I bought this skirt about three years ago, I adore the colours and yet hardly ever wear it.
It’s a very thin cotton which makes it rather too cool to wear in winter and yet it has so much fabric that I end up getting too hot and bothered by yards of the stuff round my legs in summer. Although it had a piece across the hips (it probably has a name but as you’ll soon see I’m no dressmaker so haven’t a cluse what it’s called) so that most of the fabric was below hip level it was a dreaded elasticated waist. Love the fabric but the style isn’t flattering to my ample hips.
I’ve been wondering how I could re-use the fabric then decided to be brave and transform it into a new skirt – shorter and wrap around. To begin I removed the waist section. The main portion of the skirt comprised 6 rectangular and 6 triangular pieces. I cut out 4 of the triangular pieces removing much of the excess and cut the skirt open on the sixth triangular piece.
You can already see how much less fabric there is now and removing the waist section has made it shorter. Two of the triangular pieces remain, one at the end just in case I need the extra length to wrap around and one in the centre back.
You can see the back looks longer and fuller where I’ve left in the final triangle. The plan is to nuno felt the 6 rectangular panels leaving the back triangle clear of wool. I quite fancy the change in texture and the fullness remaining but it’s a risk, the fabric could easily go out of shape. If it doesn’t work then I’ll go back and nuno the triangular sections later.
Using the surplus waist section I did a test piece and satisfied that I still liked the fabric when finished, carded up fibres. I’ve used Peacock, Turquoise, Sea Green, Forest Green and Maroon Merino from Adelaide Walker.
Gorgeous isn’t it. This is quite a big job and my table is too small so I worked on the floor.
All laid out except for the central triangular section as you can see.
Once laid out and wetted out I rolled it up and worked on my kitchen worktop. In this hot weather it’s actually the coolest room in the house.
Just unroll a section at a time and you can work on very large projects in your kitchen which has the added benefit of being the right height. I have some concerns about how this whole thing is going to work out but now I’ve had a break think I’ll go and do the final felting and fulling. wish me luck.