A while back I posted about a few items from Lucky magazine that I was taken with, and I haven't gotten over it. I have not moved on. It's still up on my bulletin board by my sewing machine. I see it 87 times a day. No matter that summer has long since past and it's now cold, rainy and gray (which I love, but still). The skirt (bottom center) especially kept popping back up in my head and wouldn't leave me alone. I knew I wouldn't find the exact skirt (for what I could afford anyway), so I thought I could try what I usually do: find something similar and make it myself.
So here's what I did:
A few weeks ago I found this skirt at a thrift store (hello $3.50!). My only requirements were that it be off-white, fit in the waist and have pleats--bingo! So last night I hemmed it to the right length and ironed out the pleats about 4 inches from the hem. I decided to make it a 2-inch stripe 2 inches up from the bottom.
Using my trusty 2-inch ruler (which I use about 16 times a day) and the tailor's crayon-thingy (what is that thing called again?), I marked the top and bottom of the stripe all the way around. Easy.
I happened to have this particular fabric paint around, which I think you can get pretty much anywhere:
When I tested how the paint behaved on a swatch (the left-over hem), it was a bit thicker and more difficult to paint on smoothly than I had anticipated. So, using regular old masking tape, I taped along the lines I had marked--on the top and bottom, all the way around--and painted inside the tape to get an even, straight line. Made it so much easier than just trying to free-hand-follow my drawn-on lines. (How the paint behaves will depend on the fabric you're painting, but you're guaranteed an even edge line when you tape off your design.)
I used a hair-dryer to dry each section I painted, dried it completely, then moved on to paint the next bit, then dried that, and so on all the way around, until it was complete. (The paint did bleed through so you will most likely need a piece of cardboard between the layers of fabric you're working on.) Then, just like when you paint the walls in a room, ripped off the tape to reveal a perfect black stripe with an even edge! So satisfying.
I had hemmed a pleated skirt once before and found the perfect tutorial right here, so I used it again to re-pleat the pleats-- and then wore it immediately feeling very self-proud and thrifty-smart :)
Also--Operation Italian Marie Claire (thank you, Jeffrey) was not completed. I went to buy it yesterday (wearing my lucky painted skirt, no less!) and I found it--but it was $30. I just don't think I can pay that much for a magazine. I'll have to settle for seeing the pictures here, I guess...ugh. They're so beautiful... But that's ok because I have the Circus book which was spun from baby angel hair and dipped in chocolate and gold flecks to keep me company until the end of time.
And so me and the skirt are going to be away for a few days--back to Mississippi for my mom's birthday. We're cooking some exciting new dishes so if they turn out (and they will! Let's be positive!), expect some pictures when I get back...have a wonderful weekend wherever you may be!
