The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for The Renegade Seamstress. It was fun for me to see this, I hope you enjoy it, too!!
Here’s an excerpt:
About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 240,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 4 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!
I might have a new love.
The peplum……..it’s flirty and flattering.
What could be better?
I started with this knit thrift store dress that I purchased for (you guessed it) fifty cents on half price Wednesday at my local thrift store. YAY! The dress was frumpy and a little big, but the knit was scrumpiously soft and I liked the color and the embroidered detail. I knew someday, just the right project would come along for this……..
aaaaaaaaannnnnnd a peplum it is!!
First, cut off the skirt leaving enough for a seam allowance.
If your dress fits up top, you can skip the next four steps.
If you need to resize like I did, cut off the sleeves.
Turn the shirt inside out, then pin and sew the sides and shoulders to fit.
Turn the sleeves inside out and pin and sew the seam to fit.
Trim all your new seams.
If your armhole is still too big, put in a dart before reattaching the sleeves.
Right sides together, pin and sew the sleeves back into the armholes.
Cut the hem off the bottom of the dress.
Now for the peplum:
At first glance it might look like I just added a ruffle, but a peplum is a little different from a regular ruffle. It has to be cut on the bias so it will give you the nice flounce effect.
First, measure your waist and divide that by 6.28. This will give you the distance to measure from the corner of your fabric.
Fold the bottom of the skirt in half (so the side seams are actually together in the middle now). Measure and mark your distance from the corner of the fold to create an arc.
Then measure and mark the desired length of your peplum from the first mark to create another arc.
Cut along both lines to create half of your peplum. Repeat this on the other side of the skirt bottom so you have two identical pieces.
When you unfold each piece, you will have two long arcs. Right sides together, sew along the two short edges.
Right sides together, pin and sew the smaller arc of the peplum to the bottom of the shirt bodice. Depending on your fabric, you could add some bias tape to the bottom of the peplum if you think it might fray, but the knit I was using was laying nicely and wasn’t fraying so I think I can skip this step.
Now you’ve got another possible option for your New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Don’t forget about the latest giveaway.
You could win this refashioned hat and mittens:
All you have to do is visit and subscribe to my new You Tube channel for a chance to win. Thanks to everyone who has already subscribed. I’m just getting started and my goal for 2013 is to produce some refashion videos for you.
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Much to my family’s chagrin, the song “Happy Blogiversary To Me!” has been resonating through the Huntington house all morning.
It’s been a year since my first post and most of my blogging goals have been met and some even surpassed.
Much to my delight and many thanks to you, at this time, The Renegade Seamstress has 1,360 subscribers and has had over 237,900 views.
One of my new goals is to have my own You Tube Sewing Channel.
For a Blogiversary celebration, this morning I’ve started my new goal of developing a You Tube Sewing Channel called, none other than, The Renegade Seamstress.
In hopes that you will check out the new channel and subscribe there also, I’m hosting a new giveaway. The winner will receive this refashioned hat and mitten set that was featured in this post last year
In order to qualify for the drawing all you have to do is go over to You Tube, watch my first videos and subscribe to my new channel.
I’ve just been playing around with it all this morning and I hope to develop some new and interesting refashion videos for you.
Thanks for watching!
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New Year’s Eve is just around the corner.
Here’s a quick refashion idea perfect for any celebration.
Start with a long thrift store skirt.
Cut off the bottom to your desired length, leaving just enough for a hem.
To make the peplum, first measure your waist and divide by 6.28. This will give you the distance to measure for the top of your peplum.
Then, using the part of the skirt you cut off, measure that distance from the corner fold marking every so often to create a curved line. Notice the fold on the right side of the skirt.
Then measure the desired length of the peplum from the first line and draw another curved line.
Cut these two lines and repeat on the other side of the skirt bottom.
This will give you two half circles. Right sides together, sew one set of short sides together and finish the other ends with a small hem. Then your peplum will be removable and your skirt more versatile.
I didn’t want to let the nice bias tape at the bottom of the original skirt go to waste so I unpicked it and used it to finish the top of my peplum.
Pin and sew the bias tape to the top of the peplum.
Finish the sides and the bottom of the peplum with a hem or bias tape.
