A swishy skirt

I haven't been able to commit to sewing anything regularly for quite a while. Busy life! But when I saw the January MAGAM I was determined to be involved. Some annual leave and a public holiday meant that I should have enough time. And I did! I chose the first new pattern I've sewn for a while - Sewaholic's Gabriola. I have had this pattern in my stash for a while. I love the shape - fitted over the hips and then flared to the ground. I was sure it would flatter my figure even though I'm not a pear shape that Sewaholic is usually designed for. I did the usual research, discovering some beautiful versions on the web. I also found a very useful tutorial by Caroline Amanda at Sewaholic to grade between sizes from waist to hips. Check out my Pinterest board here.

I hummed and hahed during fabric selection but landed on this lighter weight cotton sateen by Lisette that was at my local Spotlight. I had been coveting it for a while. Isn't it lovely!

I cut it out using 4 metres, leaving me enough for a leftover Sorbetto (yet to be finished). I cut a size 12 waist and graded to an 8 at the hips. I made up the pattern according to the excellent instructions. I finished all seams using a simple triple zigzag (usually reserved for stretch fabrics but I find it sits much flatter than a normal single zigzag stitch). And yes, this skirt is a fabric and thread hog, but it was worth it!

In recent makes I have found I needed further fitting mods over my hips, so I basted the side seams and fitted carefully before finishing the waistband (and yes, I've learned from previous experience. Unpicking a waistband is no fun!). I ended up taking in another about 1cm on each side seam. I wanted a close fit over my hips. I used hooks on the waistband rather than a button but I still might change this.

Please excuse the end-of-work-day wrinkly fabric photos. And yes, these are in the bathroom (!) It's the only full length mirror I could find that got the full length of the skirt in the shots.

I raised the hem a little (I'm a slightly short legged 5'6") which meant that I could make the hem a little deeper. This is something I like to do when I want more weight at the hem. I hand stitched the (never ending) hem this week, sewing by newly installed halogen down lights in our living room (lovely!).

The end result is great. I wore it to work on casual clothes Friday with a black silk tshirt and denim jacket. I think it will look better with a lighter top - maybe off white. But that's in my sewing queue ☺️  I received lots of compliments. And I must say that there is a feeling of decadence walking along with a long skirt swishing at your ankles.  Whee!

A new Sorbetto

I found a nice remnant of cotton sateen in my LFS and snapped it up. Spur of the moment thing :). Cotton with 4% elastine. Black and white in what I'm calling "bamboo check". But what to do with 0.8m.

I had envisaged a top - sleeveless I think - there's less than a metre. The obvious choice was a Sorbetto from Colette Patterns. I made my first Sorbetto two years ago and whilst the top itself was successful, it was too big for me.

This time I cut a size 10. I left extra at the side seams just in case, but I was confident, given the little bit of stretch, that this would be the right size. At the moment I'm sewing in 1/2 to 1 hour bursts. Too many other things going on to be able to take more time. I managed to get this cut out and made up over three nights. Including the neck and arm binding. I can feel the increased confidence and speed in doing some things like edge and seam binding, that were challenging only a couple of years ago.

I thought I'd have a go at changing the pattern up a bit. I tried inverting the pleat, stitching down about 1" from the neckline and letting the ironed in box pleat hang free. I think the concept has merit but perhaps not in cotton sateen, which is a heavier fabric than recommended. I wore it today and I spent half of the day brushing down and rearranging the pleat to make sure it hung properly. I'm going to unpick the neck binding and redo the pleat the original way. But I will keep this change in mind for another time.

UPDATE: I made the change to the pleat and I'm so much happier with it. It's on high rotation over summer. The cut of the neckline and armscye are just right. I can wear it to work or casually with jeans or shorts.

Matching a new skirt

In a moment of weakness I bought a new skirt. It's delightful. I love it. It's well made, with good quality fabric. But as soon as I got it home and the initial euphoria wore off, I realised I had nothing in my wardrobe that matches it (I still love it though 😉). I contemplated making a plain white or off-white top. But this didn't get me excited at all. I wanted something SPECIAL. I spent a few days daydreaming about fabrics and what would go with the skirt (I love these kinds of daydreams!)

And then there was a lightbulb above my head! I remembered a piece of fabric in my stash - poplin-weight rayon. Nothing special but a perfect match for the emerald green leaves in my new skirt. Not a close match - a perfect match! Ironically, I had got this fabric out only a little while ago but didn't have enough for what I had in mind. There was 1.5m. Enough for a simple shirt, which given the busy skirt fabric, was what I needed. But I was still stuck on which pattern to use. And then another lightbulb moment! I remembered a pattern that I'd bought a while ago for a three panel skirt (not used yet) but that also has a sleeveless shirt pattern, with a back yoke and gathers along the front shoulder seams and a V neck (McCalls 6711). There was enough! I cut out a size 14 - no pattern mods but given the relaxed fit I wasn't worried.

Given the fab colour match with the fabrics you'd think finding a matching thread would be easy. Wrong! My thread stash grew exponentially a few years ago thanks to my Granny. Nothing there. No match either at my fave LFS or at Spottie. Argh! I decided near enough was good enough and got started (with some new thread 😉).

The shirt made up easily. I think I could have done better in the gathering at the shoulders. There's a bit of gathering stitching visible. The drape of the fabric is not a light as recommended by the pattern so the finished product is a bit "blousey". But this shirt will be worn tucked in with the skirt so that's ok.

The grand unveiling was at a family dinner where both my mum and SIL complemented my outfit. Win! This combo has become a work staple and worn at least once every two weeks.

Long time...

Hello? Anybody there? I wouldn't be offended if there isn't. It's been so long since I've posted. Crazy work has taken all my writing mojo lately. After spending all day writing, the last thing I want to do in the evenings or weekends is more writing. But I have been sewing. Promise!

During the Christmas break I took stock of everything I've made in the past few months, reviewed my notes and started some blog entries. Next job is photos. Hopefully I'll work through the backlog over the next few weeks. Standby!

(Isn't this Vimrod fantastic!)