My daughter's first skirt - upcycling an adult dress into a children's wrap skirt

I will be honest, it's hard to sit down and write anything much at the moment. I have been sewing in fits and starts which always helps my mental health enormously. But in general the world feels pretty overwhelmingly awful at the moment. I say that as a confirmed optimist! I'll stick to the sewing chat but suffice to say that life feels like a grind right now. I'm finding joy where I can! Of course my delightful little children bring me a lot of that joy. Thanks kids.

My little girl (almost 5) asked me out of the blue the other week: "Mummy, can I do some sewing?" "Sure!", I said. I wondered whether she'd like to make a bag or a cushion cover but she wanted to make "a summer dress or skirt from a pattern." Oh my love. On Sunday we had a look for some fabric in the upcycling box, and came across this bright pink ex-dress of mine which caught her eye. The dress has long since stopped fitting me but the fabric holds happy memories for me, so it has sat patiently for about 3 years waiting to be made into something else. 

In the end we didn't need a pattern as I suggested a simple wrap skirt, mostly for ease of sewing, but also to fit for longer. We used the dresses original hem as a time saver, and my mini sewing student sewed hems on the edges of the wrap part, sewed gathering sticthes along the top and gathered them, then helped me pin the twill ribbon along the top. She then sewed this in place and voila! Very fast result, one happy little sewer and her first project ticked off. She's already asking to make something else! 

We had to engineer a solution for reaching the peddle, so here is what we ended up with: books on top of upturned washing basket. 

When she tried the skirt on she said it makes her feel strong like Luisa from Encanto! I love that :)