Not the Incredible Bulk - Sweet Creek Moon

So–I put together another slip extender–using a sundress–and I’m going to show you how I did it.

It would be a joyous thing if it’s as clear on paper as it was in my head.

We’ll see.

I have quite a lot of 6″ elastic lace in my sewing-craft-stacks room. Not boxes of it. Just enough to make an occasional slip extender. It’s not something I’ve found in local stores–only online. Because it’s only available in 1-yard increments, I purchase at least 2 yards when I order it.

Whenever I’m wearing a slip extender, I want it to extend the length of the skirt–not (absolutely NOT) extend the girth of my hips. Or waist. Or anything. ~smile~

This elastic fits snuggly without adding bulk. I like that.

The Incredible Bulk.

Nope. ~rah~

These are two different pieces of elastic–it doesn’t matter which one I use.

I found this little sundress at Downeast. I actually found two. The deal was this: purchase one for $15 or purchase two for $20.

This is how simple this project was.

#1–remove the top of the dress

#2–I used a pair of scissors (you don’t want to use a rotary cutter on this one) to cut just above the skirt.

Now you have two pieces. I suppose the small piece could be…maybe…an oven mitt.

(I decided to keep the lining that was part of the sundress–which means someone could actually wear it for a skirt and not just as an extender. When I cut the top off, I needed to attach the lining to the skirt–so I serged the top of the lining and the top of the skirt together.)

I chose the top piece of lace.

#3–Cut enough to make the elastic snug around your middle.

I decided to try something different and sewed two pieces of 6″ elastic together to form a longer yoke.

#4–If you’re going to do it that way, be sure to cut two pieces of elastic.

#5–Serge one piece of elastic closed.

#6–Serge the other piece closed.

#7–Match the seam on one of the elastic pieces with a side seam on the skirt. Pin it.

#8–Match the other side of the skirt with the other side of the lace.

And–you’ve probably already guessed–pin it.

#9–Find a center point on the skirt between the two pins.

#10–Mark that center point with a pin.

#11–Do the same thing with the elastic. Find the center point between the two pins and mark it. I used a pin, again.

#12–Flip the skirt over and do the same thing on the other side. (Find the center points on the skirt and the lace.)

#13–Take the center point of the skirt and the center point of the lace on one side–match them up (pin to pin)–and pin it. ~grin~

Do that on both sides.

The skirt should be pinned to the lace band in four spots.

#14–Place the zipper foot down directly on any one of the pins.

#15–Manually turn the needle into the fabric–take out the pin–but don’t sew yet. (I use the largest zigzag stitch on my machine to sew the skirt to the band.)

(The machine has black thread in it because I was going to do a sew-to-show-you-how–but–I knew I would have to pick it out. No. Blah. No. Unpicking elastic is just about the quickest way to turn a heart cold to sewing.)

The skirt is wider than the elastic. That’s a good thing.

With the needle/presser foot holding your fabric and lace together, find the next pin on your skirt/lace band…

…and gently pull until the lace is stretched to match the skirt material between the pins.

Add pins if you want.

If you don’t want, then just continue to gently hold onto the fabric while you sew. I go completely around the waistband sewing from pin to pin.

Works for me.

If you didn’t want to add another layer of elastic, your slip extender would be done.

Woo-Hoo!

However, if you’re going to add another layer of elastic, simply match up the elastic seams and pin.

Mark a halfway point on the the other side (like we did when we were attaching the skirt to the lace).

You’ll do the same thing with the machine needle anchoring as well as evenly pulling the elastic bands as you sew them to ensure the the lace will ‘give’ a little when you wear it.

Don’t make a seam–just sew one layer of lace on top of the other.

Two pieces of elastic means you can wear it like this:

[Why yes, those are the adorable socks from Sock-tober 6th.]

Or–fold the lace at the 6″ line and wear it like this:

Voila!

You have a skirt that you could wear another slip extender under (a fun colored or patterned one). With a cardi and a cute top.

Sweet.

I was actually going to try and put together two posts today–for Leslie, just because she asked for such a thing.

And the day that I figure out how to put together a post more quickly than I am currently doing–BoOm. I’ll post twice in one day.

Do not–I repeat–do NOT hold your breath.

I’ve got to go take my October day walk.

Happy Walk-tober 8th.

what do you think? Cancel reply