A stuffed up skirt and a sack-like dress

 

The skirt: Simplicity 2451

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. Here is a list of my transgressions:


I sewed up a skirt after discovering I'd bought the pattern in the wrong size, hoping that the sizing was generous and that a medium would fit me (it didn't).

I improvised, adding panels in an attempt to enlarge the skirt, only to find that it was now too large.

I hurriedly and shoddily cut it down and re-sewed it, resulting in a skirt that fits, but that is so poorly finished on the inside that I have to avert my eyes when putting it on.

I recklessly trimmed the hemline by eye and must now suffer the indignities of a crooked hem.

For these sins, I am truly sorry. Especially as I like this pattern, and the linen-rayon fabric I used, and think that it will look quite nice when I make version 2, using the correct pattern size and sewing exactly as instructed by the good folks at Simplicity. May I say in my defence, though, that I did use perfectly-matched thread, which made all my unpicking work that much more challenging.

The dress: Liesl + co Weekend Getaway dress 

I made the dress in a soft, almost slippery thin cotton from Darn Cheap Fabrics, which has a subtle check and, conveniently, a splotchy pattern resembling what my clothes often look like after attempting to drink coffee from a poorly-sealed Keep Cup on the way to work. I love fabrics that camouflage stains!

I figured there was a good chance this style would look stupid on me, as I'm short and lacking a waist, but I forged ahead anyway, just because. I was thinking that if it looked monumentally silly I'd just cut it down to blouse or tunic length and wear it that way. And maybe that's what I should do - because to my eye it looks kind of sack-like, especially from the back. And quite a lot from the front. And definitely from the side. Or is it just a little too long? It looks quite respectable with a long cardigan over it, but I'm on the fence when it comes to whether I can take that cardigan off. I keep thinking of that song from the 1950s:

You can't do the bop in the sack
You can't tell the front from the back
You can't do the bop in the sack
Take that crazy gown back!

I realise this is an appalling photo, but what do you think, readers? Sack, or satisfactory? Cut or keep?

Bad photos of a good skirt

I made an everyday skirt in babywale corduroy, light grey with yellow spots. It was such a pleasure to sew - a welcome break from deciphering Japanese patterns. I made size large based on my measurements and it turned out much larger than required - so much so that I had to pull the elastic super tight on the back section of the skirt, which you can see below:

 

This resulted in an extremely gathered back, but so far as I can tell from backwards glimpses into the mirror, the skirt still looks pretty good on. It also means that the pockets are positioned more to the sides than is (presumably) intended, but they are nevertheless the best feature of this skirt, generously sized and extremely useful for tissues, bits of paper, lens caps... or just somewhere to put your hands when you don't know what else to do with them. Which I generally don't. 

All attempts to get a photo of myself in this skirt failed dismally. First there was the attempt to get my daughter to take a picture - she got lots of great shots of trees but managed to exclude me from the frame completely:

 

Pretty, hey? But not exactly what I was after. 

Then I tried to photograph myself in the only full-length mirror in the house:

Wow, how dirty is that mirror? I had to go get the windex and clean it.

I discovered that many of the marks were permanent.

And that I can't avoid them by photographing from different angles (well, it was worth a try).

My husband offered to take some photos. Those ones are so bad that vanity prevents me from posting them here.

Never mind. It's a practical and comfortable skirt and I already have a second one in the works, in medium. Maybe I'll even figure out how to use my camera's self-timer by the time I finish it.

Selfish sewing: tiered skirt

By pure coincidence I finished this tiered skirt during selfish sewing week. As it's school holidays here I doubt whether I'll make anything else for myself this week, but I'm very happy with my skirt.

I made it to replace a beautiful shop-bought skirt that I had worn for years but that was starting to fall apart (as this one will probably do before long, since the voile is very delicate and sheer). I used the top section of the Amy Butler Barcelona Skirt pattern, changed the invisible zip to the side instead of the back, and added three gathered, tiered sections, lining the skirt with black muslin.

It fits well and has a lovely swishy feeling - perfect for today's sunny weather. Selfish? Well-earned, I say - especially after all that gathering!

Just a top

It's just a simple top, but it represents something bigger for me: the realisation that sewing tops for myself might actually be possible.

