Refashioned William Morris skirt made from curtains

Have you ever found an item of clothing which you adore, is flattering on you and you just want to wear different versions of again and again?

Yep?  Me too!

I have a great denim A-line skirt that I love wearing and I was on the look-out for some fabric to recreate another one.

So when I found some fabulous William Morris curtains in a charity shop I knew I'd found it!

And here is the resulting skirt...

As I only had my original skirt to follow I had loads of fun figuring out how to piece everything together. 

For me, that's one of the best parts of sewing - learning how to make something that fits 'just so' and to my own specifications.  I also love being able to create something unique.

The skirt itself was made up of four equal panels.

And had a deep waistband.

It was finished off with a zip and hook and eye fastening. 

It fits perfectly and I  often wear it with a blue top and boots.   And it always makes me happy!

A tailcoat tale

I was asked if I would like to make a tailcoat for a dance show.

So, never having made a jacket in my entire life - of course I said yes!

As it turned out, it was a challenge and a half.  I think there were about 16 pieces to the pattern, which made for some interesting times LOL! 

But I made it.

When the tailcoat was tried on it fit beautifully but the front of the coat met in the middle rather than there being an overlap for buttonholes.  So I added a velcro overlap

Here is the front of the tailcoat with the velcro in place.

I added the buttons for decoration.

The tailcoat was made in two distinct sections - the top half and the bottom peplum and tail.

When I initially made it I was sure I'd followed the pattern but it didn't look quite right.  After much humming and harring I realised that I had managed to sew the flap of the tail on the wrong way round!  I'm convinced that not many people would have noticed - but I would have known LOL!

So I unpicked it all and put it on the right way round. 

There's no point in having a tail if you can't flap it, is there?!

I can't say that making the tailcoat was the easiest thing in the world, but I was happy with the end result.

More importantly, so was the dancer who got to wear it :)