UPCYCLED DAISY CHAIN SKIRT | Style Pile #17

There is a box in every crafter’s home,
that is filled with old unfinished projects,

and stuff you thrifted in the hopes of upcycling.

That becomes abandoned, that becomes forgotten.

Well this is the series that tackles that
forgotten box.

This is the Style Pile!

Hello!

The item of clothing that’s coming out of
the Style Pile box today is this light green

skirt, that I recently thrifted from the Red
Cross Op Shops for $7.

It’s already a pretty cute skirt, BUT, I
also just learned a new embroidery style,

called “Daisy Chain” stitch, and I wanna
apply my new knowledge to this skirt, because

I think they’ll go really well together!

So I opened up my box of embroidery threads,
and I decided to go for classic daisy colours

– white for the petals and yellow for the
centre.

The first thing that I did was to draw on
small dots where I wanted each flower to go.

I’m using this water-soluable dress-maker’s
pencil to do this.

Each flower is spaced out approximately 5
inches from one another - in metric, that’s

about 13 cm.

And I did the same thing to the back of the
skirt as well.

And the next step was to start embroidering!

So, a couple of hours later – I'd finished
the back of the skirt, and this is what it

looks like!

And now I’m going to show you all how to
stitch one of these daisies up close.

So first things first: This type of stitching
is a lot easier if you have an embroidery

hoop, like this one.

The smaller, inner hoop goes under the fabric
that you want to work on, so I slipped that

inside the skirt, and then the larger hoop
goes on top of the smaller one, like so.

And then, after the larger one is fit on top
of the smaller one, you just tighten the screw

on the larger hoop, to hold the fabric in
place inside the hoop, and the fabric should

be pulled nice and taut across the hoop, because
it makes the fabric easier to stitch on.

Also because my fabric was thick, very denim-like,
I didn’t need to use any stabiliser, however

if you’re using stretchy or thin fabric,
then I recommend using embroidery stabiliser

or ironing interfacing to the back of your
fabric first, before stitching your flowers

onto it.

Okay, now I'm going to show you how I thread
an embroidery needle, using these 4 items.

This is a little bit more involved than threading
a regular sewing needle, and I have a couple

of helpful tips as well, so pay close attention
if you’re new to embroidery.

So first I cut off a length of embroidery
floss that’s about the length of my forearm.

Now embroidery floss actually consists of
6 smaller threads all twisted together.

I separated these into two groups, each strand
consisting of three threads each, and I pulled

them apart like this.

And I only need one strand for now – so
I put the other aside for the next flower.

To thread my embroidery needle, I used this
thing called a Needle Threader, and OH BOY

are these useful, especially if you have shaky
ol' hands like me.

They’re really easy to use – you just
stick the wire end through the eye of the

needle, which is a lot easier than sticking
thread through it.

And then you push the thread through the wire
loop, pull the needle threader away – and

BAM - the needle’s threaded!

Now, I usually pull the tail end of the thread
downnnn like this to match the other longer

end, so that the thread is doubled over.

This means I’m working with a total thickness
of 6 threads while I sew, but I also won’t

lose the tail end while I'm sewing, which
is why I like to do this.

Anyway after that, I tied a couple of knots
in the end of the thread, then I cut off the

excess thread from the knot, and now I’m
ready to start stitching!

To stitch the centre of the flower, I went
up through the back of the fabric, at one

of the pink dots that I drew onto the skirt
earlier.

And then, I brought the needle back down about
an eighth of an inch (which is around 3mm)

away, and pulled the thread all the way through.

And then I just brought my needle up and down
a few times like this, until I had created

a small circle of yellow on the front of the
skirt.

To finish this off, I brought my needle and
the thread through to the back, and I tied

a couple of knots in the thread, close to
the fabric – and then I cut off this excess

thread tail.

Next is the petals!

I brought my needle, threaded with white thread
this time, up through to the front, JUST on

the outside of the yellow circle.

I pulled the thread all the way through, and
then I inserted the needle right next to the

spot where the needle just went up before.

And then I pushed the needle through, but
only HALFWAY, like this.

Then, I grabbed the thread that I pulled through
before, and I wrapped it around the needle

once like THIS.

See how it’s creating a petal shape?

After creating a loop with the thread, I pulled
the needle and the thread all the way through,

and now I have a petal!

I finished off this stitch by putting the
needle back down through the fabric, just

on the other side of the thread (on the top
of the petal) and I pulled the thread all

the way through to the back.

And that’s it!

That’s how you do a daisy chain stitch.

So to make this into a flower, I just continued
this stitch all the way around the circle

of yellow, bringing each new stitch up just
next to the last one.

Annnnnd… timelapse!

[music plays]

To finish the daisy off, I did the same thing
as before – I brought the needle and thread

through to the back, and I tied it off with
a couple of knots.

Now, I could get away with just tying knots
at the back of my stitches because this skirt

isn’t close-fitting to my body.

BUT if you wanted to do this on a tight-fitting
piece of clothing, or something with thin

fabric, and if you think the knots will cause
small visible lumps through the fabric, or

you think the knots will rub against your
skin, you CAN avoid knots altogether with

another method of tying off your threads,
and I’ll pop a link to a great tutorial

for that in the description box below this
video!

Anyway, that’s it!

Pretty easy, right?

Now while this is an easy stitch to do, hand-embroidery
is pretty time consuming!

Even though each flower only took about 10-15
minutes each to stitch, with more than 20

flowers on this skirt that time adds up!

I recommend sitting and chilling out and watching
some TV or a movie while doing this – it’s

actually a very relaxing evening activity.

Oh - one last thing that I had to do - as
you can see, this skirt has pockets, and it

was very hard trying to stitch flowers on
to these pockets while also not going through

them... and, you know, trying to keep them
functional as pockets!

So, I actually half-removed the pockets by
snipping out and removing the stitches on

two sides of each pocket, which let me get
my embroidery hoop in under this fabric much

more easily.

And then after stitching the daisies onto
the pockets, I simply sewed the pockets back

on with some matching thread and a straight
stitch, following the faint, leftover lines

of the old stitches!

Aaaaand here’s the final reveal!

[Music] Man speaking: "1, 2, 3, Funk It!"

[Music plays]

I love it!

It’s such a simple but effective upcycle.

I’m definitely going to be doing this on
more pieces of clothing!

I decided to wear this skirt with two different
outfits to show you all, the first is more

Wintery and I think it would go well with
a pair of tights and a coat, and the second

is more of a Summery outfit.

Which outfit do you like better?

Anyway, that’s the end of the video!

Thank you so much for watching, and I’ll
see you all next time.

Bye!

Thank you to all of my supporters on Patreon
who help to keep this channel running and

allow me to continue making videos for you
all.

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$1 a month helps out SO much - go to patreon.com/annikavictoria.