skirts Archives - Page 2 of 3

Lucinda April 23, 2013

Pattern Review: Hollyburn Skirt [Sewaholic]

Pattern: Hollyburn by Sewaholic Patterns
Fabric: Art Gallery Pure Elements Cotton in Empire Yellow, purchased at Grey’s Fabric
Size: 6

Cardigan: Coppelia
Tank: Gap
Boots: Nine West
Nails: Essie Bikini So Teeny

I don’t know why, but I’ve been on such a “loud color” fabric kick lately with what I’ve been buying. I mean come on, look at how I paired this outfit: hot pink and lemongrass yellow, whoa! And did you see the lime green for my Laurel dress? Maybe it’s because the weather is hinting at warmer temps and things are starting to bloom. Whatever it is, I’m tired of dreary, dark colors and am ready to embrace the brightness of spring.

This skirt was one of the three I sewed while on Sewcation 2013 two weeks ago, aka “Skirt Week.” I took three skirt patterns and fabric to my parent’s house in PA and spent the week using my mom’s sewing machines and whipping up skirts for spring. Gotta say, Sewaholic Patterns are so flattering and simple to make. Even though I skew more towards “rectangle” in body shape, the garment measurements fit me perfectly and I rarely have to make fit adjustments.

What’s there to say about this skirt…oh, that it’s my new favorite silhouette and I can’t wait to make more??? Seriously, who doesn’t love a fun, twirly skirt? And there’s pockets, too, and they don’t gape open! I couldn’t stop putting my hands in my pockets as I wore this skirt.

I’m really proud of the sewing I did on this skirt, from the top-stitching at the waistband to the machine stitching on the hem. But note to self – stop making skirts out of quilting cotton, they wrinkle too easily.

The only change I made to the pattern was using an invisible zipper instead of a standard zip. I didn’t want it to be obvious in the center back seam that there was some zipper action going on. I get it if you’re a beginner and you’re scared about zippers, because really, this is a beginner pattern, but I find invisible zippers waaaaay easier than regular ones. I also finished the edges of the waistband the same as how the waistband edges are finished on the Ginger skirt…hard to explain how that is on here, but if you have the pattern, you know what I mean. Much easier than hand stitching the zipper tapes down in place.

Looking at these pictures, I didn’t realize how short this skirt is (for me, at least). I definitely see more of these skirts in my future since it’s a great “cake” garment; maybe I’ll try the knee length one next time.

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Lucinda November 26, 2012

Pattern Review: Moss Mini Skirt [Grainline Studios]

Pattern: Grainline Studios Moss Mini Skirt
Fabric: Gifted corduroy from my mom’s fabric stash
Size: 4

Top: Self-drafted pattern; sweatery knit fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics
Leggings: Tommy Hilfiger

It’s kinda funny – I think I wear shorter skirts in the fall/wintertime than in the spring/summer. My hemlines tend to go higher and higher because of all the boots, leggings, and tights I love to wear when the temperatures dip – I’m much more modest with my hems when my legs aren’t covered. I thought a couple of my skirts were on the short side but in actuality, this is probably the shortest skirt in my closet now. Yikes!

I loveloveloved this pattern! As soon as I saw it available in Jen’s shop, I knew I had to have it and make it for the fall. I’m not a fan of downloadable sewing patterns a la Burdastyle – all of the printer paper, taping the pieces together, cutting all of it out – but with a project as small as a skirt, it didn’t seem like it’d be too tricky or time-consuming to do.

I had a couple of firsts with this skirt: first time sewing with corduroy (did you know the name is derived from the french for “cord du roi,” or “king’s cord?”) and first time sewing a fly front zipper. Well actually, the latter is not true, I stitched one before on a pair of red shorts, but it looked horrible and the shorts didn’t fit at all. So my track record on fly front zippers before this skirt was not good. After studying Jen’s photo-tutorial on her blog, reading my Complete Book of Sewing, and ripping out some stitches, I’m pretty happy with how this zipper turned out. Not perfect, but passable.

