Folks Just Called Her "Yellow"

(It's true...although I know you'd never guess it from outward appearances, I am a closet Kenny Rogers fan. In a big way. Thanks for the inspiration for the title of this post, Kenny)

If you've not yet checked out MADE, please do yourself a favor and do so, ASAP. It's a treat for all of your senses, with awesome photography, inspiring projects, and, most importantly for me, honest and detailed and humorous (but not snarky and sarcastic) writing that never fails to impress me.

Dana's latest tutorial is for this circle skirt, which, true to her word, I whipped up in no time - in between last night's bedtime chores and planning for J's 8th birthday today and (kind of) cleaning up the kitchen, in fact. Mine is made from a vintage sheet which, completely coincidentally, is in YELLOW, which just happens to be the very color being celebrated over at MADE.

In fact, this whole project was fortuitous, in every way:

1. I have a quickly-growing pile of vintage sheets on my shelves, and since this project takes a good bit of fabric, the sheets were perfect. I love looking at those sheets, but I love working with them - and wearing them - even more.

2. Dana also provides a great tutorial for dyeing elastic...it provided the opportunity for one of those "Duh! I can't believe you didn't think of this yourself, Michelle!" moments for me, but in a good way. I've been looking for wide (2" - 3") elastic in any color OTHER than white or black for months, and it never once occurred to me to dye my own, even when I absolutely could not find any other colors, even though I have used fabric dye for many other projects in the past. I wanted to make a gathered skirt with exposed elastic for quite a while, but my lack of elastic options was holding me back...well, that and my lack of motivation, and the fact that I don't have enough time to complete the hundreds of projects floating around in my head, and the fact that I promised to make two dresses for K's school auction last week, and the fact that the bathroom needs to be scrubbed. But I digress. Dyed elastic, you've opened up a whole new world for me. I thank you. My grungy bathroom, not so much.

3. I happened to have 2" wide white elastic, right here at the house, which meant I didn't have to go out to the fabric store (always a good thing, according to my husband). I also happened to have just one package of RIT dye in...you guessed it, yellow.

4. I made a skirt like this last fall for K, based on a project I saw on Stylelicious (you are sorely missed, HGTV favorite) a couple of years ago. I made a wrap-around, reversible version, which I really liked, but I wanted to simplify the project before I made another. Lo and behold, I came across the exposed-elastic tutorial, and I knew it was meant to be.

I am in love with it. Love, I say! I plan to make a couple more this weekend. I love the swing of it, the fact that I can use vintage sheets (or any upcycled, lightweight fabric) to make it, the retro look...everything. We're driving right past the fabric store tomorrow, which means I can pick up more elastic and more dye, too.

Some things are just meant to be.