Pink Boucle Skirts

In one of the bundles I bought during the September Sew Camp, there were 6 pieces of skirt fabric.  Six!  That's a lot of skirts, leaving me drooling at the prospects.

One of the pieces was a lovely pink boucle.  I decided it would make a great A-line skirt, but when I cut it, I discovered that there was enough left over for a pencil skirt as well!  The down side of boucle is that it needs to be lined, at least in my opinion, in order to hang correctly and not stretch out with wearing.

So I started with the A-line skirt, using Simplicity pattern #S8885 (which I've made several times since I bought it this summer).  I lined it with a charcoal gray, diamond patterned lining fabric that I had around here.  An invisible zipper, and Boom! Done!  Since this skirt was lined, I didn't bother with either a waistband or facings, which makes it a little easier to finish.  I added a piece of black and white trim around the hem, but I'm not honestly certain if I love that detail.  It might just come off at some point.  (This picture was taken before I attached the trim, thus the part still hanging on the floor.)

The second skirt was McCalls #M3830.  Very simple, 2 piece skirt with darts front and back.  Nothing fancy, nothing special, just very classic.  I used the same lining for this skirt, and an invisible zipper.  In both skirts, I anchored the lining to the skirts by stitching in the seam line for the first 3" down from the top.  That prevents it fron deciding to turn itself inside out or otherwise get twisted in the wash.

Speaking of wash, I cut 4 identical pieces of the boucle, and finished all 4 edges of each 5" square.  I left one on the laundry room window sill, washed one by hand and laid it flat to dry, washed 2 in the machine and put one through the dryer while the other was also laid flat to dry.  I was delighted to see that all 4 were still identical after washing, which means that I don't have to take these skirts to the dry cleaner (which would probably be the kiss of death for them in my house).

And, I bought myself some garment labels; sometimes I even remember to use them! (And isn't that lining pretty?)

Happy Thursday, everyone!

4 Yards of Green Linen....

....yields so many things!

At the June Sew Camp, I got 4 yards of this green linen border print.  It's a really nice fabric, with plenty of body and drape all at the same time.  The first thing I did was make a Simplicity dress (which I've made 3 other times, as well).  I had some brown gauze on my shelf, so was able to use that for the waist ties (which are 4' long sashes sewn into the side seams, and wrapped around back before being tied in the front).  The picture in the mirror is me wearing it on the way out the door to fly to Kellie's house for a long weekend; the picture hanging gives you a better idea of how the pattern changes from the top to the bottom of the fabric.

I've been working on a maxi skirt pattern for a couple of months; I've made 2 previous ones, trying to get the waist and length correct.  Who knew that it would be this hard?  Finally, the weekend before last, I felt that I had it figured out enough to cut into the green linen.

I'm really delighted with how the border flows around the hem of the dress, while it isn't obvious that it doesn't exactly follow the curvature of the hem.  The pattern gradation from hem up is more evident in this skirt; I really like the change in the flowers over the distance from waist to hem.  I'm a little less delighted that Hepsibah is evidently shorter from waist to floor than I am;  I might have to make her taller.  This pattern is really easy; it only takes a couple of hours to assemble.  (I've also made several above knee length versions from this pattern, so you know I like it).

Finally, I fussy cut an 8 gore skirt from the remnants at the opposite end of the fabric, because I couldn't see throwing out so much fabric.  I like it.

There wasn't a long enough piece to make a waistband, so I put in a facing.  And the flowers are upside down, but that's OK.  It makes them look a little like modern art.

I figured out earlier this summer that facings would stay in place if I "stitch in the ditch" along the seam lines to hold the facing in place, and said stitching won't show.  Well, except from 4" away, where no one should be anyway unless they want me to clobber them. ;-)

So, green linen border print!  I'm so pleased with these garments!

Happy (late) Wednesday, everyone!

What I wore Thursday

I made this top about 3 weeks ago, and the skirt last Wednesday.  Ordinarily, I wouldn't dream of wearing a top with little spots on it (to me, it looks almost like the starry sky out in Wyoming at a new moon) with a patterned skirt.  But the colors were so close to the same that it all just worked out.

I used a pattern I've had at least a decade for both of these.  The Simplicity  S4368 was an entire wardrobe pattern, with the top, skirt, pants and a jacket, and created by Threads magazine (judging by the envelope, anyway).  I've never made a non-stretch, pullover top before, and so was nervous about this one, however, the rayon performed very nicely, and looks good.  There are little pintucks at the neckline to give it a little shape.  It can be worn tucked in, as Hepsibah is modeling, or loose.  My preference, if worn loose, would be to add a belt over the top, so I retain some waistline definition.

  The skirt is a twill with a slight stretch and plenty of body.  The skirt fits closely to the hip and then flares out a fair amount, and I love this profile.  I've also gotten the invisible zipper insertion down pretty well, and I love how the tab hides with this fabric!  I've made a couple of skirts with this pattern since rediscovering it about 6 weeks ago, and 3 versions of the top.  This outfit felt good to wear, despite the fact that it turned cold Thursday, but this top is done for the season, as are its twins; even with the heat running, I feel the chill.

