I’ve been remembering wrap-around skirts. If you’re from my era, you probably remember them. They were large circles of cloth, open on one side. You wrapped the cloth around yourself and tied, buttoned, or buckled it at the waist. The overlap was in the back, so you had to keep smoothing the back of the skirt to make sure part of it wasn’t stuck up on the cloth underneath. If you don’t know what I mean and do a google search you will find a lot of skirts that end in the front, but I remember around 1970 ours were always ending in the back, like in this image.
These skirts were very easy to sew because you didn’t have to worry about fit. But they did tend to accentuate what we called a stick-out butt, which I had. I sure hated that feature, never knowing it would come into fashion when I no longer had it hahaha.
I am planning to make my daughter a junk journal for her wedding. I haven’t made a bound journal before, so I experimented by making a bound version to use for my regular arty junk journaling. I took an old adolescent lit textbook (I used to teach it to college students who were in the secondary ed program) and took out the “signatures” inside. Signatures are groups of sheets folded in half that are put into the binding as a unit. Each book is comprised of several signatures. Then I decorated the cover with old fabrics from my teen years, buttons from Grandma’s collection, and some doodads I found. I created three signatures of about 7 folded pages and bound these signatures into the cover.
For the wedding journal I got the idea of knitting a cover for it, and Marie Bailey at 1WriteWay gave me a lot of help. I haven’t knitted since I made a basketweave baby blanket for my son ahemahem years ago!
Make it a good, safe, productive, and peaceful week!
I remember owning a wrap-around skirt, Luanne, but I think they were beginning to go out of style. I didn’t have to worry about the “stick-out butt” feature since I’ve always had the “flat pancake butt” LOL! The journal looks great!
LOl, so you were like the girls in the photo! Thank you re the journal :).
Wrap around skirts! I really liked mine. I wore it with a “poor boy” pullover shirt. I DD remember worrying about that back of my skirt! LOL
Yes, poor boys! They have made an appearance in the memoir I’m working on. I had an orange one and a white one. I can’t imagine wanting to wear something so form-fitting today hahaha.
I also remember wrap around skirts. Easy peasy to make. Your journal is beautiful.
Thank you, Kate! So easy to make. No darts!
Great project and repurposing of “scraps” into visual poems. What a thoughtful, personal gift!
I am loving working with both paper and fabric scraps. A real replacement for glass scraps! I know she will love the journal and it will be cool to slip it into a knitted bag in her favorite color. My only concern is that if I put a lot of brooches and stuff on it, they will snap on the knitting. If that’s the case I’ll have to line the bag.
A matter of experimentation.
Yes.
You’re always doing interesting projects!
I had an orange wrap-around skirt. I liked it, but I remember it was a problem on a windy day.
Thank you, Merril! Haha, yes, wind, too. Do you know the Wallace Stevens’ quote from a letter, not a poem, about a wind lifting a woman’s skirt? “An inquiring wind.” haha
You’re welcome. No, I don’t think I know the quote. 🤣
Now you do 🙂
😀
I loved the wrap around style. Dresses too! What a beautiful gift for your daughter.
Yes, I remember the dresses, but more so the skirts. And the tops that matched the skirts so they looked like a dress!
Thank you so much. I think she will love it :).
Welcome
Luanne, you are one of the most creative people I know! I feel lazy – but I will try to write a blog today.
Haha, do NOT feel lazy, please. I know you have health issues to deal with that I do not. I even think (whispering) the shockwave therapy might be helping my shoulder. Don’t say anything yet ;).
Fingers crossed – but very quiet about doing it.
Very creative, Luanne. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, John! Hope you are planning to have a great week!
I’m planning to have a great week. Let’s see what the fates have in store.
I was obviously just too young for those skirts, but I do remember ones that wrapped around at the front! Good luck with your creation!
I remember the ones in the front, too. they were not the issues like the ones where you had to keep checking the back! I was going to say I wish I was too young, but then I’d have to give up all these memories hah. Thanks, Andrea!
I made several wraparound skirts, which I loved, as well as two wrap-around dresses. I still have one of the skirts and the two dresses, although I no longer wear them.
The junk journal turned out beautifully!!
Were the dresses more difficult to make or to wear? So funny how many of our generation sewed their own clothes. Maybe a fashion at the time? My mom didn’t.
Thank you Re the journal!
The dresses weren’t hard to make, but they were sleeveless with a fairly low back (like a jumper), so they were tricky to wear because one shoulder kept falling down.
You’re welcome!
That would be very annoying!
Loved the wrap-around skirts. I admire your talent in making these scrap books and journals.
I wonder if skirts like that will ever come back in style. They look so 70s to me. But then there are 70s clothes available this year! Thank you so much, Anneli, for your kind words!
Funny how styles come around again. Not that I want to see all of them return, but some were nice.
Some were nice. Haha. That’s true. I don’t miss the brown vinyl vests that were popular around the same time!
Yes, some styles were pretty goofy.
