Deconstruction of a Skirt

In my last post, I was discussing my current sewing inspiration and a little about how I intend to get to the finished product.  If you missed it, just click here and have a read.

I made mention that I will be using a thrifted leather skirt for the black leather trim on the inspiration piece.  In order to keep this sewing hobby from breaking the bank, I scour the local thrift shops for pieces that can be refashioned or upcycled.  I am a real sucker for leather and suede skirts.  Did you know that the back side of leather is suede and vice versa.  Granted, most suede doesn't have very pretty leather on the back side.  It is usually blemished or it has a weird grain, but occasionally I get lucky and find a real gem that is gorgeous on either side.  I rarely pay more than $2 for any garment I buy at my favorite local thrift store.  If it is more than $2 I try to wait til it goes on 1/2 price color of the week.  I should also mention that I have found some amazing crafting buys at my local thrifts and I will do more postings on some of those finds at a later date.

Back to the leather at hand!  Here are front and back pictures of my skirt before deconstruction:

She really feels like butter!  The fact that she is is a patchwork skirt doesn't bother me, because they are decent size patches, and they are well constructed so I won't even separate them when I need pieces, I will just cut them as is.

My first step in deconstruction was to remove the waistband.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture at that step.  Deconstruction of garments is something I think everyone who is learning to sew should delve into.  You learn so much about how garments come together when you are taking them apart, and often that experience will help you to understand pattern instructions a little better.

My next step after removing the waistband was to liberate the lining.  I will be holding on to the lining, because it is a decent lining piece, and a thrifty gal always holds on to the bits from a deconstruction.  

Removing the lining...see the suede on the back of the leather?

From the lining I moved on to removing the very heavy duty zipper.  Then I split the seam that ran from the skirt vent to the zipper insertion point.  Now here is what I am left with:

For $1.98 and 30 minutes of my time (I deconstructed while watching It's Sew Easy on PBS) I now have a 56x36 inch piece of leather, an 8 inch heavy duty zipper, and a lining piece the same size as the leather.  I should note that though the waistband is pictured it will be getting pitched.  It was made out of pleather, and that my friends is not a good thing.

Tomorrow I will post sketches and dimensions, and depending on if I have the time to get it done, maybe the final product.  Until then...