I also practiced my topstitching skills, something I don’t get to use a whole lot when sewing knit dresses. I swear that seam in the back is not crooked…

And this skirt has pockets! These are the best kind of pockets, a diagonal seamed pocket that doesn’t gape open. The lining fabric is out of some leftover quilting fabric I had in my stash, which is a nice weight for a sturdy pocket; there’s nothing worse than flimsy lining fabric that can’t hold up to normal wear-and-tear. The construction of the pockets is great, too – the lining extends and anchors to the center front seam which keep the pockets nice and flat instead of bunching up.

Did you also see that above I mentioned I drafted this top pattern? Yessiree I did! I whipped it up on a Friday night in about two hours from drafting to finishing. It’s a simple two-seam dolman sleeve top that’s cut out in one piece. If I was to make another, which I probably will because this is so comfy to wear, I’d draft a deeper dolman curve than this one so there isn’t so much bunching of fabric in the underarm area.

Overall I loved this pattern and will definitely make it again, maybe going up a size since it’s a little snug around the hips and probably sewing on the hem band pattern piece to make the skirt slightly longer. Maybe out of some yummy wool….

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Lucinda October 20, 2012

Saturday Stitching

My sister couldn’t make it up for the sister-weekend we’ve been planning (she’s been really sick for the past three weeks), so I started making my Halloween costume this afternoon. If you haven’t seen my Twitter updates, I’m going as a zombie housewife this year and my boyfriend is going as a zombie survivor (he bought a cowboy hat and shotgun a la The Walking Dead).

The skirt is a simple circle skirt pattern but it’s my first time sewing with plaid, eek! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out even though the alignment of the intersections isn’t exactly perfect…I think I had some issues with the fabric being off grain when I cut out the pattern pieces. All that’s left is the hem and some hand-stitching inside. See that green? That’s a grosgrain ribbon waistband technique that I tried out from Claire Shaeffer’s Couture Sewing Techniques (psst it’s the October book for the Sewing Book Club).

Ok, now I need to finish that Carnac sweater! Happy crafting!

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Lucinda August 20, 2012

Circus Skirt

Pattern – combination of McCall’s 6554 and Butterick 4443
Fabric – Cotton poplin from Mood in NYC

Tank – INC
Shades – Bulgari
Sandals – Tahari
Necklace – gift

This skirt was the result of a sewing disaster.

It started out originally as a dress, hence the reason for McCall’s 6554. I thought it would be a sweet summer sundress out of this crazy stripe fabric I found at Mood earlier this summer. I even thought through how to place the stripes – horizontal for the bodice, vertical for the skirt. Oh, how fab it was going to look.

After stitching the skirt to the bodice and trying it on, I realized that this wasn’t going to work out at all – the fit of the pattern was much larger than I anticipated (even after making a muslin for the bodice) and frankly, with all of the crazy colored stripe action going on and a big A-line skirt, two words came to mind when I looked at this dress on me in the mirror: circus tent.

That’s when my mom stepped in and suggested I try to convert the dress into a skirt instead. See, I made this when I was home visiting the folks in July, and my mom had a pattern on hand that she’s made into dresses and skirts for me in the past: Butterick 4443. I used the skirt portion of the pattern and lined it up onto the skirt I already had from the McCall’s pattern (minus the pleat, I took that out and stitched the two center fronts together). Following the swoop of the side seam, I traced the pattern onto my skirt, re-cut it and voila – crisis adverted! I finished it up with an invisible zipper and tried a new technique of using twill tape in place of a waistband facing.

Instead of tears and a tent of a dress, I have a pretty new skirt that’s great for casual summer days. When sewing gives you a lousy pattern, make an awesome garment!

What kind of sewing crises have you avoided?

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Lucinda July 1, 2012

Sunday Style

I loved Zo’s idea of continuing on the Me-Made-spirit and starting a Me-Made-Living group on flickr for everyone to share their Me-Made outfits beyond the month of May. So each Sunday (give or take), I’m going to share a pic of an outfit that I’m wearing on the weekend.

Now this skirt isn’t exactly “me-made.” It was, in fact, made by my mom in 1971!

My mom told me that she wore it on New Year’s Eve when she was dating my Dad. Isn’t the fabric awesome? It looks like there’s strips of different fabrics sewn together but it’s actually all one piece of fabric, kind of like a cheater print. I love the length of the skirt too, but it’s a little hard to walk in since there’s no split in the side seam. Maybe I’m supposed to wear it with heels instead of sandals.