There’s nothing better than trends that are simple to recreate, and this season’s nautical vibe is one that drew my eye straight away, while I was trawling net-a-porter to see what I could a. afford or b. make. I came up trumps when I spotted a number of different items (jackets, dresses, skirts and the like) embellished with gold nautical inspired buttons. And so I thought why not? In truth to do this project you can simply add gold buttons to any navy skirt, but I thought it would be nice to create a faux panel which gave the impression of a button up style. This turned out to be easy to do using the piece of fabric left over when I shortened this skirt. Yay!
Before & After: The Nautical Button Skirt
You need:
– A skirt (either to make shorter or to simply embellish.
– 8 gold buttons
– a needle and thread
– scissors and a sewing machine if you plan on shortening and re-hemming
How to:
1. First, measure how long you want your skirt, and add a seam allowance.
2. Cut the skirt off where you marked.
3. Overlay the leftover piece of fabric over the front of the skirt. Iron down the raw edge of the panel. Resew the hem.
4. Pin and then sew the front panel to the skirt.
5. Place the buttons on the skirt and measure to make sure they are equally spaced. Sew the buttons on.
Voila! Pair with a few golden accessories to bring out the bling. Can I be honest and say this is one of my fave projects for a long time? Mainly because I know it’s something I’ll wear and wear and wear.
A tip for choosing your base skirt – I picked bought one that was slightly too big, which I think in the end looked better than had it been skin tight.
Photos by Nicola Lemmon