Hey, thanks for the shout-out. I’m always happy to help with knitting questions … at least with those I have some idea of how to answer. Not so much with writing 😉 I LOVED wrap-around skirts except I had (and still have) the big stick-out butt. Until recently I had a wrap-around dress which I loved when I first bought it years and much fewer pounds ago. I’ve lost some weight since I retired, but decided to “Goodwill” the dress along with a lot of my other professional attire.
Your junk journal is lovely. So is the point (or one of the points) of a junk journal to hold memories or ideas by binding together bits of stuff rather than actual writing? Sort of like collages but in book form? I feel I’m a bit slow on the uptake here 😉
Good idea to get rid of those clothes you won’t be wearing. Are you wearing soft pants every day? 😉 junk journals mean a little something different to different people. The idea is that it’s made out of junk, ephemera, stuff you want to repurpose, mementoes, art marks, etc. now some people print digital artist-created junk to put together, but that to me is something different as it’s not authentic junk journaling. So it’s not always true collage,but a bunch of junk put together in a way the journaler finds appealing.
I still wear jeans and have a few pairs of nylon/cotton hiking pants that I’ll wear when I feel like dressing up ;-). I like the idea of repurposing stuff for a journal. Lord knows I have plenty of stuff.
It feels good to use up some of that stuff!
I remember my mother had a skirt like this. She was forever holding the back of her skirt to make sure it didn’t fly open. Your junk journal is delightful. I love the idea of them but have never made one.
Lol. My mom wore them, too. You’re right. I remember her holding the back a lot. And so did I. Junk journaling is so addictive. I urge you to try it! So much fun!
I made many wrap-around skirts. They were wonderful. As you say, easy to make. And then, they were gone!
Right. And then they were gone. How does everyone decide to stop wearing something at once?!
It looks like you have an heirloom in the making (that will last much longer than fashion fads like the wrap-around skirts 🙂 )
Ah well put. I sure hope the wedding journal will be! Maybe not this one hah.
I most definitely remember these, and I loved them because they were so comfortable. But one thing I didn’t like was how it could easily “unwrap” and reveal things underneath that shouldn’t be revealed!
I know! It was a little anxiety-producing! But when you ate too much you could loosen it up!
Exactly!!
I had a long yellow linen wrap skirt in the 90s. I loved it, but I did not remain a size 6. I wore it as an 8, but when I expanded to 10, it became… errr… it didn’t work so well!
The journal is lovely! It’s a wonderful gift!
Thank you! This one is for me. Daughter’s will have ivory stuff and lace and wedding junk. Your skirt sounds beautiful. I was a 6 in the 90s too. My skinniest adult decade. I had a gorgeous coral linen pantsuit that I got for my dissertation defense. Then I graduated and ended up an 8. Then a 10. At 12 I got rid of it or hid it from myself??? Now back to 10. If I live as long as my mom I could get back to a 6. She’s getting skinny. Thank you for sending me on a tangent lol.
Right, right, ivory and lacy 🙂
I didn’t save anything skinny. I have a lot of old sweatshirts and sweaters from the 90s — wore one today — nevermind I used to swim in them…
When we first moved here, we’d lived with my in-laws for five months and I had to put away some pants because after all the food at her house, I had unusually skinny pants. Took me near five months to get back into them, lol!
I enjoy tangents. Nay, I love them!
Hhhaha, so glad you can get use out of them still today!
I gosh, I do remember those wrap skirts and dresses. I made a few of my own back in the day. I don’t have the figure for them anymore. Maybe one day, I’ll try a junk journal. Always thought about it. You’d think I would have all the time in the world! How soon is the wedding?
Everything takes longer than it should. My mother and I were talking the other day how we can’t figure out how anyone could have time on their hands! Even mundane stuff like paying utility bills. Always a hitch. The wedding is the weekend of February 12.
This journal looks beautiful! I enjoyed reading your poems in Furious Gazelle! Thanks for your comment on my blog post about Radical Jewellery makeover. It’s happened in the US a few times in various places, including New Mexico but I can’t remember the other places specifically
Juliet
http://craftygreenpoet.blogspot.com
I remember 70s wraparound skirts so well! The ones I had (I had two) were Indian-looking, you know, elephants etc., sort of like the patterns here: https://www.shutterstock.com/search/seamless+indian+elephant.
Your journal is SO lovely! Fun for you to work on, and it’ll be an amazing legacy for your children, too!!
I had one of those skirts! What a lovely journal gift for your daughter, and I’m sure she wil love it. 🙂 I like the ways you find to have fun with creative endeavors.
Beautiful post
Luanne, I remember those skirts. What a beautiful wedding gift for your daughter. The journal is lovely and I am certain that she will cherish it all her life. I admire your talent and creativity.
To clarify this journal is not the wedding one I will make for daughter. That one will be ivory and have lace and other wedding type froufrous :). This one was a trial run and I will use it as one of my junk journal projects. Thanks, Carol!!! xo
Thanks for clarifying. Still, it’s a lovely journal.
Awww 😉
Such a beautiful color and the pictures look great. Thank you for sharing such beautiful outfit ideas.
Some awesome collection of retro skirt… loved it… thank you for sharing…