Two Weekends, Three Skirts

I've been on a bit of a roll for the last couple of weekends and now I have something to show for it. I always enjoy wearing skirts when the weather gets warm. Although it has been a rainy and cool Memorial Day weekend, temperatures will be rising soon! Sorry for all the hanger shots--it's unseasonably cold and dreary today so I was in no mood to pose outside or even fool with the dress form on the patio. Hopefully later.

Skirt 1: 

This one is made from an old Sewing Workshop favorite, the Sandra Betzina Wrap Skirt. I've made several versions of this skirt in the past, and surprisingly, it's still in print.

The original skirt is quite long, so I shortened it several inches. One thing I like about this pattern is how it isn't a true wrap. The front (called Skirt Left Front on the pattern piece) and back are attached at both side seams; the wrap front (called Skirt Right Front) is actually an overlay. As a result, this skirt is much less risky to wear out in the wind. Here's what the front pattern piece looks like:

Here's how it looks when sewn:

The fabric is a poly matte jersey from Fashion Fabrics Club that's been in the stash for several years. I had enough left for another Kwik Sew 2565 T-shirt. It's all cut out and ready to be sewn, so then I'll have separates that I can mix and match with other pieces in my wardrobe.

Skirt 2:

This is another old favorite, the LJ Designs Asymmetrical Skirt. I've made several of these in the past, but I had put it away for quite a while. It's still available through the website.

This is another long skirt, even with the shorter pattern piece I used this time. The pattern is one panel that is cut into eight gores. The version I made results in a scalloped edge, which results if you cut 4 gores with the pattern facing up and four with the pattern facing down. I'm not sure if you can really see the scallop in the picture above, so here's another shot with the hem spread out:

There's also a sawtooth edged version that results if you cut all the gores with the pattern piece right side up. Here's what the pattern piece looks like:

The fabric is a red print crinkle rayon that came to me free via Material Girls. I received an entire bolt at March's meeting. I decided on a gored skirt to break up the print because it is quite vivid, not quite as much as in the photos, but still...I have more but may re-donate it. It's pretty memorable and I don't see making a top out of it.

Skirt 3:

The last skirt is Simplicity 2416, a newer pattern that I made last fall out of some Kaffe Fassett rayon. I checked the Simplicity website just now, and it's also still in print.

The view I made is the four gore skirt with an overlay (the light green version illustrated in the top row of the envelope). The print I used is a wild rayon challis that I found at Fabric Mart last year. Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic made a dress out of it which you can see on her site.

Unfortunately, my piece had flaws in the weave that I didn't fully notice until the gores were cut out, so the skirt has a few. On the plus side, the overlay had not been cut when I discovered the flaws, so it got cut from a good section which covers most of them. The rest were on a busy area of the print so I used some Fray Block and hoped for the best. I do like the print, which is the only reason I didn't toss the whole thing out. Annoying, and I'll be more observant of anything I buy from there in the future.

Vogue 1292 View B, a Sandra Betzina Skirt

I bought this pattern when it first came out because I was fascinated by the origami flounce of View A. I'm still fascinated with it, but this time I made View B, the "other" skirt in the envelope, which you can see in the smaller picture below.

It seemed like it would work better with the fabric I wanted to use, a textured zig zag stripe that I bought at Santa Fe Fabrics last year (along with some black ponte and a couple of zippers).

It was just too busy for cutting out all those little geometric pieces (there are 12 of them!). It really needs a simple stripe, or even a solid.

I made full pattern pieces of the front and back panels. I didn't think such narrow pieces could be cut effectively on the fold, plus I wanted to be able to line up the stripes as well as I could. The pattern for the side panels is already a full piece, so why not print front and back the same way too?

I cut out the main fabric at Material Girls, where I had a huge cutting table and lots of space to work in. I'm so glad I did! The layout took some time to plan for the best effect, and that's easier to do when you have plenty of room. When I took the pieces home, I let them rest, flat, on my cutting table. While this isn't a particularly wiggly knit, I knew that having the pieces folded up in a tote bag didn't help. I did end up "trueing up" the edges after the fabric had relaxed for a few days.

The guide sheet recommends basting the pieces together first to test the fit because the construction is atypical. No changes needed for me, but if you are making this skirt according to the pattern, don't skip this step. The lining is sewn to the skirt at the waist and the hem so it would be hard to adjust later on. 

I was initially unsure how long too make the skirt. I realized when testing the fit that the 33" finished measurement of the pattern was going to be too much for me. I left the striped pieces alone, but made the lining pieces shorter. I came up with this solution because I had I smallish remnant I wanted to use for the lining and the amount was too small if I cut the lining per the pattern pieces. In addition, the lining doesn't exactly "go" with the stripe so I wanted a deeper hem to hide that. Here's a photo to explain what I mean.

The lining is a poly knit that I think came from Emma One Sock several years ago. I believe I originally made a t-shirt out of it. The price was right (free), and it has the slippery texture I wanted. As a bonus, it's a fun print, and I like having that little surprise for myself. I cut the lining on the lengthwise grain, again due to having short yardage to work with.

I like the hem technique although it took a while for me to wrap my head around how to adjust the length. But it worked out fine, with a finished length of 26". It's below the knee, so long enough to wear with boots, but not too long.

The skirt has an elastic waistband, and Sandra provides two options. I picked the simpler one, which is similar to the technique Loes Hinse uses. I always feel like I need three hands when I do this because the elastic is being stretched while being attached, but it does result in a nice waistband.

I hope to get a picture of this on me soon, but today was not the day, since it's a dreary and windy weekend again. That's been the pattern although it's nice during the week. I think I'm going to like this skirt. The pattern will be versatile too, since it's a basic shape that could be used with many knit fabrics. 