I'm going to try to post a little more here, but time passes by.  I'm currently working on a few pieces to take on vacation with Shannon's family in a few weeks.  You know the boys are going to be despondent without their personal chef around!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

The July Sewciety Box and Matching skirts....

My July Sewciety box contained a skirt pattern from the independent designer Twig and Tale called the Meadow Skirt.  It has a couple of different options: gathered all around or pleated in the front, longer or shorter, waist tie or not. A button front was an option, as were pockets (which I never like) and even a maternity panel.  Clearly, the designer tried to add options to make everyone happy. 

I received a bright and cheerful floral, and opted for the pleated front option, since I'm not a huge fan of the gathered waistline: I don't need to emphasize the ol' gutsy any more than it already is.  In the end, I had 30" of fabric left over, which was just enough to make matching grandma/granddaughter skirts for 2 of my 3 girls!  But, let's face it, the baby is too small to wear a skirt anyway.  People who can't sit up because they're 4 months old should just stick to onesies, right?

The Meadow Skirt is a little different than most skirts out there.  It has a high waist with a waistband.  The directions call for the pleats to be pressed in, then just stitched across the top and end of story.  I decided it would be better to stitch them down for 6", so they have a chance of still looking like pleats after the first washing.  Plus, they wouldn't stick out at the waistband, which would be a plus to me (see comment above about the gut).  The skirts for the girls were simple "paper bag" elastic waisted skirts, which goes something like this: cut a piece of fabric twice the waistline by whatever length you want plus 2", run a single seam up, turn up a 1/2" hem, turn under 1" to 2" for the elastic casing and seam top and bottom for said casing, add elastic, iron, done.  So, these are the 3 together, laid flat on my table.

Nora was here last weekend, and we need to match THAT DAY.  Of course, she likes to clown around for pictures.  And if you look at the reflection in the second picture, you can see the back of my skirt.

Maddie was here this weekend, so we matched yesterday.  Thatcher felt that he needed to be part of the "fashion show" with Grandma.

Maddie refused to take her skirt off for bed last night (although she did wear her PJ top), and put on a clean top but wore her skirt home today.  So it looks like she really loves her new Grandma skirt.

What I liked about the pattern: Good directions, including links in the PDF for videos showing each step as it's done (the back waistband was a little fussy, with a double casing, so that confused me for a minute).  Nice flexible design.  Wide range of sizes.  What I didn't like at all: This was a PDF download pattern, so the pages had to be taped together for use.  This one was not very well done, so every single page had to have all 4 sides trimmed.  Doesn't seem like a big deal, except that many independent pattern companies have theirs print so they can just be overlaid without trimming.  When you have to spend time assembling your pattern, the lack of trimming is a big deal.

Overall, Sewciety did a good job with this box: pretty pattern, really nice fabric, and, as usual, the fact that they include everything you need for the project right down to a spool of thread is fantastic.

Happy Monday, everyone!  I hope you've had a great Labor Day weekend!

Bundle Sewing

When I go to Sew Camp, we always make a trip to Fabric Mart.  They are a small, unobtrusive storefront in a small city, with a surprising collection of fabrics for sale.  Much of it is designer fabric, so everyone who attends camp really looks forward to the trip (one lady even calls it "Disney World for Sewists!").

One of the things you can find at Fabric Mart is bundles.  Some of them are bundles of smaller pieces, generally under 1.5 yards, and some are bundles containing a smaller number of 2 to 3 yard cuts.  So, one day in July, I woke up feeling enthusiastic about a bundle of smaller cuts:

I had some ideas about what I should make from them.  This pattern is a new favorite, and I"m looking forward to wearing the top.

 I've never actually made anything from this pattern, although I've had it for several years.  I was a little iffy about this fabric, but the relative in Denver likes bright colors - and looks great in them - so if I don't like it, I'll send it to her!

 This fabric is actually why I selected this bundle.

 This was one of 2 test skirts before I make a couple of maxi skirts to take on vacation in November.

I haven't worn everything I made yet - after all, long sleeves do not play well with 90 degree days (even though we rarely get to 90 here).  So, here they are, laid flat.

Except for this dress, which I love.  I started out intending to make a regular raglan sleeved tee shirt dress, then saw a dress with off-the-shoulder sleeves, and decided that I could do that, with the addition of shoulder straps to hide foundation garments (which are an absolute must for a grandma).

Oh, I'd love to claim that I'm all kinds of clever and drew this up myself, but, really, I used McCall's pattern M7122 with a few alterations.  But the weather is changing - we haven't even reached 70 since last Thursday - and next week, I'll be forced to concede that summer is indeed in my rearview mirror, and start thinking about sleeves.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!