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Nifty Thrifty: Attack of the Thrift People

September 10, 2011 clothes, nifty thrifty, skirts, tutorials No comments
I’ve gushed about thrifted textiles before and how wonderful they are if you sew as a source of plentiful and super cheap fabric. Where else can you get five or six yards of lovely fabric for just a few dollars? Thrifted sheets are especially radical if you like full skirts, which I do, because they’re large enough that you don’t have to do a lot of annoying piecing. Added bonus: they’re already hemmed, which means less hemming for you. This is awesome beause hemming sucks. Case in point:
I made this full wrap skirt with contrasting tie waist in about an hour. Don’t let anyone tell you it doesn’t pay off to be cheap and lazy.
Do you want to make your own? You’ll need:
A sheet
Coordinating cotton (about 3/8 of a yard for 45″ wide fabric)
Matching thread
Optional: Tape measure
If you have a wrap skirt you like already, you can just use that as a pattern. If not,  all you need to make your own pattern is a tape measure and a little math. (Just a little, I promise.) A wrap skirt is basically just a modified circle skirt, so you only need two measurements: around your waist where you want the skirt to sit and the length you want the skirt. Multiply your waist measurement by 1.5 to accomodate the overlap, because  flashing people on windy days is bad. You’ll then half that measurement since your fabric will be folded in half.
For example, if you have a 32″ waist:
 32 x 1.5 = 48
48 / 2 = 24
So if you have a 32 inch waist, the top curve of your pattern should be at least 24″ long. The shape we’re working with is a fourth of a circle, so multiply this measurement by 4 to get the entire circumfrence of the circle.
24 x 4 = 96
Divide this number by 6.28 to find the radius of your cirlce. (You can also use this handy calculator.) Since you have a good amount of overlap, you can round the measurement to the nearest whole number to make measuring easier. We’ll  call this final measurement “W“.
96 / 6.28 = about 15″
Determine the length you want the skirt and add 1″ for your hem. We’ll call this measurement “L“.
Now we’re done with math! Fold your sheet in half long ways, so the top and the bottom meet. Your measurements are going to be made from the top corner of the folded edge (see the red circle in the diagram below). From this corner, measure out “W” and then “L” along both sides. Also measure “W” and “L” from this corner along several points in the middle part of the fabric, and connect to draw the top and bottom of the skirt. Pin and cut through both layers of fabric.


You’ll also need to two 5″ wide strips of coordinating 45″ cotton fabric. The easiest way to do this is to just snip into the selvage (the woven edge on the fabric) and then tear along the length of the fabric. Then measure down 5″, make another snip, and tear. Less time cutting and you get nice, straight pieces. Sew the pieces together along one short edge, so you have a piece measuring about 90″ x 5″. (The strip needs to be long enough to wrap around your waist twice and tie. If two pieces isn’t long enough, just attach an additional strip.)
Line up the center of your waistband and the center of the skirt with good sides facing. Pin and sew the waistband to the top edge of the skirt. (The straight sides should already have the sheet’s exisisting hem, so no need to bother hemming them.) The waistband will be longer than the top of the skirt; this extra fabric will become the ties.
Iron the waistband flat, pressing the seam allowance to the waistband side.
Fold the waistband in half good sides together. Sew along the open edges with a 1/2″ seam allowance. Stop at the edge of the skirt.
I chose to make the ends of my ties into a point, but you can do whatever shape you like. Just be sure to cut away any excess fabric.
Turn right side out and press. You should have a raw, unstictched edge where the waistband is attached to the skirt along only one side. Press this edge under 1/2″. Fold the edge over with the wrong sides of the waistband facing. Line the folded edge up with your waistband seam. Pin in place and topstitch close to edge.
Now just press and stitch a double 1/2″ hem along the bottom and you’re done!
If there are any questions, I’m happy to help. I’d also to love to see any skirts that are made using this tutorial. If you’d like to share a picture of your skirt you can link in the comments below or email me at kittyzilla@handmadestuffs.com.

Nifty Thrifty: The Thriftening

July 23, 2011 clothes, nifty thrifty, thrifting 3 comments
Anyone who knows me even a little, or just looks at my Flickr account, can tell I am a big fan of thrifting. It seems it’s gaining in popularity, what with vintage fashion experiencing a surge in popularity and also everyone being poor. Prepare for hipsterness; I did it before it was cool. My childhood Saturday mornings, my parents and I would head to the big AmVets thrift store in downtown Fresno. I think the building has since been torn down for baseball stadium parking, which is lame because it was an awesome old building full of little nooks and cranies and hilarious crap. My mom and I would take turns suggesting hideous sweaters to each other and giggling while my dad looked for random junk and the most embarrassing pants he could find. He had a thing for knock off Zumba pants with geckos and chili peppers.  Now you know where I get my fabulous fashion sense. Oh, yeah. 
Since thrifting holds a special place in my cheap little heart and Saturday is my traditional thrifting day, every Saturday is Nifty Thrifty! I’ll be showcasing my recent finds and older acquisitions, as well as cool stuff other people have thrifted. I’ll also be including tips for thrifting, projects for thrifted goods, and probably some other stuff. Yay stuff!
The first installment of Nifty Thrifty is going to be dedicated to some of my favorite thrifted clothing. Clothing is most of what I thrift, and I have to say it has totally spoiled me when I shop in real stores. I was seriously debating buying a $30 dress at Target. THIRTY WHOLE DOLLARS I CAN GET LIKE 20 SKIRTS FOR THAT. But it was super cute and the last one, so I’ll deal.
This outfit is all thrifted and has some of my favorite pieces. I got the summery little dress last year, but the denim vest is a more recent acquisition that I’m predicting will get massive amounts of wear. Want to know why?
Check out the sweet rainbow studs; it’s like hardcore adorable. I’m pretty sure this is a little kids vest and I don’t care. It’s all soft and stretchy and broken in, which is another good thing about thrifted clothes. Also, it makes my boyfriend roll his eyes which I enjoy because we basically live to annoy each other. We’re mature.
Speaking of vests, I made this one sort of. I was having trouble finding a vest I liked, and then I remembered vests are just blazers with no sleeves. So I thrfited a blazer and cut off the sleeves. If you want to make a blazer into a vest, cut the sleeves off about an inch below the shoulder seam. Fold a double 1/2″ seam and sew. Magic!
These are some more of my favorites. The dress is super cutesy and fun to pair with less girly things like wide belts, black tights, and boots. Here’s a better view of the top of the dress. I also wear the crap out of this giant scarf when it’s chilly because it’s basically like wearing a small blanket around your neck, except you look slighly less crazy.
It seems I’m developing a proclivity for clothing with big birds on it. Two of my all time favorite finds are the owly skirt and the peacock dress. The owl on the owly skirt is a pocket, and skirts with pockets are automatic win. It also has little built in shorts from lining material so I don’t flash people when I fall over. Which is often.



Dresses with giant peacocks on them are totally versatile



Then, of course, there is the peacock dress. My cost per wear, even after having to translant the peacock to a new dress, is probably below $1 at this point. If I had to describe my style in one word, that word would be “peacockdress”. Because I am a cheater. But also because I love this dress like chocolate cupcakes and adorable piglets and I am going to cry when this poor peacock is too beat up to wear anymore. I might make a montage video with sad music too, we’ll see.