Do It Yourself: Proenza-Inspired Wrap Skirt

Living in New York City 40 blocks away from Lincoln Center, where Fashion Week took place, and not being able to go to any shows was a hugeeee bummer.  I followed Fashionista.com and Refinery29 religiously throughout the week to check out all the action I was missing, including the show-goer attire, and came across my favorite fall color trend: oxblood.  It was EVERYWHERE.  I HAD to have it.

I've been a fan of DIY projects since, well, forever.  There's just something about wearing an original piece of jewelry or accessory or clothing that makes you feel GOOD.  Like really good.  Especially when someone stops and asks you where it's from, and you say with dignity, "Oh, I made it myself!"  When I saw this blog post featured on Refinery29, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I was going to hand-sew myself a wrap skirt in my new favorite oxblood color.

SPOILER ALERT: It happened.

Please note: the lighting in my room is just terrible, but it is indeed the same skirt!

The blogger behind A Pair and A Spare is an Aussie girl, and her blog is just fabulous.  Her DIY's are ridiculously amazing and her sense of fashion is stunning.  Oh, and she's adorable.  SO, I gave it a whirl, and having not sewn a clothing item together since Intermediate Sewing sophomore year of high school, it came out pretty decent.

The original blog post, "DIY Proenza Schouler Inspired Wrap Skirt," can be found here.

So, why am I bragging about this skirt project?  1. Originality is priceless, and 2. The total project cost me about $50, with everything bought from Mood Fabrics in NYC.  A Proenza wrap skirt is how much, you may ask?  Well, this skirt from Barney's is $4,450, so you get the idea.

The most important part of this project was pinning and trying it on, pinning and trying it on, and pinning and trying it on.  Because I hand-sewed the skirt as opposed to using a sewing machine, I flipped the hem over about a quarter inch and then over again another inch so that the hem wouldn't fray.  Also, I used four snaps, instead of the blogger's suggestion of two or three.

Things I liked about the project:

• Originality. Duh.
• Listening to new music + sewing something new = how to spend the perfect Saturday afternoon
• Now I have a brand new skirt! Yay!

Things I didn't like about the project:

• The blogger claims it's one of the easiest projects she's ever done, but honestly, it took me forever.  Could be that I havent sewn in a long time and after I pinned the hem all the way around I had to re-pin it to double-roll the fabric.
• Trying to measure the skirt length and all that is HARD.  I pretty much eyeballed the whole project, and if I didn't have an eye for balance and precision, the project would have looked a lot worse.
• One of the hardest parts was sewing the "V"s in the back of the skirt.  It's a lot of Trial and Error.

Alas, the finished product.

I'm thinking two outfits: 1. Oversized grey sweater over the skirt, big necklace, tights, brown boots.  And 2. Black long-sleeved shirt tucked into the skirt, big necklace, black tights, black boots.

Do you think you'd take the time to do this project yourself, or spend your $50 on a skirt elsewhere without the DIY hassle?  Comment away!