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Hello! Welcome to Make Thrift Buy, episode
number 27!
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And as always, this is the show where you,
the audience, send me in pictures of cool
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things you’ve seen on the internet, and
then I do my best to recreate them.
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So today’s challenge was sent in by both
Cheese and Apple.
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Seriously?
Either, that's a weird coincidence, or...
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I've now got sentient food subscribed to my
youtube channel...
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Anyway, a cheese and an apple wanted me to
try and recreate this skirt.
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Which I found on a couple of cheap wholesale
sites from $13 - $30.
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So – let’s begin!
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Now I had this theory that this skirt was
just a square circle skirt. Okay that didn’t
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really make any sense at all, because how
can you have a square circle
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– but stick with me.
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First off I chose my fabric. This is a non-stretchy
tartan fabric that I got for free. Well, it's
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secondhand. When people know that you’re
into sewing, it turns out there’s a lot
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of people who have fabric they don’t need
anymore stashed away in their basements.
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Now I wanted the shortest part of my skirt
to be approximately 15 inches long, so I cut
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out a square that was 40 by 40 inches.
Then, I simply folded this material in half,
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folded it in half again… so that I had this.
Then I took my waist measurement – 30 inches
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– and I divided this by 6.28.
This gave me approximately 4.7 inches. So,
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I drew a quarter circle with a radius of 4.7
inches onto this corner of the fabric, using
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some chalk.
Then, I cut this quarter circle out, cutting
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through all layers of fabric.
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I then unfolded the fabric, and I have this!
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Then I tried the skirt on for size and for
some reason... this happened.
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Now I know that my circle skirt maths are
right, so, at first I thought this was all
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my fault – that it was due to the fact that
I didn’t put any pins in the fabric here,
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and then cut this circle out pretty haphazardly…
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BUT WAIT GUYS – NO – IT’S NOT MY FAULT
because then I actually read on this website
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that it’s the fabric’s fault, due to something
called “bias”.
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Which is, bascially, how your fabric stretches
diagonally. And according to this website,
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cutting on the bias will cause your fabric
to stretch. So they actually recommend taking
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4 inches off your waist measurement and THEN
calculating your circle radius!
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So, I should actually use a 26 inch waist
measurement.
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Well, now I know that for the future. But
unfortunately, I’ve already cut out my fabric
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IN THE PAST.
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But, never fear, I haven’t ruined my fabric,
because this is totally fixable – and let
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me show you how I fix it!
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So I cut straight up here - which I was intending
to do anyway - and then I folded the raw edges...
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over until the circle’s circumference is
about 30 inches, which is my waist measurement!
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So, I put a mark on these two points, pinned
these extra pieces out of the way, and then
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I continued!
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At this point, I also hemmed the bottom of
the skirt. First, I overlocked all the edges,
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then I folded the edges over about 1/2 an
inch, and then I sewed over the top using
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a straight stitch. Now I know that not everyone
has an overlocker machine, so if you do want
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to try out this project then check out this
video here, which gives you 3 different ways
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to hem a skirt!
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The next step is to cut out my waistband.
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I cut out a rectangle of fabric that is 4
inches wide, and my waist measurement, plus
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2-3 inches, long.
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Today, I’m making a cheat’s version of
a waistband.
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With the wrong side of the waistband facing
UP, I fold it over in half length-ways. Now,
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the right side of the waistband is on the
outside.
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Then, I simply sew, using a straight stitch,
down this edge.
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Now to attach the waistband to the skirt - with
the skirt right-side up, I line the sewn edge
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of the waistband up with the raw edge of the
waist.
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Then I sew the two pieces together like this.
And I’m going to be sewing directly over
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the top of the stitches that I made when I
constructed the waistband.
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I also make sure that I unfold those folded-over
edges on, that I made earlier to resize the
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skirt, before sewing over the top of them.
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I then go over these stitches again with my
overlocker to make it look neater on the inside,
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but again, this is not a necessary step if
you don’t own one of these.
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Then, I unfold the waistband and... this is
what it looks like attached to the top of
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the skirt.
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Then I fold the skirt in half, right sides
together, so that the two un-sewn edges of
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the skirt line up.
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And now I'm going to insert my zipper!
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So I grab my zipper, which is about 6 inches
long, line it up with the skirt (with the
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waistband at the top) and now I’m going
to sew basting stitches from here to here,
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and NORMAL length, straight stitches, with
a backstitch, from here to here.
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After sewing the skirt back together into
a loop, I press the seam open. Then I lay
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my zipper down on top of the seam, so that
the teeth of the zipper match up exactly with
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the seam.
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And then I’m going to sew the zipper onto
the skirt like this.
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It helps, when you're inserting a zipper,
to use a zipper foot, but if you don’t have
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one, then you can carefully use a normal sewing
foot or even hand-stitch it in.
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Lastly, I carefully cut through the basting
stitches to remove them, setting the zipper
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free! And I’m done.
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So – how does it look? How did I go?
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[music plays]
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So my conclusion is OBVIOUSLY:
[scissors snipping sound effect]
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Make this for yourself!
If you already know how to make a circle skirt,
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this is even simpler - because the most difficult
thing, I think, about making a circle skirt
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is hemming that curved edge - and this doesn't
even have curved edges!
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Anyway, thank you all so much for watching,
give me a thumbs up if you enjoyed this, and
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I'll see you all next time. Bye!