I bought a few metres of polyester fabric from Darn Cheap's $2 table to try out the free scoop top pattern from Skirt as Top. It was easy to sew, but looked awful on me - turns out I really have the wrong body shape for that style of top. Feeling frustrated, and with a metre or so of poly left, I decided to try copying a linen top I had bought recently. I literally laid the top on the fabric and cut around the shape, leaving a little seam allowance. After sewing the sides and shoulders together I cut a long thin strip of fabric to bind the neckline, and hemmed the 'sleeves' and bottom edge. It was that easy. And I quite like it, even though polyester isn't what I'd usually choose to wear. Now to see if I can replicate this success with something less sheer and synthetic...

J is for jacket

Pattern J from Happy Homemade vol. 1 is a knockout. A simple, unlined jacket that is easy to trace and cut (only four pattern pieces plus some bias tape), easy to sew and easy to wear. I made this one using dark blue striped linen from Kim Anh Fabric in Oakleigh.

It's a versatile style, with ties that can be tied at either back or front, so you can wear it open:

 or closed:

It has handy pockets, too.

I love it so much that right after I made the first one I started a second version in another linen from the same shop, this time a very lightweight black with a subtle stripe. And although I like the three quarter length sleeves I made these ones full length:

I'm so happy with both my jackets. Hooray for J!

Another stretchy skirt for me

Finally managed to take some photos of my second stretchy skirt based on this tutorial. More dreadful self-timer photography I'm afraid... hopefully the skirt looks a little better in real life than it does in the pics!

I found the fabric at Darn Cheap and fell in love with it, but wasn't sure if it was really 'me'. To be honest, after years of dagging around at home in old clothes I no longer have any idea what my style is, if indeed I still ever had one. So I just went and bought it. It's a thick polyester/spandex with a good amount of stretch, but I fear I've made a novice sewer's mistake with both the stretchy skirts and not made them tight enough around the waist and hips. My advice to anyone sewing with stretch or knit fabrics: make it really tight, so tight that you have to squeeze yourself into it the first time you wear it, because IT WILL STRETCH OVER TIME.

Still, I'm pretty happy with this one.

A stretchy skirt for me

As I'm trying to get together a decent wardrobe of clothes, and as I'm terribly fussy and haven't found any skirts I like, I've started to do some sewing for myself. And it seems I'm not the only Kids Clothes Week participant switching from kids' clothes to women's clothes: Shino of Nutta! has started her own 'Mom's Clothes Weeks' ('weeks' because this will be ongoing) and is inviting people to upload photos to a flickr group. So Shino, here's my first contribution: a stretchy pencil skirt.

I bought the fabric at Darn Cheap. Weirdly, it is reversible, with a stripes on one side and spots on the other. It was missing a label and besides being some kind of knit I have no idea what it is - but I really like it. I based the skirt on this tutorial from Crafterhours, but the calculations were a bit difficult for my mathematically-challenged brain so I ended up just winging it... and it worked out fine.

Apologies for the bad photos but besides being a bad model, I had to take these using the self-timer on the camera while being interrupted constantly by children running in and out of the room. You'll just have to take my word for it that it's super comfy and looks pretty good!

Barcelona skirt

I make a lot of children's clothes, but it's not often that I sew for myself - partly because kids' clothes are faster to make and use less fabric, and partly because everything looks fantastic on them and (relatively) not so fantastic on me. But things being a bit desperate clothes-wise, I decided it was time to try out Amy Butler's 'Barcelona skirt' pattern that has been sitting on my sewing table for far too long. 

As something of a trial run, I first made the layered version in black linen with black muslin lining (unphotographed as yet). This was my first time using an invisible zipper and invisible zipper foot. Well - I am converted. The foot is surprisingly easy to use, and the zip is truly invisible from the outside of the skirt. Very impressive. The skirt is a good fit and is comfortable to wear. Time will tell whether the fraying layers drive me crazy with their loose threads, but so far I like them.

Excuse the unironed state of this skirt. Front...

...and back.

Having judged the linen skirt to be successful, I felt brave enough to cut up my two yards of Nani Iro double gauze (which, like the pattern and the zipper foot, has been gathering dust for a long, long time). For this skirt I used the simple A-line pattern and extended it by 15cm at the bottom to make it ankle-length. It was quick to sew up and I'm very happy with it - the fabric is just so beautiful. I'm sure I'll be making myself another of these before too long. But (sadly) not in Nani Iro.