Skirt Dilemma
 

So there's this skirt I have. It is just below the knee and it's lace with a heavy slip layer under it. The lace has pulled apart in several spots leaving holes with just the slip showing through. I don't mind the holes so much, but I am concerned about them getting caught on things. Once in a while I'm really bothered by the messiness of it but most of the time I love it anyway. I've been letting several ideas roll around in my head concerning what to do about this beautiful yet thrashed thing.

* I could safety pin the big holes.
* I could gently sew the holes shut but run the risk of having uneven pull on the lace making the hemline asymmetrical which I suppose wouldn't be such a bad thing.
* I could possibly replace the lace with a large piece I bought from a friend a while ago who was clearing out her stash, but haven't checked if it's big enough yet. The skirt is black and the lace from friend is ivory so the contrast might be nice.

What would G-Net do?

I'd think we'd need to see it to assess if the lace is salvageable or not.

Well all righty then! Hopefully can get the pics taken + posted tonight. Hang tight :)

oops, totally screwed up!

Here is one side of the skirt.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caramews/4788586787/

The other side
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caramews/4788586977/

Lace for fixing, although it's not enough to entirely redo the skirt.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caramews/4789216438/

I hope it worked right this time

Yeah that totally isn't enough to cover the skirt. I wouldn't advise safety pins, the rips in the first picture is just too much for that. I'd attempt sewing it, and if it doesn't turn out okay, scrap the lace for another project like lace gloves or something and get another bit of lace. Maybe dive into the thrift stores and see if there are skirts or something there with lots of lace on it, or shell out the money for new lace.

here's one idea for you. make a few more artfully placed tears in the lace, but not so much that the lace layer hangs weird. Then get out your sewing machine, and satin stitch ( a wide zig-zag with the stitches as close together as you can get them without it tangling) around each tear, securing the lace directly to the slip part. A dress form would really help things though, while you are pinning the lace to the slip, to make sure the skirt hangs right when you decide exactly where to stitch it down. It could be cool, but i don't know how much effort you want to put into a project that might not come out right. Hope this helps.

Once I find out what kind of thread to use, and get the time, I think I will try sewing the lace holes to the slip part. I don't have a sewing machine so it would all be by hand. Would it look neat to do the repair stitching in a slightly contrasting color? Purple is always a hit with me or deep red would be nice too, kind of like my skirt was bleeding :)

If you're into embroidery or patches, you put some of that sort of thing in the negative space where the holes in the lace are.

I would suggest to do what Saya says.
But that ivory lace looks so fine :)

Morgy- I'm going ot have to use the ivory lace for something else. There's not enough to fix my skirt.

AD- I was daydreaming in class today and thought it might be neat to get lace of a different color for patching.

This morning I mailed my mom with the pics of the skirt and she wants me to send it to her to be fixed because when my grandma died she left her vault of fabrics to my mom + aunt, apparently there's some lace in there my mom thinks would work.

So I guess I won't use this skirt as a procrastination of homework excuse after all!

That would look so cool... if you do it, you should totally post us some pics. :D

I'll have to see what my mom comes up with I guess. Sounds like Grandma's stash is black lace which would not be bad of course, because there will still be the difference of textures most likely. I'll remind Mom that a different color will be OK though. *the suspense has now been cued* ;) And I'll def. post pics.