~mo sews with re*purpose: Market Skirts... just the cutest little things

Hi! The weather has been holding up nicely in the Mile High City. Alas! I have no off-spring's art to share (yet) but I did accomplish some sewing this weekend. And all-in-all it was very satisfying.

I don't see people struggling with their machines on their blogs, but maybe that's because they've become properly acquainted and are good friends with theirs. Haha! In the past my old reliable's, my Pfaff 1471 (circa 1989) and my Pfaff Hobbylock and I were very good friends. Unfortunately I had to replace my serger because the pedal stopped working, and the pedal cost about as much as a serger... So I found a deal on ebay a few years ago and upgraded both my sewing machine and serger. My 1471 is still reliable, and I may have to bring her out for buttonhole duty, because the "new" Pfaff probably needs a tuneup and the buttonholes were a fail. Don't get me started on threading my serger! Now that I finally found a threading instruction guide (with clear diagrams) online, I think I'm set. I'd like to love my machines and all they can do. If I keep putting the hours on them I have been, it won't be long! :D

I decided to make up some "market skirts" I pinned on Pinterest, with a great tutorial. You may recognize the fabric... because I have been using it in my BOM. I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of the process, but the tutorial is very clear, and includes some very helpful tips (for those of us who are a bit rusty).

Market Skirt #1

There are a lot of good things about this skirt.

*It's simple.
*It's a free pattern (or pattern-free)... the best kind to my way of thinking!
*It can grow! As your child (or in my case.. granddaughters) grows you can make new ones based on their waist size and length needs .. I love that! Some of my stash is from when my daughter's were little and I had every intention of making all three of them outfits. Now my 3yo granddaughters are two different sizes already! This little skirt can be adjusted up into their 'tweens'.
*It's a great stash buster... not that it uses a lot of fabric...
*You will go crazy with the possibilities for changing up the look. Trims and pockets, etc.

Which brings me to Market Skirt #2

Adult ADD must have set in... I cut the blue fabric 15"x7" and 15"x8"... OY! Undaunted, and keeping in mind that necessity is the mother of invention, I got this wise idea to make a bunch of HST's (half square triangles ~ for those of us who are abbreviation-adverse!) to put back the length I lost. My artist son and I had fun experimenting with the patterns we could make for a good long time... and finally settled on just one row. Before I inserted them I covered the backs of the HST strip with some white fabric and serged the skirt fabric, the HST's and the white fabric together. My camera is charging, or I'd run take a photo to add (will add later so you know what I'm talking about). And the rest was done pretty much following the tutorial directions. Cute huh? A bit of A.D.D./O.C.D. genius if I do say so myself!

(click on picture to enlarge)

Once the skirt was finished I figured a top was in order. I picked out this summery little number (McCall's M4762) and used both fabrics... the buttonholes didn't work out so well, so I'm going to be tweaking the closures, but I'm aiming for a reversible top. (If you notice, in the pic above you can see the matching blue fabric on the inside of the top).