Denim Skirt

The church bush dance was coming up. Every year it's a fashion dilemma. Bush means jeans and boots. Dance means spinning and twirling, which means skirt! Somehow for the last four years I've failed to come up with a suitable solution for this conundrum. No more is this the case!

I was actually thinking about making denim vest that I could wear along with a cool dancing skirt so that I'd have my token bush denim and still be dancing pretty. I looked online for vest patterns and ideas, but they all seemed fairly complicated. I also knew I was going to try to make it out of the plethora of old jeans I had stashed up (just in case I wanted to make a jeans quilt, or a painting apron in the near future you know?) so it wasn't necessarily going to be easy to cut out to start with. I was also running out of time. Two days to go.

Then I hit upon the idea of making a skirt using the jeans. As in, using the pre made and fitted top part of the jeans, slashing off the legs, making a new skirt bottom and then sewing that on. Volia! A skirt that I didn't have to sew zips or button holes for. Not a loose wrap skirt. It sounded good in theory, and I had so many jeans stored (I think twelve pairs (not all mine!)) that there was really no worry about getting it wrong the first time because I had plenty of material (even if I didn't have much time).

So I did it. And I love it.

I didn't get around to hemming it, given the time constraints, and it was just going to be part of the look anyway. Frayed is in right? I think it's fabulous. It could be the most perfectly fitting skirt I've ever made. So comfortable, and warm. Though the bush dance is now over, I'm still wearing it. Fashion be dammed, this is the best skirt ever.

Ok ok, maybe not, I'm sure it's got it's flaws, but I love it, and that's what counts. I mean functioning pockets on a skirt that didn't take three hours to put in!! YES!! What I saw in my head is pretty much what happened when I sewed. At first I made the skirt part too long (because I didn't really measure where I thought it would go on me, I just guessed it), but I just slashed off six inches and resewed it. Perfect! The length is great. Because it's heavy denim, I don't fear it flying up at the smallest gust of wind. It's twirly enough for a dance but modest enough to be worn whenever.

I found that cute lacy bit in a stash from my mum (I've got loads of it, it turns out). I think it helps with the bush dance feel, though maybe not the everyday fashion feel. Oh well. Functioning pockets remember!

Sophie helped me to sew the (re-cut) skirt bit onto the top, while the other three kids slept on Friday morning, which was very nice. She was excited to help me make a skirt. On the down side, as I was cutting the last threads off post sewing with her, she decided to show me that she knew how my sewing machine worked and proceeded to push the presser foot.

I know it's my fault that I didn't switch it off sooner, but now Sally seems to be broken thanks to this enthusiastic demonstration from Sophie. The joy at making this fabulous skirt is diminished by the sadness I feel when I think that I may not make another on Sally.

Maybe that's a bit melodramatic, but I was trying to put a quilt together last night and Sally won't even sew a stitch. I took things apart, and blew out dust, and rethreaded, and looked for possible reasons, but I can't see anything. She's just not sewing. Something is getting stuck and she just won't go. Sigh.

Today I will wear my lovely denim skirt and use it's awesome functioning pockets and twirl and dance with my girls. Maybe tomorrow I'll address the sewing machine issue.