Faux Suede Insert Skirt

With this skirt, there is no need for a pattern, measuring or tacking. All you need is a skirt that fits you nicely already and a pair of scissors for this button front skirt with a curved hem.

What you will need:

• 1m main fabric
• 1/2m faux suede
• 1m bias binding
• Wonder web (optional)
• 4 buttons

First, fold your main fabric in half and place your skirt on top. Cut around the skirt giving 2 inches bigger all the way round and cut one of these pieces in half vertically. These two pieces now make the front piece. Next, cut two strips of 4 inch wide suede pieces, the same length as the main fabric for the skirt. Sew each suede piece to the sides of the skirt pieces. This should give you a skirt with an open front.

Fold one side of the open front over a couple of inches (enough to make the skirt fit you) and finish it with two lines of stitch. One next to the fold, and one near the edge of the fold, similar to a shirt. Do the same on the other side of the open front. Then, mark where the buttons and button holes are going. Do this by lying the skirt with the fronts lined up and measure so that your four buttons are equally spread down the front. Mark this with pins.

Using the pins as a guide, add the button holes.  You can do a practice on scrap fabric to make sure that you make the button holes big enough. When these are done, sew on your buttons on the other side of the open front, making sure they line up perfectly with the holes. Put the skirt on and see how it fits. If you need to make it slightly tighter on your waist, just add two darts.

To finish the top waist line of the skirt, first do a zig zag stitch along the raw edge. Then, fold over this edge using wonder web to secure it. You could also just use stitch to secure it, I just find wonder web easier.

My favourite part of this skirt is the hem. Find something that has a curved edge, like a big tape roll. Place it in the bottom corners of the skirt, only on the main fabric, leave the suede for later. Draw around the tape, giving a curved edge to the corners of the skirt. Cut on these curved lines. Add the bias binding by folding one side of the binding out and placing it on the edge of the hem, on the front of the skirt.  Sew this down and fold the whole binding over to the wrong side of the fabric and secure with stitch.

 

To finish, Fold the suede up to match the height of the curved edges. Use black thread and secure it up using small stitches to make it invisible front the outside.

Front Zip Wool Skirt

Using a zip taken from an old jacket and using another skirt as the pattern, here is a wool skirt that is perfect for Autumn.

What you will need:

• 1.5m of fabric
• A chunky zip, long enough to go all the way down the skirt
• 3″ of matching ribbon
• A skirt that fits you well, for the pattern
• Matching threads

To get your skirt pieces fold your fabric in half and place your skirt on top of it. Cut around it leaving at least 2″ all the way round. Take one of your pieces and cut it in half vertically, this is now your front. Sew the sides together.

At this point, you can either finish the waist edge or add two panels at the front like I have. To do this, out of the remaining fabric, cut two 4″ wide strips that are the same length as the skirt. Sew these to either side of the open front.

Now finish the waist. If your fabric doesn’t fray, you don’t need to do this. However, it does give a nice soft finish. Fold over the waist edge and sew it down with little stitches that don’t show from the front, like this:

To sew in the zip, first unzip it and pin it to one side of the open front with it facing down. You can pin it so that it goes all the way down the front, or leave a couple of inches above the hem, like I have done. Sew down the zip tape, next to the teeth. Do the same on the other side.

If your zip is slightly too long and it over hangs the waist, use thick thread and sew around the teeth that fall in line to the top of the waist. When you know that your stitching is thick enough to stop the zip, cut off the excess. To keep the zip flat, sew a line of stitch on the edge of the fabric, catching the zip’s tape all the way down.

 

Finally, remove the old zip pull tab, and replace it with the ribbon, knotted to secure it.

Thank you for reading!

Customised t-shirt #1: Crop top overlay

If you have spare boring t-shirts, be unique and customise them! I have made this crop top overlay from spare fabric and trim. It was relatively easy and quick to do and it makes your boring old t-shirts much prettier and different.

What you will need:

• Grey t-shirt
• 1m slightly stretchy, but stiff fabric
• Bias binding
• Trim
• Matching threads

To start, cut off the sleeves of the grey t-shirt, really close to the seam. Cut the sleeve’s side seam to open it up. These are now your pattern pieces for your sleeves.

Fold your 1m of fabric in half, and place the t-shirt on to the fabric, half way up as this is how long you want the crop top overlay to be. Cut around the t-shirt, about 2inches wider all the way round. This gives you two identical shapes. Take one of these pieces and cut the top to the same shape as the round neck of the t-shirt. This will be your front piece. You then cut the other piece to match the neck of the back of the t-shirt. Using the sleeves of the grey t-shirt that you just cut out, lay one on the folded fabric and cut around it, also cutting 2inches bigger all the way round. Discard the grey sleeves as you now have two sleeve shapes in the overlay’s fabric.

