Refashioned Refashioned Skirt

Remember the Refashioned Skirt made from a thrifted pair of jeans? I wasn't happy with the way it hung so I cut the lower part off and remade it. The moderately heavyweight rayon brocade has the necessary heft to hold the yoke in place. It is a vast improvement over the lightweight challis.









The backview.

I bought the fabric intending to make a pantsuit out of it. After this project, I will be lucky to eke out a short jacket and a slim knee-length skirt out of the remainder. Good thing that slim skirts are back in fashion this fall. (Am I the only one who has fashion whiplash? It is a good thing I hung on to all those high-waisted mommy pants.)








The lightweight rayon challis from Refashioned Skirt #1 was itself refashioned this afternoon. Iris wore it on our outing to the Cotton Shop. What led us to stroll over to the Cotton Shop? Iris wanted to make pink ballet slippers for Purrfect Kitty.

She saved up 5 weeks' allowance so that she could go to Build a Bear. She had only enough to buy Purrfect Kitty and one dress. She wanted the back to school backpack set but decided she would have to come back later when she had the money. She also wanted shoes but thought they were overpriced. She asked if we could make some.

The two felt squares set us back 30 cents each plus tax. Iris embellished the slipper with "bows" drawn on with a pink felt tip marker. How I love having such a wonderful independent fabric shop so close to home!

Half of the trim section. Iris is telling me to quit taking pictures and go home already.

A small glimpse of the fashion fabric area.

Part of the home dec area.

Look, another customer also likes the aqua and chocolate brown color combination! She was ahead of me in line but let me go first because she wasn't done making her selection yet.

The view leaving the Cotton Shop.

See this piece of blue sky with the mountains behind it? Click on it to blow it up larger. On a clear day, you can see the Hollywood sign. Take a good look because this view will disappear shortly. Watt Communities is building 6000 sf of retail on the ground floor with three stories of condominiums (48 senior units) above and two levels of parking below. If you do the math, that is six stories. Note the one story surrounding buildings.

Take a look at their sketch. Just half a million dollars and you can own one of these 1-bedroom condominiums on a busy thoroughfare. Note that their website extols the virtues of Redondo Beach and it's picturesque harbor area. It doesn't mention that this corner is 2 miles from the ocean and 4 miles from the harbor in question. The developers also talked the city into zoning the lot to allow for more housing units by arguing that greater density would make the units more affordable.

See how the street drops off a cliff there? That lot backs up to condominiums, a parkette and a storm overflow catchment basin in the valley below. Those condominiums below are three stories tall, but their roofs will be level with the parking garage. The new development will be their neighbor to the south so they may never see sun again.

See the rainbow flag on the bar next to the new condos? It is the only gay bar in the South Bay. Our realtor tried to discourage us from buying in this area. He showed us homes in 'Beryl Heights', 'Alta Vista', 'Golden Hills' and 'the Hollywood Riviera'. He couldn't understand why we kept bidding in 'Felony Flats'. Historically, this is the low rent part of the Beach Cities. It is also the only place where the rents are low enough for cool businesses to thrive.

He pointed out the gay bar and how close it is to our home. Mark and I looked at each other. We had just read Richard Florida's article about The Rise of the Creative Class. His research shows that property values rise faster in neighborhoods that are gay-friendly. Why? Because the creative class prefers diverse neighborhoods. We can walk to many ethnic eateries, food shops, thrift stores and independent art and craft shops (representing 20 different nationalities). There is even an independent hardware store where where one can be waited on by a guy with an engineering degree from Caltech. But that store deserves its own post.