crazytown pants to sk

I found these posh pants at the clearance center and knew they would push my style limits. I imagined wearing them with a black button up shirt and blinding my coworkers while strolling down the hall to the water cooler, acting like a boss.  One of the top things I've learned from this project is to try patterns.  Last year, I never would have picked up these pants.  Mostly because I would have never paid full price for them, but I wouldn't have considered them for any price.

I was extra happy that they were name brand.  Liz Claiborne for $0.99?  Done.  I brought them home and everyone agreed that they were blinding, but I was determined to wear them.  I first took them in by sewing along the inside of the inseam from one foot, up through the crotch, and down the other side.  It wasn't an entire failure, but my goodies felt a little uncomfortable, and I had a few stray wrinkles to direct further attention down there.  For my life I could not get out the wrinkles.  Please, do not follow my lead by taking in pants this way!

As no one needs attention drawn to their knees, they certainly don't need it to their crotch.  I put these pants away and waited for a day when I was feeling a little more randy.  Needless to say, it didn't come.  Instead, I decided to turn them into a skirt.  I ripped the entire inseam (yes, the one I just put in) out to open up the legs, sort of cowboy style.

Then, I folded them along the seams I just ripped and cut off the desired amount of length. Chip, chop, doodle dop!

After taking off the length, I put on the skirt inside out and pinned the open pieces together.  I might should get a dress form, because I looked like a contortionist to do it.  Sew up the seam you just pinned.  I sewed the entire seam, past the part where I ripped apart for extra security.  I like my skirts pencily-tight and never want them to split down my backside.

All that's left is to hem it up!  Mine was a little tight around the knees and I wish that I had left a slit in the back before I closed it all up and hemmed, but I can still walk without looking like a Barbie doll.  I think as a skirt it is a little less blinding too.  There have been no reports of vision loss from my coworkers when I strut it up the hall to the water cooler.

ladylike lace skirt

I found this lacy shirt at my local Goodwill Clearance Center on half-off day--that's $0.65 per pound.  I love finding lightweight pieces like this and dropping them into my bin thinking, "This probably only costs $0.10!"

I liked it as a shirt, but I am queen of lacy shirts, and I wanted the challenge, so I decided it needed to become a skirt.  The only problem is that it is totally see-through and I've never made a lining before.

Enter these satin pajamas.  They felt delicious.  And again, I was certain they would only be $0.10 since it was half-off day.  At the time I threw them into my bin I had no idea what they would be, but today they were reincarnated into the lining.

I started by ripping all of the seams out of the pajamas to separate and open up the legs.  Then I hacked off the bottom portion of the shirt right under the armpits.  (I will definitely be making that top into something soon!).

I turned the bottom half of the shirt inside out and sandwiched it with the fabric from a pajama pant leg on either side, with the right sides facing together.  Then I pinned down the sides to fit my curves.  This is when I had a stroke of logic, unpinned the pieces and hemmed the bottom of the satin fabric (the bottom of my lace was already hemmed because it was the bottom piece of the shirt).  Then I repinned, tried it on, adjusted my pins, and sewed a seam up the sides.

 Just to be extra safe, I sewed an extra zigzag stitch outside my straight seam, then cut the extra fabric with my pinking shears.  I did the same thing with the extra fabric at the top of the skirt.

I needed to add a waistband to my skirt, but this was all I had left from my pajama pants.  I had to cut and sew three strips together to make a piece of bias tape for the waistband.

Next I pinned and sewed the satin pajama bias tape over the top of the skirt, leaving a small opening in the back.  I took some elastic from another skirt I fixed up and threaded it through the tube I created with the bias tape.  The last step is to sew the elastic together and the open pieces of the bias tape together.  And VOILA!