Marimekko Refashion

It was a beautiful Spring weekend, complete with rainbows, sunsets, and a trip to the zoo.  My son dressed himself, including the jewelry.  I love his quirky style.  We dyed Easter eggs and made this yummy kiwi ice cream.  Amidst all of the Easter buzz, I was able to refashion this dress...

Note:  I have no idea what is going on with my photos.  They keep disappearing, and I don't know how to get them to stay on the page.  I apologize for these technical difficulties. 

I picked it up for free at a clothing swap.  The Marimekko fabric entranced me.  Unfortunately, it was a bit too small, and the straps around the chest area were a little awkward.

There were also these two obvious stains.

 

 

For a quick fix, I used a sharpie and a piece of card stock (so that the Sharpie wouldn't bleed through), and drew a little design over the stains.

 

Can you tell which ones I drew?  Did you guess the slightly off-centered triangles? You're right!

Notice the overly chunky bird foot prints?  Those are mine as well.  They seem to do the trick.

My next step was to use a pencil skirt pattern and cut out the pieces from the bottom half of the dress.

Before sewing up the left side, I attached the sashes, pinning them below where the bias tape would go. On the left side, I sewed the sash up with the seam of the skirt.  On the right side, I only sewed one side so that I could attach the zipper.

I then sewed completely up the left side and up to the zipper mark on the right.

Next, I attached the bias tap around the top of the skirt. I pinned the right side edge of the bias tape to the right side edge of the skirt.

  

I then stitched right onto the top unfolded crease.

 

Once this was sewn into place, I ironed the inside seam.

Next, I folded the bias tape over to the inside of the skirt, and ironed it down.

 

I folded over the raw edges on the ends.

After the tape was nicely ironed down, I stitched very close to the outside edge of the bias tape. When I came to the ends, I sewed the folded edges down so that the raw edges would be on the inside.

Luckily, I was able to salvage the original zipper from the dress.  I sewed it in the seam, over the right sash.

And... here you have it.  A Marimekko sash pencil skirt.  I am so in love with this print.

I almost forgot!  I wanted to share the homemade kiwi ice cream recipe with you.  I got it out of a Rachael Ray magazine.  It's super easy and delicious.  My kid loves it.

One 7 oz container of marshmallow cream
One cup of heavy whipping cream
Four kiwis (peeled and sliced)

Puree in blender.  Put in a dish. Freeze for four or so hours.  Enjoy!!