I have this denim skirt that I love because it fits and it’s comfortable, etc. But, I can’t wear it anymore because it is way too short. I mean way, way, way too short. It’s physically possible for me to put it on and everything, and I’m pretty sure you can’t see anything you’re not supposed to when I have it on (unless I’m on an escalator), but when I factor in my age and the fact that I’m a mom and all that stuff; it would just look like I was trying to win third runner up in a neighborhood milf contest and that would be a sad day. I digress. The point is, I wanted to make the skirt work for me because I love wearing skirts and I love this skirt, so I decided to lengthen it with some fun fabric. When I was just about to do that, I saw a vintage pillow case in my sewing room that I had actually turned into a dress (yes, a dress for me and yes, I do know that I’m not a toddler; thank you) that ended up being too tight through the hips (it was a king size pillow case, so it was plenty long, but apparently the widest point of my body just is not pillow case size anymore; lesson learned) and I was planning to cut it off and make it into just a summer top, but of course it had been there all summer and I hadn’t done it. Then, a magical idea occurred to me.

You see, my favorite part of this pillow case is the trim along the opening. That, plus a little of the main body of the case would be the perfect amount to lengthen my skirt. So, I cut that much off the pillow case and began sewing it to the inside hem of my skirt. Problem. As I neared the end of the seam, I was all out of pillow case and still had some skirt. Basically, the circumference of my skirt hem was slightly larger than that of my pillow case. Darn. So, I undid it all and put my thinking cap on… And, since the skirt tapered up slightly, and since I had cut the pillow case with much to spare, I was able to resew it a few inches higher inside my skirt (I matched my thread to the skirt so you can’t even tell) where the circumference of the skirt was slightly smaller and it worked out perfectly. Yay!

I love the vintage pillow case and the skirt and now I get to wear them both. Plus, I already wore it in public and it was really comfortable and cute and I’m happy with it. It’s sort of like having a faux slip under my skirt or something. I’m sold.

I’m confident it won’t be one of those DIY projects that never gets used for it’s intended purpose…we all know about those… 🙂