Refashioning: Pleather Skirt from a Jacket

I'm really excited to share this post with you!

So, I found this really cool pleather jacket for one of my friends. However, she informed me that she already had one almost exactly like it. I hate to admit it, but I was kind of excited, because I knew it would make an awesome skirt!

First, I lined up the front and back bottom hems and cut across the armpits. This part will be the bottom of the skirt.

Then, I cut a big trapezoid out of the top back of the bodice. This will be part of the top of the skirt.

And then I cut another trapezoid out of the front top of the bodice. This will also be part of the top of the skirt. I kept all the linings intact with the pieces I cut out.

I also cut out two rectangles of stretchy fabric for the sides. This will make sense with the next picture.

This is actually upside down, but I folded the pieces above in half and pinned them to either side of the trapezoids I cut out. (The picture shows that I unbuttoned the front piece, so I could lay it all out flat.

So, pinned together, this is what the top of the skirt looked like:

I sewed up the sides.

You will notice that it is gapping pretty badly at the waistline. Time for draping and pinning!

So, I pinned it and sewed it down. It lies much better now.

I like how the stretch fabric almost looks like a racing stripe. Notice that the bottom hemline is all wonky. I cleaned that up with scissors before moving to the next step. Also, if you do this project, and if you "got back" like me, make sure that the back hemline is slightly lower than the front, so that the skirt hangs nicely.

Then, I pinned the bottom of the skirt on and gathered it by doing little pleats in specific and symmetrical places: two in the front, two in the back, and one on each side.

I sewed it together. I think it's interesting how it makes a very unique skirt, but you can also see the remnants of the jacket. For instance, the front pockets are still there, and I kept the button placket intact as a means of getting in and out of the skirt.

Instead of hemming the top hemline, I finished it with lace binding. (Not pictured: I added two black snaps between the gaps in the front buttons to keep it from gaping when I sit.)

So, I found I could wear it a few different ways. This is with a sweater tucked in.

This is with a sweater un-tucked.

And you can wear it like a skater skirt when you fold the top waistband over.

The End!

Refashioning: Jake the Pirate Costume from a Lady's Suit

I love my job, but sometimes it requires doing the most random things.

I am a secretary for my church. We had a Disney themed Easter egg hunt this past Saturday. My pastor's wife asked me to make a Jake and the Neverland Pirates vest for one of the teenagers to wear.

This is what Jake the Pirate looks like:

So, I was going to buy all the fabric needed, but as I was out driving, I thought I would stop into a thrift store just to see what they had. They had this lady's suit for $.50. It was just about the right size in the bodice, so I thought...why make a whole vest from scratch, when I could just work around something already made?

I went to Wal-Mart and got a few other supplies: yellow blanket binding, four yellow buttons, yellow thread, and iron-on facing...or what I thought was iron-on facing...

First step was to cut out the shoulder pads and cut off the sleeves.

It had patch pockets on the front that needed taking off as well. They were attached from the back to the front, so this is what I did to take care of this problem: 

This bottom hem would be covered in yellow binding, so it didn't matter that it was showing on the front.

Okay, next, I had to remove the collar because if you scroll back up to the Jake picture, you will see that it isn't right.

So, fortunately, since the skirt came with the blazer, I had enough fabric to make a new collar. I cut the elastic off the top of the skirt.

Okay, using the original collar as as sort of guide, I drew a new collar around it on paper I pieced together.

The first collar wasn't quite right. It sat too low. (Wow. I look very frazzled in this picture!)

So, through trial and error, I finally drew a collar pattern that I thought would work.

The main thing I wanted was for the collar to stand up a little bit in the back. The original pattern didn't do that.

Okay, so this is the part that really started to stress me out. I thought I had bought iron-on facing, because when I asked the lady at Wal-Mart, "Wear is your iron-on facing?" she lead me to the roll of the stuff I bought. . .which was actually iron-on adhesive! Grrrr. . .But I didn't have all this time to run back to Wal-Mart and get the right thing, because as I said before, I was at work. Meaning: I had other things I had to get done besides making vests! So, in the words of Tim Gunn, it was a "Make-It-Work moment.". . .

So I made two large pieces of double-sided fabric, essentially. It didn't have the body I wanted for the collar to stand up nicely, but at least it had a little stiffness--albeit heavy. I laid the double-sided fabric on top of each other and pinned my pattern to it and cut out the pieces.

Then, I stitched up the back seam of the collar pieces. 

Here is the middle back of the neck of the vest, denoted with a pin.

Then, I sewed the binding onto the vest, and very casually mitered the corners. (Again, not a lot of time to do it perfectly.)

Excuse my foot in this picture.

Then, I sewed the binding onto the collar.

Remember that pin in the middle back of the neck of the vest? I matched that to the middle seam of the collar, pinned them both together, and sewed them together.

Then, I tacked down the points of the bottom of the collar. (You can see the one on the left was tacked and the one on the right wasn't yet.)

I had left about 1/2" of sleeve so that I could use that as seam allowance. I folded that 1/2" under and sewed both sleeves up.

Last step: buttons!

This was a peasant blouse that I reworked to make the Jake shirt. (Forgot to take pictures of this process.)

I made the headband and cummerbund out of some Wal-Mart poly-satin.

And here is what he looked like at the egg hunt! If I had had him in person to fit things on, I would have taken the vest in a bit, but anyways, he looks cute!

And here I am at the same egg hunt. I am supposed to be Cruella Deville, but the white hairspray I used turned out grey. Oh well! (That "fur stole" is a tube of faux fur that I made in about two minutes at the last possible second!)

The End!