Idea Venture - Ribbon Jean Skirt

Again, this is where I take an already-created project and attempt to do it myself.

Here's the Great Idea Version

Here's My Version

This was such a fun project - and it's actually easier than it looks. I chose Fall colors, but you could easily do any kind of holiday or general color scheme. So in keeping with my "simple" motto, here's what I did:

This skirt was a resale store find I've had for a while. I just dug it out of my daughter's drawer and went to work.

First I measured a good length to cut off. Since my skirt had pockets so close to the bottom, I chose to keep them in tact and cut just underneath them.

I made sure to mark all the way around the skirt with my pencil and ruler, marking from the bottom as my guide. This helps keep your cutting straight all the way around.

Cut, being careful to stay on your lines - especially going over those seams.

Fold hem up about 1/4" and zig zag stitch it all the way around to keep it from fraying.

Determine how much of a loop you want to hang down from the skirt.

I liked my loops right at 2 1/2 inches. Using varying widths of ribbon, I ended up using 8 pieces of 6 different colors. Cut a few extra just in case you need them.

I'm sure there are better, smarter ways of getting the loops to lay flat, but I chose to glue them down. There's nothing worse than trying to work with ribbon that won't lay where you want it, so I decided just to make it easy on myself and glue them together using a washable glue stick.








Once my loops were glued and ready to go, I measured my ribbon band to go around the skirt, overlapping it about 2 inches so I'll be able to finish it off.

So here I have my measured ribbon and my loops. Starting in the middle, I lined up my loops in a pattern, keeping the bottoms straight. You can keep them close together like I did, or spread them apart. Be creative and do what you like. Use a ruler to push them in place if you need.

Then, I got my strip of fusible webbing, cut it to fit the exact length of the line of loops, and laid it across the very top. Then I placed my top (cream) ribbon on top of the webbing and ironed everything down, careful not to move the iron, and careful to keep everything lined up straight.

Here is the finished band of loops all pressed together with the iron-on adhesive.

(Whoa! A little blurry! Sorry...) I pinned my band of loops onto the bottom of the skirt, starting in the front middle, keeping the bottom of the cream ribbon lined up with the edge of the skirt. Because I'm going to stitch on the top and bottom of the cream band, I want to make sure I catch the skirt all the way around on the bottom.







In the back, tuck the cream band under and pin in place.

Because I want it to look like one continuous band, I'm going to figure out if I need another different colored ribbon to go on the band so I don't have any gaps. You can take off or put on as you like towards the end here. Nobody is going to pay attention if the pattern is off just a little there in the back.





I've got exactly the right length and I've folded my cream band over the red loop, ready to pin in place.

Here is what the back should end up looking like. You're going to begin and end your stitching in the back right there.

Now stitch all the way around, starting at the bottom edge of your band first so you secure all of your ribbons, and then stitch the top edge of your band.

I couldn't resist doing a little band for each pocket. My machine couldn't get into the tight space, so I had to hand-stitch this down.

My daughter LOVED the finished product! (nevermind the purple shirt - it's her favorite.)

Now what would really complete this outfit would be a cute t-shirt with 3 of my ribbon colors stitched across the chest like I've done with my onesies. And, for those REALLY ambitious people, a matching hair bow is absolutely necessary. At least do the hair bow and coordinate a matching, unembellished t-shirt. But with all of this cool ribbon, it's crazy not to make matching stuff with it, don't you think?

REMEMBER: If it's hand made, you should hand wash. At least use gentle cycle.

I hope some of you try out this

great idea and show me your pictures! Thanks, again to Chantel for sending this my way. Another project that these ribbon loops would work with is a baby blaknet border. Babies love to play with loops and different textures - and you can hook their little chains and pacifier holders onto the loops. However, that will be another project for another day!