Downsizing

britt — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:43:27 +0000

I’ll admit it. I get a little emotionally attached to clothes. It’s not like I cry each time a sock goes missing (although that sure does happen a lot), but I have a tendency to hold on to things past their prime if I have fond memories associated with them. This skirt is a prime example. The eyelet had ripped off in one area and I had stitched it back on. The lining was threadbare in places, and a couple of the side seams were starting to pull apart. I have had this skirt for at least five years, three summers of which I wore it to death. It served me well in Mexico because it was comfortable to tromp around in, ever so light, and it actually looked better a little wrinkled. Now that’s my kind of skirt.

But it really wasn’t wearable any longer. In fact, I hadn’t worn it at all this past summer. It was too worn to donate, but I held on to it because it seemed to have a little life left. And now, with this dress for Piper, I have found a way to happily part with it.
First, I removed the little metal grommets from the eyelet. They had started to fall out, and I didn’t want them to be a choking hazard. Then I ripped the skirt apart (and cried a little… just kidding), reinforced some of the seams and added light fusible interfacing to the panel that would end up being the top of the dress. For the pattern, I used a dress that I bought for Piper, tracing the outlines onto kraft paper with a spoked tracing wheel. It left a nice little dotted line on the paper for me to cut out after adding seam allowances. (This Built by Wendy book taught me that trick for transferring patterns.)
The skirt had a string attached to the waist, I guess so you could hoist up the top layer a little to show off the eyelet. I promise I never did that. But I was able to repurpose the string into little ties on the back to accommodate a baby’s adorably large head.

(Forgive the wonky hanger – I had to twist it up to get the tiny dress on it.) The whole project took just a little over an hour. It helped that I didn’t have to hem it at all. It’s much too large for Piper now, but it will hopefully fit her in the summer, when it’s much more weather-appropriate.
It’ll be good to know that my skirt went to a better place… on a cute baby.

Cucumbersome » pattern transferring

Downsizing