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wardrobe refashion: white cotton skirt

Three skirts down! I really wish I would have taken a before picture of this one. When I cut off the waist and flattened out the fabric, there was so much!

refashioned white cotton skirt

I used an a-line pattern I drafted for myself from Sew What! Skirts. I took about 5/8 inch off of each side after trying it on and will be adjusting my pattern for the next one. Aside from that, this was super easy. I cut it out a few weeks ago and sewed it up today in about an hour.

Usually I shy away from white of any kind on my lower half, but I fell in love with the detail at the bottom. Isn’t it lovely? (Yep, I kept the original bottom hem, which made this project go really fast.)

refashioned white cotton skirt

The skirt is a little sheer, but I’m thinking slip instead of lining. Any suggestions for fabric type? I worry that a traditional polyester slip might be too hot in the summer.

thrifted: I think this might be my last skirt from the Goodwill 99 sale. I can’t remember! Time to dive back into the stash.

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eggs in a basket + a candy strategy

crochet easter egg basket

The surprise eggs were finished with a few days to spare. I even had time to whip up a little basket for them. I just started with no plan in mind. The end result was a little flimsy, but a quick soak in some water followed by liberal amounts of spray starch got it right into shape.

My daughter loved the eggs. This was the first time she ever played along with one of our stories, though. She came running out of her room saying, “Mom crocheted me some yarn eggs!” We told her they were from Peter Cottontail and she’s all, yeah, sure, right, ok. If you ask her, she’ll tell you they’re from him, but she doesn’t sound convinced!

. . . . .

We don’t do a lot of candy at Easter, and this year I didn’t put any in her basket. Instead, I made candy part of our egg hunt. I filled little plastic bags (from the candy section of the craft store) with two chocolate kisses and ten jelly beans. Each bag was tied and labeled with a day of the week and hidden in a plastic egg. She found those special eggs along with the others.

So far this has worked great! She eats the whole bag at once, usually after breakfast, but when they’re gone, she has to wait until the next day for more. I can’t tell you how wonderful the holiday was without a sugar-crashing three-year old. Hope this works next year, too!

stash: Basket yarn and candy bags both from my stash.

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tropical tablecloth tote

I’ve started making some things for my shop again. There is some thrifted fabric in my stash that needs to be repurposed before I can go garage sailing again this year. I used a little bit of this tablecloth to make a small sock knitting basket a few years ago. Now I’ve gone in the opposite direction and made a big beach bag tote.

tablecloth beach tote

When I washed the table cloth, it lost a lot of the canvas-like stiffness that I liked, so I had to line it with something sturdy. I chose some heavy duty upholstery fabric to do the job.

tablecloth beach tote

I also tried something a little different with the gusset and added these vintage buttons on the side. Aren’t they cute? I love them!

tablecloth beach tote

I’ve got the rest of this tablecloth cut and ready for more totes. Not sure if I am going to make something different or make more of the same.

What do you think?

recycle: Tablecloth from the thrift store, lining from a garage sale, thrifted buttons. More photos in my shop.