Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Hot Patterns Bossa Nova Skirt


This is the first Hot Patterns garment I've made. Although I've purchased several patterns of this brand, I haven't gotten around to sewing any of them yet. This one was a free download at Fabric.com.

Basically, it's an 8-panel gored skirt, so one pattern piece. I wanted to make it in black and white, since I have a few black items in my closet with white accents. They're harder to match than you'd think! So off to Hancock's, where I found the perfect fabric, a large scale floral. Yes, it's polyester, but I really liked the print, so I'll deal with it. I also bought lining to go with, also poly, because you know how white fabric is. It always shows through.

I proceeded to cut and sew the panels when I realized that they were just a wee bit too short. I had already added some length to the pattern when cutting it out but not enough. The original pattern just has you turn down the sewn panels at the top to create the casing. That wouldn't work in this case because I needed all the length I could spare. Fortunately, I had bought more fabric than I needed (as usual), so I made a separate waistband casing. It also solved the problem of dealing with 2 layers, the face and the lining.

Love love love how the skirt looks! It is also comfortable to wear through the day. I will be making more from this pattern! BTW, I took the photo above after getting home from work and a dentist appointment, and the skirt still looks fine. (I expect my skills with timer and tripod will improve, but not bad for a first effort.)

Wedding dress update: yes, still working on that one. I've mocked up the bodice a couple of times and pre-washed sample pieces of each fabric. Hopefully, I'll have a sample version of the dress soon, then I can move on to the good stuff.

6 comments:

gwensews said...

That's a cute skirt. I love the fabric. I also love Hot Patterns. Nice sewing!

SewingLibrarian said...

I'd love to have that skirt in my wardrobe for the sumer. NIce job!

Lydia said...

Very smart.

Lydia said...

Another comment.....I just downloaded and printed the pattern. Any hints about yardage. Looks like a keeper. I too, have some black and white fabric waiting............

Lydia

NancyDaQ said...

Lydia, there is a yardage recommendation on the download. Page 5 is the instruction sheet.

1.5 yards of 60" is the recommendation, with a layout of 4 panels across the full width and 2 panels down the length. BTW the fabric is folded with selvedges together, so you'd layout and cut a double thickness. You could easily adapt this to narrower fabric, although you'd need more yardage.

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

It's such a pretty skirt...and I hope that the sample wedding dress works out okay and doesn't have too many fitting challenges!