My friend Carrie took me to a fabulous little hole in the wall fabric store, and I set aside my typical thrifty self and bought a bunch of stuff just because I wanted it. The ribbon I used to make this skirt is one of those things. I almost never buy things ‘just because’. I buy things with projects in mind. Sometimes inspired on the spot as soon as I see something fabulous, but not just because I like something and I’ll figure it out later. This ribbon was so fabulous, and so cheap, that I had to break my own rule. It’s been sitting on top of my dresser for ages – until I saw the imaginisce i-cutter.
I asked imaginisce to send this to me so I could give it a try and it was just for this skirt idea. This ribbon cutter seals the edge of the ribbon as it cuts, so you won’t get any fraying, which means you can give your ribbons a little abuse and even wash them in the washing machine, and they’ll still look great. This can be accomplished in other ways, but this is the simplest, quickest, and cleanest, by a mile.
I took all the ribbon I had and cut it to the length of the skirt I was refashioning, using the i-cutter to give it a little angled end.
Then I grabbed this plain thrift store skirt, and pinned the ribbons around it. If I had more ribbons I would have arranged them closer together, but that’s one of the risks of buying without a plan. I sewed right down both edges of the ribbon, as close to the edge as I could get, and stopped about mid thigh. When I stopped I took a couple of stitches back and then a couple more forward to give a good solid anchoring. I wanted the ribbon to be able to fly free around my knees, but you can sew all the way down, or barely down at all.
This is a skirt that is fun to wear. Maybe even a little distractingly fun to wear.
