Doona to Dirndl in an afternoon

Inspired by the crafty lot who refashion out of op shop finds, I've been scouring the local Vinnies and Salvos to see if I too can be adventurous and thrify.

Found this double bed doona cover for $3.75 at the Smith Family and thought, hm... could be a skirt?

The whitish blotch is a camera error.  The fabric itself is unstained and not old and cacky.   Probably not a well loved doona cover by the look of it.  Maybe one of those bedroom updates that don't really work and then it gets stuck in a cupboard for a millennia.

Anyway, the fabric itself is a mauve, then has a ribbon trim and a shot 'silk' border of blue/mauve.

Better detail may be seen here

So I wondered if I should use the concept of this pattern (a current work in progress)

and use the shot silk section as the bottom trim.

I didnt have to do any piecing on this at all.  Just turned up the bottom section and sewed it down using the ribbon to hide the seams. 

Put in a zip, gather it up, chuck on a waistband.   Not that you need a guide on how to do this, but I did read Gertie's tutorials for a bit of guidance.   My fabric wasn't as wide, and I preferred to stop the zip where the waistband joins and close with a button.  I thought Gertie's instruction of one inch of ease in the waistband would be too loose, so of course I only gave 1 centimetre and - its a little tight !   Maybe somewhere in between next time ?

Of course the zip and buttons came from my stash so the only outlay was the fabric.  Not a bad skirt for $3.75 !   I'm wondering if I need to do anything with the fabric that's left over.   There's a whole side left of the plain mauve colour.  Suggestions?

PS - hubbie came home in time to take the pic otherwise this would have been the final shot !

lore
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