A midi skirt and some taking care of that to-be-mended pile!

So... I've been up to some quite boring but rewarding sewing the last few days. Yesterday I finally dug into that pile of things that needs mending (like, let's see... um ALL my favorite pairs of jeans? Oh.)

Also I've been doing some sort of test garment, a skirt where I basically just wanted to see how these thick stretchy 70's fabrics work (they're horrible), test the right way to put in a hidden zipper, and test my rolled hemmer foot (I've been thinking that I really wanted one - turns out I have one, it came with the old sewing machine when I bought it, heh.)



The skirt is a midi skirt, like the ones in the August issue of British Vogue. I just love that we're moving towards a more elegant fashion. And midi skirts are so 40's style gorgeous!
 

Here's what they look like in Vogue: (Both pictures borrowed from British Vogue August 2011)





























And my version, which I actually really like now that it's done, looks like this:

 (I will need to get some lining for it, it's somewhat seethrough...)

And to get back to yesterdays work, here are some pics of what was mended. Sorry that I don't have any "before" pictures, but there was not really much to see with these ones anyway, just some basic mending...

 My old skinny party jean. Time in the pile: about three-four years... (Partly because I wouldn't have been able to button them anyway, but... you know.)

 Low waisted jeans where the 2 inch zipper had broke. I've been thinking about replacing it for a year, but been put off by the thought of trying to sew in something that small. Turns out I can get the pants on without the place for the zipper open, so I just sewed it shut by hand instead. Quite uncomfortable to get into, but looks great when they're finally on, lol!

 Stretchy top that had a hole in the front from when that sewn on ribbon broke. Has been in that state since 2007, took five minutes to mend. How I felt when I was done? Happy, but stupid!

 And another pair of jeans with a hole below the bum. These are my favorite 70's style jeans as well, so I'm really glad I fixed them! Both these rips (this one and the huge one on the glittery jean above) are mended by putting a piece of muslin underneath and just zigzaging a hundred times over both layers. Super simple!

Last piece this time - these wool shorts. The holes are still there, but the fabric is now zigzaged to the lining (the thread is exactly the same orange as the one in the shorts! Yay, lucky!) so hopefully it won't tear further...