Last year, I stumbled upon Golden Tote, a concept designed by Sarah Becker and Sarah Sweeney, the owners of the clothing line Puella. Every month, "small" and "large" totes are available for purchase; you select 1 or 2 items, and Golden Tote fills up the rest of your tote with 1-2 or 3-5 additional "surprise" items, which are selected loosely based on your designated fashion preferences.
This month, Golden Tote is offering mystery totes for purchase. These mystery totes include items from last year, but unlike the typical totes offered each month, the mystery totes are pre-curated and all items in the tote are randomly selected.
In my mystery tote, I had the luck of receiving mostly items which I already had. I posted some of these duplicate items for trade on the Facebook Golden Tote Trading Group, but I decided to keep my duplicate Cut & Sew cardigan. Although I'm a huge fan of my Cut & Sew cardigan pictured below, after receiving another in a very similar pattern, I decided to try my hand at a refashion.
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| Golden Tote Cut & Sew Cardigan |
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| Miniskirt refashioned from Cut & Sew cardigan |
Materials:
- Golden Tote Cut & Sew Cardigan (similar cardigans should also work)
- matching thread
1. Determine your waist size for your skirt by first wrapping the cardigan around your waist, as shown below. The Cut & Sew tag will be at the top of your skirt.
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| (sleeves on cardigan have been turned inside out) |
Pull the cardigan taut and mark where you can pinch off the cardigan so that it stays on your waist. (If there's any concern about pulling the skirt up to your waist, you may want to provide more slack as it is easier to alter the skirt from a larger to smaller waist later on.)
2. Turn the cardigan inside out, and sew the cardigan shut, up to the point you marked in step 1. The closer you sew to the edge, the more relaxed the fit will be. A sewing machine is probably convenient for this step, but a basic backstitch will also work.
3. Try your skirt on, with the tag in the front. At this point, you may need to go back and alter the waist to your preference.
Grab the sleeves of the cardigan-turned-skirt and knot/double-knot the sleeves in the back. At this point, you can use the sleeves to come up with a number of variations (e.g. tie the sleeve into a bow, tie the sleeves in the front instead of the back, etc.).
Grab the sleeves of the cardigan-turned-skirt and knot/double-knot the sleeves in the back. At this point, you can use the sleeves to come up with a number of variations (e.g. tie the sleeve into a bow, tie the sleeves in the front instead of the back, etc.).
And voila! A simple refashion into a basic miniskirt.
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| (back) |
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| (front) |
I hope this provides some inspiration! Feel free to leave any questions or comments.
-IC
