Skirts, skirts, skirts

Over at the curvy sewing collective they are hosting a season of separates. This month is skirts so at the eleventh hour I am adding a few of my recent makes so wanted to add them here too. I've been getting my son to take pictures of me all week, I think it really adds a professional edge to a blog when the photos are taken by a nine year old! It is so useful to review them all together. All of these are self drafted, about five minutes after I sewed my first skirt I decided to start drafting them myself, that was a bit of a mad decision but I think I've got the hang of it now. The first sloper I used was from How to Adapt and Design Sewing Patterns by Lee Hollahan. There is some useful information in here, and some ideas for skirts too, but the slopers are awful. You have to size them up with squared paper and there was no size chart in my book so it just did not work for me. I made a couple of skirts that were Ok but I don't wear any more. For my next attempt I took a simple skirt pattern, the skirt from the dress in the burda style sewing hand book, and used it to make this first pattern.

This is the oldest pattern but the newest make, made yesterday. It is a 7 panel gored skirt and I used a tutorial like this. Its actually much too big, in comparison to the skirt below which give me a better defined waist, I will take it in 3-4 inches and it will sit higher on my waist. It is in a nice soft stretch polycotton from fabric.com.

Spot the difference! Dark colours don't really show the details do they? This is a half circle skirt and a much better fit on the waist. I think I just worked out the maths for my skirt from scratch, here is a great link with resources for making one. This is a linen blend from Minerva craft which I had to line with lightweight cotton or it was very floppy and shapeless.

A bit more colour now, these two skirts are both made from the same pattern based on this draft-along by frabjous couture. It is really good, she has you measure darts to where they should actually end, creating something quite different to what I had before. For instance, I am much curvier in front than back, so my darts are completely different lengths now to reflect that. I just added a bit at the sides to make it A-line. The first fabric is a beautiful Liberty light weight corduroy, the second is a cheap nasty stretch woven bought here in Jeddah that makes me statically charged when I walk in it.

My First Art Quilt!

Who knew it is so difficult to sew in a straight line!

For a long time I've wanted to take my sewing in a more creative direction. I've read a few books, come up with loads of ideas, but they always get way, way too complicated long before I get near the fabric. For this piece, I started with a photo that was way too complicated,

then I did some sketches that failed to simplify it in any way. I really enjoyed the drawing and got a bit absorbed in it, but no closer to a design.

I then went looking for inspiration and I got a nice book Contemporary Quilts Design, Surface and Stitch by Sandra Meech which is laid out in chapters, each featuring a design class. The second chapter gives lots of inspiration for starting a sketch book. One of the suggestions is to use collage papers to try out ideas. The beautiful examples are like works of art in themselves and my first response was this will be a distraction, just as I had been getting absorbed in drawing. It was not though. This primitive piece is not my finest work but was so useful, really made me think about what I wanted to express from the photo in my composition and how it was actually going to work.

For instance I decided from this that I had two layers, the background and foreground leaves. I wanted to make a pieced background with an applique foreground. I also wanted to keep the spiral composition and the distribution of light across the leaves. So I tried to do an improvisatory background quilt-as-you-go spiral for a background experiment

I'm not an experienced quilter and I thought quilt-as-you-go would be an easy technique but it was actually quite fiddly with so much pressing after each seam. This was a good experiment in fabric combinations. I decided to go for a simpler palette, using less fabrics and that applique over this would be too busy. So I came up with my final pieced design.

I paper pieced the corner sections, the rest is just triangle and rectangle combinations. I followed old Craftsy Block of the Month classes for piecing directions. I'm really pleased with it. I found it a challenge to make a non-functional object, had to keep resisting the temptation to make it bigger and make it functional. I love geometric designs but need to work on my piecing, it is hard to get it accurate. I quilted by stitching in the ditch, the design was too busy for much else and I used a dark thread for definition which I was really pleased with. A very long process for such a small item but a very enjoyable new challenge.