More Charity Sewing

I have been working on the First Day of School Project this weekend since our July 11 donation day is rapidly approaching.

The girl's outfit is essentially done, although I'm still considering some trimmings to "girlie" it up a little bit. The pattern has some fabric bows in one of the pant views--how cute would that be on the capri pants! And if I'm feeling ambitious, I also have some pretty lace for the hem of the matching peasant top.

The boy's outfit is well underway with the sewing I did on Saturday. Last weekend I actually found some decent cotton twill that coordinated with the shirt, so I've been working on them this weekend. I modified the pattern to include a fly zipper, which worked out pretty well. I used a combination of Sandra Betzina's technique and the method shown in McCall's 6391, which happens to be the pattern I found that has fly front shorts...for a girl.

I consulted with DH and learned that the fly stitching needs to be on the left side for boys, which is the opposite of the pattern. So I worked in mirror image, and I'm very pleased with the results. More fly front garments in my future after this!!  I'm keeping elastic in the waistband as well, because I don't have an exact size for the little recipient.

In addition to finishing the shorts, I need to make buttonholes for the boy's shirt and sew on buttons. That shouldn't take too long.

I had hoped to have some more outfits made but I think two will be all I can do for this year. The coordinator of the project wants to do it again next year, so I'll do more in between other projects and have them ready for next time.

I'm hoping to post some pictures tomorrow (fingers crossed), so you can see what I've been working on  for the kids.

Loes Hinse Tank Dress, Version 1

I've been mad for tank tops this summer, but I also wanted a simple dress that I could wear in the heat and be comfortable, yet somewhat put together.

My solution is the Loes Hinse Tank Dress Group. It's been out for a number of years, but I just got around to tracing it recently. I sewed it up Saturday and wore it around the house afterwards. I liked wearing it so much that I retraced an improved version and cut out a second dress that night before going to bed. Hopefully, you'll be seeing that one soon.

The first tracing was my usual for Loes Hinse, Medium from neck through armsyces, then Large the rest of the way. It looked a little long in the torso, so I folded out 1" in the chest . When I cut into the fabric, I allowed an additional 1" at the side seams for "insurance." This is an old Sandra Betzina trick, and I did it for a couple of reasons. I'm short waisted and my "hip area" falls higher on me than pattern drafting standards, even for petites. Also, Loes designs with a European fit, so sometimes her patterns don't allow quite as much ease as I feel comfortable with. Nobody needs to know what size I'm sewing anyway--whatever works for me is right...for me, that is. Isn't that part of why we sew? For what it's worth, I wear a 10 or Medium in most RTW.

It was wearable sewn per the original pattern, but I little snug for casual wearing in the desert heat, meaning no shapewear, no pantyhose, just the bare essentials. As a result, I ended up using 1/4" of my seam insurance at each seam (1" total). I also cut off about 10 1/2" of length so it falls right above the knee.  I noticed that the neckline was a bit high and tight fitting over the head, but that was my fault. I traced the view with the crew neck, when what I really wanted was the scoop neck. My bad. I also felt that the elastic shirring could be a little higher on my body even though I'd already made that 1" torso length adjustment. My revised tracing takes all of these tweaks into account, plus a little additional shaping in the bust area. I also marked the tank top length so I can use the pattern for those as well.

The fabric is faux batik rayon from JoAnn's. I don't remember when I bought it, but I'm amazed at how nice it is. Nice weight, very drapy, and it has a herringbone weave like Tommy Bahama clothing. I wish JoAnn's had quality like this all the time; it's lovely stuff.

Here's a close up of the necklace. It's one that I made a few years back. Despite its simplicity, it's a favorite and gets worn a lot. You can also see the weave of the fabric.

Another TSW Mixit Tank and No-Pattern Skirt

Well, it's only a couple of months late...


This outfit would have been perfect for Kauai in June, but oh well. I always think I can get more sewn than I do.

I made this in mid-August and planned to model it myself for the blog. Since we're into September and summer is over, I decided to post a dressform picture instead. As I often say, "done is better than perfect." If you follow this blog, you've already seen a previous version of the TSW Mixit Tank on me.

This project started with the skirt because I love border print fabrics. I was experimenting with a way to make a border print skirt simply, while still matching the design at the seams. So, I pulled this cotton from the stash and just started folding and draping around my body, then I ripped the fabric accordingly to form a rectangle. I used the Textile Workshop Brussels Skirt for reference but basically worked from the draping of the fabric. I matched the back seam by pressing under a seam allowance on the left side and basting it in place with Wonder Tape. Then it was just a matter of seaming, attaching elastic for a waistband, and hemming. Or so I thought.

Originally, the skirt was going to have just the single back seam. However, it was too wide on me and had too much ease, so I pinned out 3/4" on either side and added side seams. The amount was an arbitrary number based on pinching out what seemed to be necessary for a closer fit. It was not possible to have all seams matching and the desired circumference, so each of the side seams has a break in the pattern. This was the least obvious place, so I'm happy with how it worked out.

I realize the skirt is long, but it's in keeping with the Island-y vibe. I also tested the length in several places (including DH's choice of above the knee), but this particular fabric looked best in a longer length.

The top is based on the same TSW Mixit Tank pattern that I made in green linen. This one was shortened 4" by folding out the excess length in two places, then truing the seams by chalking a new cutting line with a french ruler right on the fabric. The result was a shorter, flared tank that (barely) fit the fabric remnants left over from the skirt. I'm planning to draft another short version that has all the length removed at the lower edge, resulting in a top that fits closer to the body