Obviously, a hem shortening is not the most exciting refashion, so I'm bundling them. The lilac linen blend and black wool blend skirts were straight forward - just cut and sewed both the outer shell and the linings. The quality of them both is excellent and I've already worn them a lot - I love to save on work clothes.
On to the grey-green poly-blend skirt. I didn't love this skirt - the polyester generates static cling, it's not lined and the elastic was gone in the waist so it was going to be more work. I later did a burn test with an off-cut and found it wasn't pure polyester as I'd originally thought but it's still mostly polyester.
But it does have those great pockets and it's my current favourite colour. I'd marked the hem line before I remembered to take photos. I didn't like the buttons but decided to keep the tabs over the join between the elasticated waist and flat front sections.
I then went and cut at the final hem line rather than the cutting line - honestly! Luckily in the kick pleat but it did mean I had to take in the back seam so I could add a back slit for walking (which had to be moved up in any case) and get around my mistake. I was hoping to do a Dior style kick pleat but I couldn't take in the back seam that far.
On to replacing the elastic - not so easy as I thought. The original elastic had been sewed down with 4 lines of stitching which had to be unpicked. It was completely perished, as was the waistband interfacing so I picked all that off as much as I could. Even a long wash cycle didn't remove all of it. Then I had to resew the side seams and neaten everything up before adding a lining.
In a really bright colour that will make me smile and be seen by no-one else. Then I restitched the waistband and threaded through and sewed down new elastic. I hand sewed the tabs back on as there are so many layers and finally it was done.
Happy refashioning!
Mimi