I prefer bias tape to finish a rounded edge. After digging around my sewing supplies, I realized there was no black bias tape to be found. Dang! But trying to be a true refashionista, I just made my own with some light weight black fabric from my stash. (I’m working on a bias tape tutorial for you right now. It’s actually quite easy and makes such a nice finish for any edge. If you’re anything like me, once you learn how, you’ll want to finish everything with this stuff.)
Nothing like the feeling of making due with what you have on hand. 🙂
Attach a hook and eye so you can remove your peplum for other looks.
And now you’re ready for anything the New Year brings your way!
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Even the chickens aren’t safe from a good refashioning around the Huntington house.
Hope all is well in your world!
I don’t usually like to use my blog to discuss controversial subjects but my Kindergarten classroom is becoming a political warzone. This article expresses exactly how I feel. I hope you take the time to read this whether you believe God should be in our schools or not. It’s amazing!
It’s starting to snow again. They say another blizzard is on it’s way.
Which brings us to the big question……should I cook or should I sew?
Hmmmmm…..how ’bout a quick sweater refashion, then perhaps I’ll bake some treats for those patient men in my household.
Ok, now maybe I’ll make that pumpkin cheesecake my husband has been hinting about for weeks.
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About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
A.E. Housman
I am a snow person.
Always hoping for that one big snow fall. The one that quickly covers everything with white so deep that everything is forced to slow down. The one that closes stores and knocks out electricity.
I am so ready for it.
Winter storm warnings roll my socks up and down. Last week, they predicted ten to twenty inches of snow. I was secretly thrilled. Finally! The big one! It’s here! I knew all that canning would come in handy someday. Fire up the wood stove, get out the Yatzee game and make some hot chocolate. Let ‘er fall!
I jumped out of bed on Saturday morning fantasizing about sewing all day with a backdrop of the white fluffy stuff coming down, wood stove blazing, and celtic tunes blaring in the background.
I wasn’t disappointed. The fire kept me warm and it did snow most of the day. Not ten to twenty inches, but enough to cover up all the brown and inspire me to refashion another sweater dress for Brooke.
I thought the pattern and texture of this gray and yellow thrift store sweater would make a nice little girl’s sweater dress.
Here’s how:
Use a shirt for a pattern.
Cut off the sides and the sleeves. Put some water on the wood stove.
Right sides together and starting at the bottom, sew up the sides of the sweater. Make some hot cocoa.
Cut the sleeves to fit. Sip your cocoa.
Turn the sleeve inside out and sew up the side to fit. Trim off the extra fabric. Put some more wood on the fire.
Cut the top of the sleeve for a shoulder. Sip more cocoa.
Right sides together, pin and sew the sleeves back into the armhole. Eat the cocoa soaked marshmallow.
Sit back and enjoy watching the snow fall.
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I am one lucky kindergarten teacher.
Each year I have so many wonderful parents who offer to donate some of their precious time to help in our classroom. I appreciate their generous support and commitment.
When Christmas comes along, I always like to thank them for volunteering. When I saw this post for Chai Tea Latte Mix from Life is a Prayer and this post for Salted Caramel Cocoa Mix from Crafty Staci, I knew just what I wanted to make this year.
This is what you’ll need:
I washed small plastic milk bottles from the classroom for this project:
Create labels on your computer, just using regular paper and cutting it into strips. The font I chose is a free download called Lewis Blues. My beloved Zig pen made the dots.
After filling the bottle with the mix, wrap the label around the bottle and attach using double sided tape.
As always, I was trying to use what I had on hand, since I didn’t have any green ribbon, I found this green striped knit remnant in my thrift store stash to make my own ribbon. Just cut a strip and gently pull the ends so it will curl.
It makes perfect yarn for wrapping packages.
I hope my parent volunteers like it! 🙂
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I had NO idea you could do this.
I seriously thought it was some specially formulated product. Available only in a plastic bag purchased from the grocery store.
It’s amazing what I’ll do to avoid a trip to the market.
Today was the annual Christmas parade and tree lighting celebration in my little town. The Booster Club was serving goodies and hot chocolate and I volunteered to bring some homemade cookies. After making lemon bars and raisin spice bars I realized the powdered sugar bin was empty.
But not to worry, put some granulated sugar into the blender,
pulse a few times, and just like magic, you’ve got powdered sugar.
Learn something new everyday!!! 🙂
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