Don’t Ruffle Your Feathers!

Some wonderful Easter Chicken Cards made by the Year 1/2 class I covered last week.

I wanted something new to wear on Easter Sunday, and looked through the Great Stash for inspiration. I made this skirt three years ago, and had kept the paper pattern.

 

I found a pretty remnant of pink silk in one box which looked a contender for another skirt of similar style.

However it wasn’t quite big enough. So foolishly I jiggled the pattern about and cut it slightly shorter and straighter. I forgot to allow for the fact it was a bias cut – and the whole thing came up unspeakably lopsided, and although it fitted my waist and hips, it would not hang properly. To be honest, it looked dreadful

“That doesn’t look quite right” said Bob [in a very caring, sympathetic voice] “Is there anything you can do?” A hug and a cup of tea later, I decided that the best course of action was to abandon the skirt idea. What about a cardi revamp?

Have you noticed that Mrs Obama has made cardigans so fashionable lately?

I recently rescued a cardi which had been neglected [the buttonholes were too big and it refused to stay fastened]

I machined up the front so that it was permanently closed, and became a jumper. With a trim red waist-cinching belt, it became much more wearable

But it is black and not exactly Easter-ish.

Ruffles are still ‘on trend’ and ruffled cardis abound [see Sarah Brown above] so I wondered if I could do something with that idea.

Back to my pink remnant and an old pink cardigan [c. 2004]

Using an idea from Disney’s blog I made some trim from the disastrous pink skirt

It was about an inch wide and around three times the length of the neckline.

I pleated, pinned and sewed it into place.Then I sewed up the front button band of the cardi.

And got a very pretty result!

Mrs Yappy Dog has just had a Thrifty Week and a number of my friends have been participating. I didn’t sign up – but I think this would have been my entry -two smart new cardis at no cost.