Simplicity 1547 Girls Dress Pattern Hack - Button Back to Elastic

Its been International Day here in our community! I didn't realise until a couple of days before that is quite important. A casual email from my daughters teacher said 'please send your child in national dress or in the colours of their flag'. Well, my kids are half Irish, half British, we don't really have a national dress from either side. We are not sports fans so we don't have any sports kits. I could have pulled together some sort of blue white and pink but that would not have addressed the green white and orange side and that would have upset the apple cart a little so at the last minute I realised I needed to make something. Living in Saudi Arabia means we have much less access to shops so I am planning on making much more for my kids and had even planned this elastic backed pattern hack already, it just wasn't going to look like a flag. I had even made a muslin. I wanted an easy-on easy-off woven dress for light cotton sun dresses and comfy dressing up dresses. I find shirring elastic a bit of a faff and not really resilient enough for my kids and I wanted to be able to embellish the front.

This uninterested scruffy creature is the same child that looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth in the picture above, honest!

From the front the pattern is not altered. This alteration would work on any dress with a fitted bodice and gathered skirt.

I chose this pattern as it has lots of pieces to work with for a whole range of looks that I am planning to make, watch this space, using a loose fitting sleeve, a collar  and various ruffles.

This back photo shows the 3 channels of elastic I added.

For the flag dress I used:

1 yard white cotton batiste/voile

1/4 yard green cotton broad cloth

1/4 yard gold quilting cotton

1 yard 3/8" wide flat elastic

1/2 yard red ribbon

1/2 yard navy ric rac or other trim

To alter the pattern I traced off the side, arm hole and shoulder of the back bodice,

Then widened it to match the back skirt. I also lengthened it by 1 1/2". I took 3/8" off the neckline all the way around as well.

I added all of my trim on the front bodice and gold ruffles on the bottom and I sewed the front bodice to front skirt as the pattern instructions, by gathering the green skirt. I didn't need to gather my back green skirt pieces as these are now the same width as the back bodice I just sewed theses as a straight seam. I sewed my shoulder seams as normal and repeated for a lining. The back lining does not have a waist seam, I overlapped the pattern pieces and cut it in one piece to save time.

I laid the lining over the outer shell right sides together and sewed around the neckline, clipped the curves, turned right side out and pressed.

I then sewed through the lining and outer shell to form channels for the elastic. I wanted 3 rows of elastic. Because I was using very sheer white fabric I did not mark my channels but I did switch to my walking foot which has a wider foot so I could use it as a guide to make sure my channels were exactly 1/2" wide so the elastic would fit through them nicely. I measured the elastic from a well fitting dress but the original pattern pieces would also work as a guide. I threaded it through with a safety pin.

After this I turned the dress inside out and sewed the side seams making sure to leave the front lining and back skirt lining free. I then checked the fit. This is really important even if the pattern is familiar as the elastic might need adjusting to get the fit right around the neckline.

I then turned it inside out again and flipped the front lining over to the back. I stitched the side seams together again as far as the waist. I could then pull it back to the front side covering the raw edges of the bodice. All that was left to finish now was the lining skirt side seams and hem, outer skirt hem, and I bound the arm holes. The binding was very fiddly for such a small garment so for my next dress I will add short sleeves.

Fancy Pants in Abu Dhabi

Ok so these aren't that fancy, but they are finished, and I am in Abu Dhabi! 

I made these using the Craftsy class  Pant Fitting Techniques with Sandra Betzina which come with vogue pattern 2948.

I have written a full review of this pattern for the Curvy Sewing Collective which is up on their site now. In brief, this pattern is great for apple shaped figures with princess seam details which with added top stitching can really lengthen the legs and are useful for a flat seat adjustment. They are also useful for a simple flat seat adjustment.

The class has lots of useful information except for on measuring the crotch, you are directed to measure a pair of well fitting trousers that you already own, a problem for many people who struggle to buy well fitting trousers. She offers no alternative method and only demonstrates minimal crotch adjustments which is a shame because the rest of the class is very good.

Textile Adventures in Jewellery

A few years ago I did some experimenting with textile jewellery.

