Wham. Bam. Thank You, Ma'am.

I've wanted a nice denim skirt for a while now. I've kept my eye out in second hand stores, but haven't found anything. Then I considered making one from a pair of jeans. Amy at Red Purl has one and I thought it was cute. The race was on...find a skirt or find some good jeans for it.

Finally I found a pair of jeans I thought would do. Things I liked about them were that they had embroidery (so as to make a fancier skirt), they were made from stretch denim (nicer fit) and were a little snug (I thought that would make the skirt fit better). The jeans sat in my drawer for quite a while, but yesterday I was on a mission to get things done, and pulled the jeans out.

Sometimes these projects get held up by nothing more than my mental hemming and hawing about how they're going to turn out: afraid of the project not working out, I don't even get started. But yesterday I jumped over the mental hurdle, and made myself try it. After all, never getting started is already a failed project.

So first thing was to deconstruct the garment.

I ripped out the inseam from the crotch to below the knees and the crotch seam from the bottom of the zipper in the front, and up to where the seam stopped curving in the back.

This took a long time and nearly wore me out. Those seams are stitched no less than four times!

Then I laid the one side over the other and pinned in place.

I then tried it on and considered in a mirror.

I had to adjust the pinning, and would recommend a fitting to anyone making one of these. (Unless your body doesn't have curves!)

Before I sewed it together, I added an insert to the front to fill in the gap. It was too high, and I hate front slits--you can't sit in them. I used a piece of the leg that was cut off previously, taking advantage of the existing hem.

You can see I made the inset a little shorter than the final length. Yes, that was on purpose, but you could make yours match if you want. I then top stitched all the seams, tracing the previous stitch lines.

I tried it on again and decided it was good. I then cut away the excess from the wrong side.

Back

Front

Yes, I left the edges raw. This isn't going to get a lot of hard wear.

I then marked the hem, cut, folded and sewed. I marked the center back about an inch lower from the waistband than the front and that's seems to be about right. (This gives room for the skirt to go over my tush without riding up at the back hem--I always hate that.)

Sewing the hem gave me a chance to pull out a rarely-used accessory for my sewing machine:

Ever wonder what this tool in your toolbox is for? It's to help getting over those big bumps when you sew over a denim hem. (12 layers of denim gets pretty bulky.) While sewing, stop just as the foot is getting hung up by the seam. Put your needle down and raise the foot. Put the tool underneath and lower the foot. Sew across the seam with no trouble! The tool is thinner on one wing than the other so it's more versatile.

Another thing I did on the hem was to work around the embroidery:

I wanted the embroidery to be right above the hem, but I didn't want to sew across it. (It seems so rude.) Since it was such a short piece, I went around the embroidery. I don't think the hem will unfold there, and it looks much better!

I wore the skirt today and I have to say it was so comfortable. It wears so easy; no need to fuss with it and it gave me no trouble. I didn't get any comments, though, so perhaps it wears better than it looks.

And what about my fears about how the skirt would turned out? Well, the best part of the whole thing was that it was done in one evening. You can't beat that. The back doesn't quite sit right, but I'm not going to let it bother me. And the front insert is a little uneven. I guess I should have measured. (But I did mention it was done in one evening, right?)

All in all, I'm very happy with it and hoping to get a lot of wear out of it this spring and summer!

Assemble-a-Light

Walking through DIY stores is dangerous. I see lots of things I think I can use to make stuff. (Yes, I know that's the point, really.) I should add that I'm a sucker for a mix and match kit type product. All this is to say that I've walked through Lowe's several times and seen how cheap their pendant lights shades are. Less than $20. And how nice the styles are.

The light shades are for some "pick your own parts" kits. These kits, however, were for wired lights and I don't have quite that much ambition. But I have seen light shades converted to nice hanging lamps by what is essentially a bulb at the end of an extension cord.

So I started gathering parts in my cart:

1. An extension cord:

I chose black because the red, yellow and blue options looked a little too "neon bright construction" to me. You may pick what you like.

15 feet was as long as they had in their selection. It's barely enough so definitely don't go shorter.

Also, it has to be one of the cords with a single outlet at the terminus. It can't have three outlets with one on one side and two on the other.

2. A socket adapter:

You plug this into the end of your extension cord and suddenly you can screw in a lightbulb. Isn't that crazy convenient?!

3. Shade of your choice:

Although the lovely red shades were enticing, I liked this neutrally coloured but detailed pattern.

You want to make sure that it's long enough to hide a bulb and the adapter and the end of the extension cord. Unless you like bulbs hanging out the bottom...

This set up will definitely seat the bulb lower than what the shades are designed for so you won't be able to use some of the shorter styles.

4. Lightbulb

Around here nothing but flourescents will do. I made sure to get a bulb that was shorter than most to make sure it fit in the shade.

I tried the 60-watt equivalent first but it was way too bright. The 40 is much better.

I'll also add that the Sylvania's I first bought gave me some trouble. The first one shattered with the first bump and the second one burned out after less than 30 minutes. I took them back and bought an off-brand. It's worked great.

Ok, so I'm sure you can guess how to assemble most of these parts. The only thing that will give you trouble is getting the cord through the hole in the top of the shade. It's too big to fit. I had suspected that would be the case but held onto a hope until I tried it.

Resigning myself to the inevitable, I cut the cord a few inches above where it plugs in and started separating and stripping the three wires inside. Just as I was about to make a "cheater" connection--after threading one end of the cord through the shade--Troy came home and insisted I do it right.

He generously offered to solder two of the wires but only on the condition that I solder the third. I had done soldering when I had my optical training so it's not like I hadn't done it before, but it's still not a task I am very comfortable with. But to have a more elegant join and take advantage of the help he was offering, I did it. (Perfect "action" shot for my knitting blog, but I forgot to take any pictures. Sorry, you will have to to imagine.) We got the join done and taped and it blends in well (and works!).

The only thing I didn't consider and should have was an inline power switch. As it is, I have to lean over the back of the couch to plug it in and unplug it. Not so bad, but not so convenient either.

I got it put together and hung from a hook over one end of the couch. I love it and can't sit there without having it on.

At some point I expect to do this with a knitted shade--some heavily starched sphere or semi-sphere. It's still percolating...