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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

PROJECT POCKET

I own several skirts without pockets.
Thankfully I have some jackets WITH pockets.
I pair them and get by.
I abhor carrying a purse!

I saw a skirt made from a pair of jeans -
LOTS of pockets.

The jeans were cut off like a yoke, and fabric for the skirt was attached. Why didn't I think of that?

My wardrobe brain expanded ...

I looked through my stash of old jeans.
I hate spending money unless I have to.
(But sometimes it is better to pay for what you need.)
They ALL had lots of pockets - too many for a skirt.
I don't WANT pockets on my skirt backside.

A second hand shop furnished a few nice options- for about $1.99 - I liked the front/details and pocket free seat. One was actually a skort - I will use it for another skirt my imagination is already conjuring up - hmmm - and I decided a tan pair may become the yoke on another skirt I have already ... more on that later if this one works.


I noticed skirts were also quite inexpensive - sorry, don't remember how much but they were all less than $5. I picked one with an elastic waist (not too flattering as it was - kind of 'tent-ish') and an interesting border print in denim colors.

I cut off a pair of jeans and threw the legs in my 'denim-quilt-someday' box.


I measured the skirt length against another skirt I have, cut an amount equal to the yoke off, and threw the top  of the skirt into the trash.  (Be sure to allow a seam amount on both pieces.)

I sewed them together by making more or less equal flat pleat/tucks around the entire skirt and hated it - YUCK!

UGLY!
Why? ... the yoke seemed too deep.
I took out the seam and shortened the yoke.
I also adjusted some of the pleat/tucks to lay flatter.

Ooops - now, although I liked the skirt fine, it was a bit shorter than I wanted it. I cut a piece of lining from my fabric stash into a basic a-line skirt shape the same length as the skirt piece (plus a seam for the top and bottom), fished the top of the skirt from my trash, cut it into equal-width strips, attached them end to end and gathered them onto the edge of the lining. A narrow rolled hem finished the bottom edge on both the skirt and ruffle edge.

I made the lining several inches wider than the width of the skirt at the yoke seam so that I could make some tuck/pleats to accommodate the fullness of the main skirt layer. I used the same flat pleat/tucks as before and staggered them to avoid adding fullness in the hip area and attached the lining to the yoke/skirt seam.


The effect is a narrow ruffled under layer.

I find I like how the lining acts like a slip under the soft gauze-like skirt fabric and provides the skirt with some substance - a weight it seemed to need to balance the weight of the denim.

I still felt it needed a little perk of some kind ...


I looked at several border print skirts and noticed they all have beads or sequins so I attached a few random, homeless, unmatched beads from my bead box. Mostly translucent light blues in interesting shapes with a few silvers in several sizes.

Viola! - a new wearable skirt WITH roomy pockets.

Do you need one too?