Denim skirt and edged cardi

Just look at what you can create when your husband leaves a pair of jeans lying around in the wrong place!  Ha!  You snooze you lose!

Only kidding - they were on his 'to chuck out' pile of things that won't fit in the drawer anymore, and I did ask before I cut them up.  You wouldn't think it now though as he keeps looking at me accusingly saying, "My jeans!".

Too bad though coz I love love LOVE my new skirt.  It's perfect for the weather, and soooo quick to make.  I didn't take pics of the process, but I literally just cut the legs off at the point where there were holes in the knees, opened the inside legs and crotch, and stitched it all together using triangles of denim (taken from one of the cut off legs) to fill in the gaps.  

I managed to get it done in about half an hour this morning whilst Jacob napped (and his naps are short!) so I could wear it when we went out after lunch.  I did go back to reinforce some of the seams later on, just to make sure.  This gave me a chance to try out my new double needle too.

I bought this needle for knitting jersey so I shouldn't really be using it on denim, but it worked fine and was exactly what I needed to secure the back seams which were fray-tastic.

So, onto the cardi.  I have been looking in my wardrobe for clothes to refashion, and maternity wear is an easy choice.  It's big enough to allow adjustment (and to fit my post-natal figure!) but I don't plan on wearing it again for it's original purpose!

Most of my maternity clothes have been recycled over three pregnancies or inherited from friends, but I did acquire a couple of new items this time.  One was a pair of jeans which I lived in, but which are sadly of no use now due to the fabric maternity belly - they would be too low cut without it.  Then there was this super soft angora mix jumper which is another matter.

It was a birthday present and I loved the colour, the soft knitted texture and the shoulder and cuff detail.  However, I hardly wore it after my mum informed me that it "looked as if I had no boobs"!  Clearly I wouldn't be wearing it as is post pregnancy either as it really doesn't flatter my pear-shaped figure, but I had a plan!


First off I cut off the back tie thingy and used an existing cardi to determine how long I wanted it to be.

Then I hacked it into bits, cutting off the bottom and slicing up the middle to make my cardi shape.  

Of course, there was now a question of what to do with all those raw edges, but I trawled ebay until I came upon this paisley binding with just the right colour combination.

I pinned the binding all the way around the raw edges and sewed it in place.  It was actually easier than I thought it would be.

And that was it.  I didn't add any catches or buttons as I wouldn't want to wear it done up.  So here it is...

 It's pretty cute and definitely wearable now - although not at the moment coz it's just too darn HOT!  All in all another successful wardrobe refashion - hooray!