Sewing Leftovers, Stretch Skirts

Weather is weird, and being prepared for it is hard. I just about tore my wardrobe apart looking for the perfect thing to wear for my trip to Manchester I'd planned just before my Birthday. I was meeting a boy, naturally I wanted to wear something memade, casual, but not too casual. The forecast said hot, but also rain. I'd decided I wanted to wear a skirt, but suddenly they all seemed too short to wear without tights.
I had one day to go, so decided the best thing to do was raid my fabric stash and knock something together that ticked all my boxes.

That's where #SewingLeftovers comes in. The lovely Shauni over at Magnificent Thread has set up this great little challenge that really helps us to be more considerate with what we are throwing away. #SewingLeftovers is about thinking creatively to make the most out of every last scrap, making memade fashion both more sustainable and more economic. I have had this red and navy stretch fabric in my stash for ages. It made its first appearance on my Tilly and The Buttons Megan Dress and since then it's been sat there teasing me.

I have a few go-to stretch skirts that I've found in charity shops that I've been wearing more and more for work, but also add a bit of class to a night out. With my leftover fabric I drew around my two favourite stretch skirts, one just above knee length and one just below. The great thing about these is no darts or shaping needed! Just a nice hip curve and an elastic waistband and you can't really go wrong. Make sure you add a bit of seam allowance on. The front and back of both skirts is the same pattern piece so you could cut on the fold, but instead I cut singular so I could make sure the pattern of the fabric all lined up perfectly.

I wanted to attach the elastic straight onto the top of my skirt, no folding or tucking or faff. To do this I marked down 1cm from the top of my skirt then lined up the bottom of my elastic with this line and stitched with a twin needle right the way round. EASY.

To hem I just turned up the bottom of the skirt so the diamonds all lined up in a straight line then twin needled around the bottom. So super quick I was able to knock together both skirts in a morning. I'd covered my bases, the shorter skirt with tights if it was overcast, the longer with bare legs if it was sunny. A very satisfying use of leftovers and a little bit sexy for my trip.

Anyone else got the hots for geometric patterns?

Ps, update! It was hot as hell and I went with the longer length and tightless. Neither skirt could prepare me for the massive downpour at 2:00pm, but he was a gent and he gave me his jacket ;)

x

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Hillsborough Walled Garden, Sheffield
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