I even thought about opening an Etsy shop but family life got in the way and next time I had some time for crafts I decided to turn my attention to garment sewing. I still have a lot of these pieces, most of them have been packed up in my mother-in-laws loft in Ireland, but one or two made it with us to sunny Saudi. Craftsy are running a competition for handmade accessories so I thought I would pull them out and photograph them. I love this necklace, textile necklaces can be quite stiff, this was an experiment in creating movement. I used groups of four felt balls, three orange one black sewn together, then threaded the cord through the middle. The balls can move around and the necklace has nice drape.

This second necklace I wore on my wedding day. I love that when working with felt you can match colours to any fabrics or texture.

My dress was a greeny silver chiffon and the silk in these beads reflected that texture and the colours complemented perfectly.

These beads were part of explorations of texture that included using silk to imitate pearls and fun ways of using them in designs. These are the more sensible designs I made which I would wear often. Next time I'm in Ireland I'll photograph the rest, some of them are quite experimental and I've more ideas that one day I'll get back to. 

Finished Vintage Day Dress, Burda 01/15 126

My first vintage pattern. This was reproduced in last months Burda Style, but unfortunately didn't make it to their website. Here it is in the magazine:

The recommended fabrics are silk chiffon and pongee for lining. I used cotton voile for lining and polyester chiffon like fabric for the shell which are both a bit heavier but I think it worked equally well. Here is the line art:

The skirt is a full circle skirt and as drafted came to my ankles so if shortened before cutting this could be made in a lot less than the 3.1-3.2 metres suggested.

I did an FBA which was tricky as I didn't want to add a side dart as there was already a lot shaping the seam attaching the front yoke to the front. I did it in two stages, first adding width:

I cut as shown,

then moved the right side section along, overlapping the left so it laid flat. I redrew the dart, but should have left it to the end as I did it again then any way. Then I attempted to add some length. I spread the pattern in half horizontally keeping the side seam intact.

I needed to keep the centre front straight so I slashed up through the dart again and moved the bottom right piece up and in. My dart is now taking up all the excess. A bit improvisational but it worked! I laid the back over the front to check the side seams. Although I didn't alter the side seam the back was longer so I added to the bottom of the front to match.

There is a lot of nice neck shaping in this pattern but I couldn't get it to fit me nicely, it needs to be a really close fit in the back of the neck to work as it is supposed to hug the back of the neck. Perhaps it is just the shape of my neck and shoulders but I had to cut it much straighter as the fabric was drooping down not sitting on my neck as intended.

The instructions were hard to follow, no diagrams at all. I'm not sure if they were reproduced exactly from the original from the 50's, if not they certainly didn't add much. One tricky point was when stitching the front yokes to the front the front is supposed to extend past the edge of the yoke but there is no direction for how far. This is to create a small underarm seam. I copied the shape on the back piece and used that as a point to start stitching.

Easy Peasy!

Completed Shirtdress!

So I made a shirtdress. It started off as Mccalls 6696. In admiration of Mary at Idle Fancy I decided to join in the Autumn of 1000 shirtdresses.

I planned to use my newly drafted bodice sloper to assist in fitting. The shoulder was quite different so I decided just to use the sloper, despite the fact I hadn't even begun to watch the sleeve drafting class I signed up to. I manipulated the front darts to match the pattern and cut off a back yoke then roughly slashed and spread the remainder to form the gathers. I used the original pattern for the sleeves with a small fitting change for a bit more room in the bicep, and original collar and placket. This was not such a great idea, the armhole needs work and it would definitely have made sense to have started with a simpler garment with no top stitching. I had to take the waist in by 4", not sure how that happened! My placket was too short so I had to slightly shorten the dress, the collar fitted ok.

I am pleased with it overall, and pleased to participate in the challenge. Check out the flickr group to see the other participants.

The fabric is a mid weight cotton from les coupons saint pierre, a fantastic shop in Paris which sells great value 3 metre lengths. The quality is always lovely and this fabric was only 10 euro for three metres. I still have not found anywhere here to buy buttons, hundreds of fabric shops selling polyester in every colour of the rainbow, but no buttons. Our sea shipment has arrived so I now have all of my sewing supplies and these buttons were in my stash.