Sometimes when I'm shopping I'll find a piece that I'm completely in love with that's just slightly off somehow. I found this skirt recently and was immediately over the moon about the bicycle print chambray, but when I tried it on, the silhouette looked strange on me.
I stood in the dressing room, conflicted. There were so many things I loved about it: the rustic buttons, the print, the fabric. If only it had a slightly different cut. Its interesting the way shopping works.
Sometimes we go shopping aimlessly, just looking for anything we like, but other times we are looking for something very specific, and hoping that that perfect thing is out there somewhere, exactly at the time we're looking for it. On top of that, we encounter items like this skirt that we wish were just slightly different. After a long debate with myself, I determined that the issue was the way the bottom of the skirt curved slightly inward at the bottom that over-accentuated my hips in an unflattering way. I determined that if I could hem the skirt a bit shorter to the point where the inward curve began, it would look more like a skater skirt and totally change the way it looked on me. Thus I bought the skirt and headed home to make my alterations.
Sometimes we go shopping aimlessly, just looking for anything we like, but other times we are looking for something very specific, and hoping that that perfect thing is out there somewhere, exactly at the time we're looking for it. On top of that, we encounter items like this skirt that we wish were just slightly different. After a long debate with myself, I determined that the issue was the way the bottom of the skirt curved slightly inward at the bottom that over-accentuated my hips in an unflattering way. I determined that if I could hem the skirt a bit shorter to the point where the inward curve began, it would look more like a skater skirt and totally change the way it looked on me. Thus I bought the skirt and headed home to make my alterations.
The first step in this process was using sewing pins to fold and hold in place the bottom hem of the skirt. This way, I was able to get an idea of the new length/ shape of the skirt before making any permanent changes.
Once the skirt was all pinned and I had determined that the hem was even and correct, I went to the sewing machine and stitched along the edge of the new hem. When doing this I made sure to choose a thread color that would fit well with the skirt. It's a good idea to get thread that matches the color already used in a piece, but I went with white because I already had it and it blended into the chambray pretty well.
The last step after stitching the hem was cutting the excess fabric from the back/inside of the hem. I usually try to leave at least half a centimeter of fabric so the stitch doesn't fall apart. You can also stitch so that the excess folds inside of your stitch, but I didn't opt to do that.
Voila! Now I have a cute bicycle print chambray skater skirt that I love. The moral of this story friends, is not to abandon a piece you really like when you can do something simple to make it perfect for you. Don't let circumstance get in the way either. If you don't know how to sew or you don't own a machine, you can always take the piece to your local tailor!
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