Shot to the Heart

frocks and frou frou - shot to the heart frocks and frou frou - shot to the heart frocks and frou frou - shot to the heart frocks and frou frou - shot to the heartCardigan: Gorman

T-shirt: Dream Diva

Skirt: Sewing By Selena via Etsy

Tights: Sonsee

Shoes: Ara via Shoebuy

The second I spotted this graphic arrow-print skirt way back in May I decided I had to have it. The fabric is part of the100% cotton “Mustang” line at Melody Miller, and it has a kind of heavy linen-y feel to it. The arrows are interspersed with gold dots, and the whole effect just makes me swoon a little.

I deliberated about buying the fabric and sewing something myself, but ended up taking the easier route and buying a pre-made skirt from Sewing By Selena.

Selena specialises in making simple skirts in a variety of amazing colours and prints, and she offers her customers the opportunity to customise their orders with a variety of extras like pockets or lining.

I chose a simple a-line skirt with  gathers at the centre front and back and an elasticised drop waistband. In the end the drop-waist was a little too deep, and drew more attention to the curve of my tummy than I was comfortable with, so I brought the waistband up a little, but apart from that my new skirt was everything I could have hoped for.

Selena’s workmanship was absolutely impeccable, with tidily finished seams, and even a lovely embroidered patch with Sewing By Selena‘s logo on it.

frocks and frou frou - shot to the heartI teamed it with the sequin heart tee-shirt that I bought some years ago from Dream Diva. It’s long gone now, but it would an easy remix project with a bit of sequin fabric and this tutorial.

Remix: Sohomode Dress to Skirt

Frocks and Frou Frou - Remix SkirtFrocks and Frou Frou - Remix Skirt Frocks and Frou Frou - Remix SkirtTop: Princess Highway

Skirt: Remixed from Sohomode Teadress

Cardigan: Woolovers

Shoes: Softwalk via Shoebuy

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on my last post. I’m going to be dreadfully lazy and not reply individually the way I usually try to, but I really appreciate the support. I’m a glass-half-full kind of person, so now the shock’s wearing off I’m trying to really focus on the positive and look at this as an opportunity, rather than a set-back.

One of the “positives” is that it’s given me a bit of free time to catch up on some of the jobs and projects I’ve had sitting around the house, and this remixed dress/skirt is one of them.

I had this lovely tea dress made for me last year by Louise at Sohomode, and when I sent her my measurements I was probably the slimmest I’d been for a very long time. Now that I’m happy – and eating! – again a lot of my clothes aren’t fitting as comfortably as they used to, and this dress was one of them.

I wasn’t prepared to give it up, so I decided to do another remix similar to my old Gorman dress-to-skirt remix, with the shortcut being that Louise’s tea-dresses come ready-made with a belt that could easily be re-purposed as a waistband.

So, the project is basically exactly the same as what I did last time, but here’s a tutorial anyway!

Step 1: I unpicked the waistband of the skirt from the bodice, and cut the zipper – a little higher, so that I can insert it into the new waistband. If you’re going to do this project yourself – and I can’t emphasize this enough – don’t forget to have the zipper foot down and the zip open when you cut the zipper. Otherwise you’ll be left with an unzippabable zipper, and will either have to try and wrangle the foot back onto the teeth, or start from scratch with a new zip.

sohomode remix 1Step 2: So I needed a little bit more room in the waist, which meant that I had to alter the beautiful belt that all of Louise’s dresses come with. I took a snip of extra fabric from the bodice to add an inch or so to the ends of the belt.Sohomode remix 2Step 3: I made a little rectangular tube of fabric, sewed it right rides together to the end of the belt, flipped it outside in and finished the edges, and voila! New waistband!

Sohomode remix 3Step 4: First things first I finished off the top edge of the skirt with a zigzag seam to prevent it from fraying, then basted two rows of wide stitching that will help me make the gathers. Then I pinned the skirt to my new waistband right-sides together at the front centre, side seams, with the ends of the waistband slightly overlapping the loose ends of the zipper.

Sohomode remix 4Step 5: To create the gathers I carefully pulled the top threads from the two lines of basting, and eased the gathers around the circumference of the skirt until skirt waist and waistband matched up in lengthSohomode remix 5Step 6: After I felt like the gathering around the waistband was even I pinned, and pinned, and pinned some more until the waistband was securely pinned to the skirt, then I sewed the two together, wrapping the extra length of waistband around the top of the zipper. Then I flipped the waistband up, pressed the gathered skirt flat, and finished the waistband off with another straight seam.Sohomode remix 6And the result is a new skirt, which I think looks particularly good with a stripey tee-shirt.

Frocks and Frou Frou…and goes even better with this lovely brooch that one of my wonderful former sales team members gave me as a going-away gift. I think that’s one of the things that I’m finding the hardest about what happened; having to say goodbye (at least within a professional context) to some of my favourite people.

Frocks and Frou Frou