Carefree Skirt and Bag

The project for May in the Carefree Clothes for Girls Sew-Along was the Natural Cotton Skirt, made out of three layers of unhemmed fabrics and fastened on the side with hook & eye clasps and a string tie.

This one took a little longer for me to finish -- at first glance, I had thought it would be pretty easy, but I was in for a surprise....there were a lot of fabric layers, after all.  :-)  PINS became my best friends.

I used leftover upholstery fabric for the top skirt;  and for the middle, an old white skirt of mine with a pale blue plaid.   It was leftover from college.   The bottom skirt was cream and blue ticking from American Jane...

.... and the waistband ties were from another old shirt of mine (maternity....)

...which also provided my favorite piece:  the off-set ruffle.  Why make that the SAME color as the skirt?  I wanted that to show itself in all it's quirkiness, after all!

The only changes I made other than colors (book suggests all three fabrics in untreated, natural cotton) were in stitching down the seams flat on both the yoke and side hems of the three skirts. Eliza can go very quickly to feeling like something is scratchy.....

I liked this skirt -- even though it was trickier than I thought would be and my finger hurts from the hand stitching.  It was the first time I had ever used hooks & eyes, and I kind of like them in that metal-bit sort of way. 

It also startled me during this project just how much I save and stash away. For DECADES, apparently.
 ;-)

The optional project this month was the Bag in canvas -- unhemmed and de-constructed all the way to not even having a pattern.  Just drawings & measurements were given in the book.  Here I stayed pretty true to the general instructions, but used one of my Flea Market linen handkerchiefs on the outside of the bag, instead of recommended doily. 

I stitched in on carefully,  to keep the option of someday pulling it back off intact.  The silver stitching is over the 'join' in that tatted lace edging, which had made a grayish shadow.  Silver to the rescue. 

A little silver stitching on the bag corners, too...

I used a 3" wide strip of floral upholstery fabric on the outside of the shoulder strap, and also on the edge of the bag, underneath the leather button strap.  The plain canvas exterior is lined inside with an old  cotton dress in pale yellow (another maternity item) which had two pockets already sewn on.   I only had to save that one for eleven years to find the perfect use. ;-)

In a surge of  'carefree inspiration' I sewed on a little hook (from the hook & eye package!) and hung a small muslin spice bag on the inside. 

This metal hook/muslin bag combination not only provided a little distraction from the stitches that had attached the leather strap, but also made me feel happy.  I want to keep the bag for myself, now.  ha ha!

As soon as my finger stops hurting, I can make a Mom-sized bag, then.