and cardigan.
Before I write more about the technicality of the project, let me tell you the story behind these two pieces of clothing. I got the skirt in the summer of 2022. It was brand new from Alder Hey charity shop in Liverpool. The size was extra large. It was on 3 for £1 sale and I got this along with 2 other brand new skirts. The other two needed some mending too and I did them right away. With this navy skirt, I was a little unsure so I procrastinated. I kept this skirt in my sewing project box and it got forgotten until when I sorted out my studio in the new house.
The cardigan was once a tunic. It came in a bundle of clothes I got from Vinted UK. I disliked how it fitted me so I thought I should refashion it to something I would wear. It was also ended up in my sewing project box and forgotten for a year.
Altering skirt
This gored skirt is stretchy and has an elastic band on the waist. I avoided cutting the seam that holds the elastic and worked on both sides of the skirt instead. After I slip the skirt on me and mark the approximate measurement with pins, I worked from one side of the skirt. I opened the waist seam from the side seam to the pin mark. Once the waist got separated from the skirt, I stitched the skirt from the top down, cut the exes fabric with an allowance of a half inch, and then used a zigzag stitch to lock the edges. Investing in an overlocker would be nice, but a zigzag stitch will do for now.
The next step is to sew back the waist to the skirt. I cut some inches off the elastic band and sandwiched it with the fabric before I stitched them all together. I used a zigzag stitch to lock the edges as well. I did the exact same step on the other side of the skirt.
Sizing down this skirt was not difficult at all. It took me only 45 minutes, including refilling the bobbin and brief Scrabble breaks (I was playing Scrabble on my phone).
Tunic to Cardigan
I did similar refashioning before. I turned the tunic into a cardigan. The simplest thing to do is to cut the front side in the middle and hem the edges. After cutting the front side, I lock the edges with zigzag stitches and fold the edges to hem them. I hate hemming! But I managed to remain patient and worked together with my little sewing machine. It didn’t take long at all to do this cardigan.
That is it. I was pleased that I managed to do these projects. Another sewing project is waiting to do this week. I’m going to make some hand towels. We have two bathrooms now and certainly need more hand towels! See you on the next project!
