#59: Pleated White Skirt

Hey y'all. Thanks for visiting my blog. I've been trying to handle a lot of emotionally heavy stuff lately which has left me worn out. Pray for me, please.

I spend my days working long hours and with a lot on my mind and haven't been very intentional about sewing. Sorry for the long gaps between projects. I'm choosing to be more intentional about sewing now, as I find it very life-giving.

For today's project, I found this pleated white skirt at the 99 Cents Only store for just a buck.

Before: Plain pleated white skirt

Before: From behind

It was missing a button and had a few stains, but was in otherwise good condition.

No button :(

I immediately knew that I wanted this to become a shirt when I bought it. 

The process was so simplistic, that I didn't take any process pictures. I first draped the skirt over my shoulders and pinned how wide I would need for my waist. 

Next, I flipped the skirt inside out, measured about 7 inches in from the seams on both sides (space for the sleeves), and sewed 2 parallel lines about 1cm apart joining at the top where my underarm would be. 

Then I cut in between the 2 straight stitched lines all the way up (I had to adjust it higher a few times to be the right length for the sleeve to begin). Once I got the right length for the side and underarm seams, I fake-serged the newly cut seams to keep it from fraying. 

Finally, after trying out a few ideas with the neckline, I simply folded the original waist half way down and sewed it around. 

And that was it! 

Here again is the before skirt (not that the reminder's too much of a scroll this time):

Before: Plain pleated white skirt

Before: From behind

And here is my new blouse:

After: Pleated white blouse

After: From behind

I even  took a picture outside for the friends who complain about my little hallway ;)

I'm glad how it turned out. I feel kind of like a pirate :) 

Arrrrrr! Ahoy mateys!

 
I especially like the pleating at the neckline. I feel like it is a feminine way to frame my shoulders and bust. 

Still pleated!

I hope you liked this transformation. And I hope you know that if you're gong through hard times, you're not alone. 

Take care.

Until next time, blessings.