Vintage mini leather skirt
By Airin Gomura
At the beginning of winter, I decided that I really really wanted a leather skirt. I was also adamant that I didn’t want to pay $200+ for it, as seen in fashion magazines. So you can imagine my delight when I found this high-waisted brown leather skirt for a cool $65. Vintage of course.
I found this skirt at an awesome vintage clothing store I encountered during my trip to Melbourne earlier this year. I know everyone agrees, that Melbourne definitely has much more going on then Sydney when it comes to shopping. The store is called Retrostar, and I highly recommend that you check it out next time you are in town. Retrostar is a large store that stocks funky vintage wear for both guys and girls. Dave bought a blue retro zip-up parker there – we had so much fun trying on cool clothes.
I was very lucky to find a skirt that fit me perfectly around the waist. As usual though, length was another matter – I needed to shorten the skirt by at least 6cm. Even though I pride myself on DIY, I was not keen on messing with leather. There was also the lining which would have to be cut and refinished. The quotes I received from professional tailors for this job ranged from $60-$80. Seriously.
There was no way I could justify that much spend on a $65 skirt, so I took a deep breath and got scissor happy. I used an iron-on hemming product called “Hem Web” to fuse the folded leather hem, being extra careful not to overheat the iron. I then used the overlocker/serger to finish off the trimmed polyester lining to imitate the original stitchings. The most difficult part was finishing off the split at the back, but so far, I’m pretty pleased with my first encounter with leather.
Have you made anything with leather? Can you suggest a good beginner’s project with leather?
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