             

Do a straight stitch on both shoulders, with the right sides together. Then, using a longer stitch, match up the arm holes of the grey t-shirt and the fabric and sew them together. On the front, put two darts just below the bust. This will make it sit nicely on you body. Fold over the hem of the overlay and sew it down to finish it. Fold over the raw edges of the sides of the fabric and sew them directly to the side seams of the grey t-shirt. The crop top is now fully attached to the grey t-shirt.

      

When inserting the sleeves, first sew the side seam on the sleeve then turn it the right way out. Turn the whole t-shirt inside out and insert the sleeve inside the t-shirt so that both side seams line up. Sew the two pieces together.

For the neckline, cut notches around the overlay’s neck. Fold these notches over and sew the crop top’s neckline down just inline with the seam of the t-shirt’s neckline, exposing the grey t-shirt neck.

Line up the edge of the trim to the edge of the crop top and sew it down. As you have attached the sides of the overlay to the t-shirt, you will have to sew the trim on in two pieces. To finish the t-shirt, use bias binding on the sleeves for neat edges.

Because the fabric is slightly stretchy, you do not need any sort of zip, or fastener; it should just stretch with your t-shirt to allow you to put it on.

Thank you for reading!

Pressed Flower Phone Case

I wanted something to do with the flowers that I had pressed a few weeks ago, so I decided to put them in a phone case. All of the methods that I have seen use resin and glue, and look too complicated and time consuming for me. I have made my own version that, to me is much simpler.

What you need:

• Pressed flowers
• Clear plastic phone case (I bought one that comes with a screen protector that I used as a template for the plastic)
• Clear sticky back plastic

Clear phone cases are really cheap. I bought mine from Amazon which only cost around £2 and with this I got 2 screen protectors and a wipe. As the screen protector is a little bit smaller than the screen it is the perfect size to fit in the case. On the paper side of the sticky back plastic, I drew around the screen protecter and cut it out. I cut out the corner so that the camera and flash wouldn’t be covered.

On the original screen protector I began to arrange the flowers. I didn’t want to stick them straight onto the plastic then change my mind later, so I practised until I liked the layout. Remember not to completely cover the plastic with flowers as there needs to be some clear for it to stick to the case. Peel off the paper on the sticky back plastic and stick your flowers on to it. Rub your finger over the flowers to stick them down securely. 

This is the fiddly part. Start at one corner of the inside of the phone case and stick down the sticky back plastic, lining the corners to make it central. Stick a little bit down at a time, rubbing to push out any air bubbles.

When you have got to the end, you are done! Just snap the case onto your phone and you have a unique phone case.

 

 

Camera Strap

I have a Nikon D2500 and have been meaning to make a camera strap for a long time since I hate the black Nikon strap that comes with it. This strap is pretty, sturdy and really easy.

What you will need:

• Your choice of coloured cotton
• Thick lace trim
• 1/2 m of thick calico
• 2 woven bag handles
• 12″ of ribbon
• Matching threads

To start, remove your original camera strap from your camera and lay it out flat. Cut 2 strips of your thick calico using the wide part of your camera strap as a guide for width and length. Sew these two together. There’s no need to finish the edges. 

Cut a strip of cotton that is the same length as the strip of calico, only a little bit over double the length. Fold the cotton over the calico, lining up the edges of cotton. Then, secure the calico inside the cotton with a line of stitch next to it. To finish the edges fold the raw edge over twice then sew it down next to the fold and next to the edge of the strip. To make it even stronger and secure, do two more stitch lines on the opposite edge. 

Change your thread to match your lace and sew it on. 

On your original camera strap, there are sections of leather that secure the wide strap to the thin fabric that secures the strap to the camera. To replicate these, I have used a thick calico and cut it  into 4 shapes that are a little bigger and wider than the ones on the original strap.

 

To sew them on, fold the raw edges underneath and sew the top edge down on both sides of the strap. Then, fold the sides and sew them down. Before sewing the bottom edge, insert the end of the old bag handle into the bottom and sew down well. Repeat on the other side.

Next, measure how long you want your camera strap to be and cut the ends of the old bag handles accordingly. As the handles were too thick to get through the gaps in the camera for the camera strap, I used a ribbon that could fit through easily. Again, cut two pieces of ribbon to double the length that you want your camera strap to be. Place one end of the ribbon on one end of the camera strap and do lots and lots of machine stitches to secure it. Pull the ribbon through the camera and sew the end to the camera strap, securing well. Repeat on the other side.

 

Finally, to hide this stitching, wrap another piece of ribbon around it and hand stitch it down. 

Done!

