I was cleaning out my closet and came across not one but TWO genuine suede/leather skirts that must've belonged to my mother at some point. Unfortunately they are horribly, horribly out of fashion...super long, heavy and bulky, i'm not sure why anyone would EVER want to wear them as is...but I can't bear to throw them out and let all that leather go to waste!

So, my plan is to attempt to refashion them, and should that not work out, I'll just make them into handbags or something lol.

Unfortunately I'm a rather novice seamstress when it comes to clothing, so i do have a few questions and was hoping some of you more experienced folk could possibly weigh in with some advice on how to go about this? It would be much appreciated!!!!

So here it is::

the other skirt is exactly the same, just in black.

my idea is to try to cut it into a slightly-above-the-knee pencil skirt. the waist fits perfectly, so i think i'm going to cut it off a bit above that horizontal seam (making that panel a bit narrower in the process) to create one big panel of fabric I can cut down to size and then reattach to the waist bit. Does that seem like a good strategy? I want to go about it this way because it'll save me the trouble of having to put in a zipper, and i can just use the one thats already there

my worries are mostly with the fact the skirt is fully lined, which means I will have to either cut down the lining as well or do without it. I'm tempted to leave the lining in the top and then do without it on the bottom.

and also, does anyone have any experience sewing with leather?? the fabric isn't too think or heavy but its enough that makes me wonder if i should be considering new needles, and if my machine will even sew it at all! (it's a bit fussy sometimes.) what about thread??

lastly, has anyone tried dying suede before?? I might attempt on the khaki one....i'm thinking red

anyway, just looking for reassurance, advice, and any resources you guys might have to help me along!!! like i said I'm pretty new and have only made a few simple skirts before (think elastic waistbands and such), so this whole project is super intimidating!

thanks so much

I received last week from my partners, Amnesia and Honeyd! sorry for taking so long to get the pics up!
The one from Amnesia is themed off of William Morris textile designs, and i think she did a great job with it!


Then, I recieved a "once upon a time" hoop from honeyd. It will fit in perfectly with my storybook theme! I love the little glistening silver details


thanks to you both! i love them! this has been an excellent swap

I just received my fabulous Psyanky Egg hoop from Ffrogg! I love it!!
For those of you not familiar with Psyanky, they're eggs decorated with dye through a wax-resist method, and are prevalent throughout Eastern Europe. Many of the symbols and colors are also attached to certain meanings, and i love that Ffrogg also included those in her design!



Thanks so much, Ffrogg!!

I received from Calabaza!
maybe I should wait until morning/better light to take a picture, but nevertheless, here it is!



I got 2 tote bags: one says "I *heart* reading" in Russian. She also took the time to find out some of my favorite books, which she included on the front! the second one is  a polish version of "early bird gets the worm." Its got an adorable bird holding a work in the center! Both are great and will be very handy as I am ALWAYS toting books around...and i love new bags!

Then there is a little mug that says tea/чай (tea in russian), and its perfect for drinking tea out of! Its a little bit bigger than my current tea cup, and everyone knows....when it comes to tea, the more the merrier!

Last but not least is a hoopla she made! she says its her first attempt at embroidery and I think she did amazingly its a quite large hoop, and its got peanut butter and jelly appliqued on and has a phrase that essentially means "best friends" As soon as I find my nails (oops) i will be adding it to my hoopla wall!

Thanks for everything Calabaza! Everything is great, It's been a great swap and you've been a great partner!! 

I totally owe Luckdragon about 100 more monsters, and even then, I'm not sure any of them could possibly measure up to the amazingness she sent me.

Meet Ivan.
he came to me in his russian dancing outfit


Sometimes, though, he is feeling artistic, and changes into his beret and goes to sit along the left bank, no doubt with a book of french poetry and his easel


seriously, could he be any more awesome?! I don't think so. THANKS SO MUCH, LUCKDRAGON!

Just received from RaeRaggs!

here's what I recieved:



lots of fabric, some glass-etching stuff I can't wait to try, a cross-stitch kit, some project ideas....I was pretty pleased as it was, but then I opened the glass etching box and lo and behold she'd hid even more things in there!!



I LOVE the little measuring tape! then there was stickers, buttons, glitter, jewels, a stamp...

i can't wait to get to work crafting now and making use of all this stuff! thanks again Raeraggs

I forgot two languages on my list that I absolutely LOVE: Maori and Gaelic!!  Ooops, was just too excited to fill out the questionnaire!

I know, me too! all day I've been thinking of languages I shoulda/coulda/woulda put on the questionnaire if I'd thought of it in time!! My mind keeps wandering back to Arabic Calligraphy......YU MMY STUFF, THAT. Is it too late to add on to my list?!!  I love most any language with beautiful script, I think 

anyway my "weird" (and by weird i guess I just mean unusual, not often referred to, etc) were Serbian and Polish....I put Russian and french as well But then if y'all are putting stuff on there like Maori (I had to google it, oops! but now i know!!) maybe I'm not so weird afterall  haha just kiddin

BTW, is this Maori?

It's what came up in google  I'm not sure I've ever seen it before but wow I love it!

check out my Aesops Fables Hoop made by DaisyTattoo 


omg, look at the expressions on their faces!! haha!



I love it!! thanks so much!!

Would anyone be interested in a swap full of handcrafted goodies inspired by the Scandinavian folk art and design? Or anything Scandinavian-ish, for that matter! I saw a book on Scandinavian needlecraft at the bookstore today, and thought that'd be an amazing theme to use for a swap....and easily applicable to so many different mediums!

Could possibly be stretched to include anything from dala horses or other fun and whimsy folk art designs, to norse mythology, to Astrid Lindgren's stories...and so on and so forth!  

What does everyone think? Any suggestions?  I'd be happy to help organize it, but looking forward to hear what everyone thinks first!

totally just realized i posted my last received hoop in the wrong thread  oops, so sorry!!  ok, moving it all over here now for you guys to enjoy!

SO, I received this very fabulous Matroyska hoop from Troublet this week! It's adorable and beautifully made and looks oh so cute on my wall!



I love it!!


looking forward to receiving my other hoop soon as well! according to the tracking site it should've been here yesterday! bummed I now have to wait until Tuesday to check my mailbox again