 

 

Off the Shoulder Dress

Since I am fairly short and my waist is quite high up on my torso, I find it very hard to find dresses that fit. For ages I have wanted an off the shoulder dress, but always find that the waists on most dresses are far too low, so I decided to make my own. 

I used a stretch denim fabric as I wanted something that had some structure, but that would be tight enough that the dress would stay up without any straps, an invisible zip, trim for the neckline and matching thread. I made my own pattern for the bodice, and the pleated skirt pattern, sewed the two together, then cut off the shoulders. 

I had to do a lot of adjusting to make it fit. I found that by making the bodice fit nicely first, I could have the sleeves quite tight, and rely on these to keep the dress up, while the bodice was well fitting, but not clingy. 

This was very fun to make, even if it was a little tricky without any instructions. I hope you like it!

How to Press Flowers

This is about the right time where all of the prettiest flowers start to bloom. Pressing these flowers is great way to preserve their beauty and colours. Although their colours do dull, the drying process gives a beautiful antique colour to the petals that will never wilt. Here is the method that I think is the easiest to use, without needing a special flower press.

What you will need:

• Flowers
• At least two big, heavy books
• Four pieces of paper

First, find the flowers that you want to press. Make sure they aren’t bruised or discoloured and are quite open. Choose flowers that can easily be flattened. Budded flowers like roses can be cut lengthways to press them, but they will still be chunky and hard to press, so stick with the flowers like daisies, which have quite flat faces or just use the petals from the big flowers.

Then you need to use a big, heavy book like a dictionary. Here, I’m using an old Next directory. Make sure that these are books that you don’t mind ruining, because any moisture from the flowers will wrinkle the pages of the book. Turn towards the end of the book, take your four pieces of paper and place two on each page. These will act as “blotting” papers, absorbing most of the moisture coming from the flowers. On one side of the book, start arranging the flowers. This can either be in a specific pattern, or just randomly scattered. If you have overlapped the flowers, they should stay suck together after pressing.

Then, all you have to do is carefully close the book, and place more, heavy books on top. Leave the stack of books in a cool place and check every few days. When checking the flowers, remove and replace any wrinkled paper with clean sheets, but try not to disturb the flowers’ arrangement.

After a few weeks, they should be perfectly flat and dry, and ready to put in a picture frame or just keep forever.

 

Co-ords: Pleated Skirt and Crop Top

Everywhere I look I see little outfits with a co-ordinating top and bottom, and I love it. They are really cute and give different take on summer dresses. Here I have made a matching crop top and a pleated skirt inspired by this trend.

What you will need:

• A pattern for a pleated skirt (I used Butterick B5929)
• A pattern for a box top with sleeves (I used Butterick 5948)
• A lightweight fabric (the amount will be specified on the pattern)
• A 7″ zip
• 2m of trim for the bottom of the crop top
• 1m of bias binding in matching colour
• A small amount of ribbon
• A matching button

First, cut out all of the pattern pieces to your size and place them on the fabric. You can mark on all of the little symbols on the pattern pieces on your fabric using tailors chalk or pins. I don’t, simply because I can never be bothered, but also because this is time consuming. These two garments aren’t extremely hard, so all you need to keep in mind are the grain line (only if there is a distinct pattern on your fabric) and the notches that will help you match up the pieces.

I started with the skirt as I thought this would take the longest. Logically, I sewed all of the pieces together with a simple straight stitch, matching all of the notches up.  I left the back pieces where the zip will be going open, giving me a really long piece of fabric. At this point, I overlocked the seams, but a zig zag stitch works just as well to prevent fraying.

Instead of focussing on where the pattern says the pleats should go, I decided that the length of the pleats should be 4″, with a fold of an 1″ and be right next to each other. I chose 4″ because this gives a nice big box pleat and it’s also an even, easy number to work with.

Pleats:

To make the pleats, I first found the centre of the skirt. To do this, simply fold it all in half, then mark the middle with a pin. Lay the fabric flat and measure where the first pleat would go. As I wanted a 4″ pleat, I measured 2″ on either side of the centre pin and marked them with a pin. This way the first pleat is in the centre of the skirt.

Measure an inch away from pin “1” and mark with a pin. Similarly, measure an inch to the right of pin “2” and mark with a pin. Overall, when measured from furthest pin to pin, it should span 6″. Fold the furthest pin on the left underneath pin “1” and secure with pins. On the right, fold the furthest pin underneath pin “2” and secure with pins. And now we have our first pleat!

To continue all the way round the skirt you have to measure an inch away from the pleat, mark with a pin. From this pin, measure another 1″ and mark with a pin. Now, fold the 1st pin underneath the second and secure with pins. From this fold, measure 4″, mark with a pin, measure another 1″ and mark with a pin. Fold the last pin underneath the 3rd pin and secure with pins. Keep going until you reach the end of the fabric.

     

When you have done this, Sew down the pleats with a medium length stitch, just to secure them. Then iron to set your pleats.

Waistband:

Cut a strip of fabric double to height that you want your waistband to be. I wanted mine 3″ high so i cut a strip that was 6″ high. Don’t worry about the length of it yet, as long as its either the same length as the skirt or a bit bigger, you can trim it later. Iron and sew it in half, making sure that the right side is on the outside, any seams can be hidden inside the skirt.

     

 

Then, pin the seam on the waist band to the outside top of the skirt section and sew. Now, when you fold the waist band up, you now have a waistband with no seams showing on the outside.

Wrap the fabric around you, pin where it fits so that the waist band is tight, then trim, leaving a couple of inches spare.

Zip:

As this is a normal zip, we have to put a fold over the top of it to conceal it, or else you would be able to see it. To do this, sew one side of the zip to the skirt back at the top, as close to the teeth as you can. Then on the other side, fold about half an inch of fabric over and secure this fold and the zip to the fabric. Then, close up the back of the skirt using a simple straight stitch. Stitch the excess fabric over the zip down.

 

 

Hem:

Measure from your waist to the length that you want the skirt to come. Then, using this measurement, measure from the bottom the of the waistband the length and mark with pins. Cut to this length.

Finish the hem with a rolled hem. Fold the hem over once and sew. Then fold it over again and sew this new fold.

Top:

This is a lot easier than the skirt. After cutting out the pieces, sew the two back pieces together (leaving about 3″ at the top open), then the shoulders and sides of the front and back together. Finish the seams with a zig zag stitch or an overlocker. Insert the sleeve by first folding the piece in half and sewing the straight section together. Then, line this seam up with the side seam and sew around the shoulder. Finish this seam.

Finish all the raw edges with a zig zag stitch or overlocker. Fold over the edges of the sleeves and hem of the top once and sew down. For the neck line, use bias binding and cut little triangles out of the seam to ensure that the neckline sits flat.

     

Secure the fabric at the top of the back with a stitch line and make a ribbon loop. Do this by cutting a length of ribbon, long enough to fit your button through it. Fold it in half and secure with a couple of stitches. Sew this to the top of the back. Across from the ribbon, sew on your button, make sure you use plenty of stitches to stop it coming loose.

Line up the trim with the hem of the top and sew through the trim onto the top with a matching thread. When you get to end of the top, simply trim the excess trim and using a very close zig zag stitch, sew up the two ends of the trim to avoid it fraying.

 

Lace Bracelet, Anklet and Hair Tie

If you’ve got spare lace hanging around, why not take a leaf out of Topshop’s book and make these pretty bracelets/hair ties for half of the price? I saw these bracelets the other day and couldn’t believe how easy these would be to make for very little money, or even for free, if you have spare lace. You could always cut off the lace trims from old clothes or look in drawers for left over lace. However, if you don’t have any, just pop down to the haberdashery and buy some, it can be really cheap.

What you will need:

• Any lace trim that is long enough to fit round your wrists or ankles
• Three different colours (optional)
• Scissors

Usually, lace has a little bit of stretch in it so once you’ve tied it around your wrists, it should come off easily.

All you need to do is wrap the lace around your wrist, leaving a good few inches spare. Cut to this length. Use this piece of lace to cut your other colours or repeat on the same colour of lace. You can also wear this in your hair, or as an anklet. Now, securer the lace with a double knot.

     

And that’s it! This is an easy and really cheap way to add pretty touches to any outfit without paying the highstreet price!

Festival Flower Headband

When summer comes, the sun calls for a pretty flower headband. This headband is a perfect accessory to any outfit, especially if you are going to a festival or on holiday- and it’s really easy and quick to make!

What you need:

• 1m of ribbon
• Paper flowers with wire tails (sold at most fabric or haberdashery shops)
• Pins

First, tie the ribbon around your head and bow it, to see how much you need to sit comfortably under your hair. Then, cut the ribbon to this length.

Using a pin, mark the centre of the ribbon. Working your way from the middle, use more pins to mark the positions of the other flowers. I marked seven flowers as I wanted them to spread across the whole of the top of the head.

Over a flame, heat the end of a pin, then puncture the ribbon in the marked areas. The hot pin will melt the ribbon, leaving holes for you to weave the flowers in later.

     

Finally, using the wire tail underneath the paper flowers, weave it through the hole, wrapping it around the ribbon, making sure that you’re keeping the ribbon flat. Continue until all holes have been filled with flowers.

     

And it’s finished!

Enjoy!