A plain title. A fairly plain skirt but a long wanted one. Ha, both long and wanted! A 16 gore wrap skirt in lightweight denim. I’ve made two of these before and love the style. One in three alternating colours of pinwale cord and one in chocolate brown cotton. I’ve been wanting a denim version for ages. Done. Ties stolen from the multicoloured big skirt, an extra advantage of detachable ties. That hemline looks more interesting on the hanger than in wearing. A substantial derriere needs extra length to get a level hem, ha!
I managed one progress shot and one only. I have fun coming up with new stitching designs for jeans pockets. This isn’t trousers, let alone jeans but it is denim. Lens shapes are easy to sew, so I’ve been thinking of trying for an eye design. Last time I tried to draw one it wouldn’t work. This time I sat down and had a workable design in a couple of tries, hurrah.
Less happily, I had to place the back pockets higher than ideal for pocket function so they would not interfere too much with the hang of the skirt. Oh well. I shall have to make eye pockets for some other garment.
This is going to be a really short blog post. I’m feeling the garment will be well used and much worn though.
and a disappointing back view. Hard to get the photo alone and the pockets don’t show up at all. Oh well.
When prepping materials to dye in our indigo adventures three years ago now, I pleated up some fine, crisp linen(?)* with the intent of making a tiered ruffled skirt. I was working at speed to get everything ready in time and didn’t think hard enough about how much fabric I needed. This turned out to be only enough for a bit more than the lowest ruffle.
*Possibly not flax? Definitely cellulose fibre. My best guess is a cotton ramie blend. It was bought very cheaply in folded bales from a closed shop clearance sale.
Happily, I also pleated up another piece of the same fabric but slightly differently and with no specific plans attached. This is the piece with the copper coloured clips below
by chance, I have a picture of these three pieces next to each other straight out of the dye vat
Argh. These images are bigger than I would choose to use. I’ve moved to a different computer and don’t currently have a copy of my usual photo editing program. Maybe I have to bite the bullet and shell out for it.
Anyway, All these pieces started the same size and were folded in three before pleating. So they all broke down most neatly to three 38cm wide strips. I used the darkest three for the middle tier and ended up needing 5 of the remaining six for the bottom tier. I still needed a top section to get the overall length I wanted. I originally meant to make another rectangular cut gathered arrangement for the top part, but flat to the body is more flattering even though it will mostly be covered in wear. So I fiddled appropriate shaped curved pieces out of the bits leftover from the indigo rays frock which is also and usefully, a slightly heavier fabric. This is just pinned, prior to final adjustments. Silly me fitted it over another skirt though so it ended up needing more overlap than intended.
The fastening is similar to the overlap method used in this colourful remodel but buttoned instead of the ties used there. A friend suggested the buttons and I think I like them. They are more comfortable than the ties I think, but require sewing on many buttons to provide the same breadth of adjustment. Optimistically I have placed buttons for my current size and a couple of smaller options. Fingers crossed I don’t need to add more.
I couldn’t face braining the pockets until I’d finished everything else. So they are not sewn in as elegantly as if I’d planned them from the beginning. I’m happy that they work though, and I ought to be able to make nicer versions if I make another skirt of this kind. Here are the shapes. The front and back need to be different because of the overlap.
and after insertion: the two sides are sewn together below the opening shown. The front section is sewn in under the waistband to support the pocket and contents, so the pocket bag can’t be fully closed or one can’t get in and out of the skirt!
Here is the full thing, front and back
I’m delighted with the hem. I didn’t want to sacrifice any length, so I needed to bind it. Neither the pale blue or dark navy cloth sparked joy on their own for this purpose, but both together felt like a sweet solution, a subtly fussy detail. It took quite a few hours to achieve though. I used patchwork style rotary cutting for accuracy of the strips and fully assembled the border, sewn and pressed before attaching it to the skirt. Worth the effort I think.
A couple of shots of it on me, one demonstrating the pockets of course. My mirror is the wrong shape for taking pictures of full skirts, but full swishy skirts make me happy. I was worried this one might feel too silly, but happily I like it.
Back in 2014, 2 years prior to the advent of this blog, I made a fun skirt from scraps to wear to a folk music festival. Made mostly from sheeting and quilt backing leftovers. Full, colourful, and swirly. Foolishly I made it with a firm shaped waistband made from leftover half square triangles. Only a couple of years later I couldn’t wear it anymore. Big boo to perimenopause.
It’s been languishing in my wardrobe ever since. Too much potential to get rid of but unwearable as was. Today I finally got around to redoing the waist. I combined this rescue with my intention to experiment with the way I’m told 18thC underskirts worked. Splits both sides and ties from both halves of the waistband. Tie the back section in front of you and the front section in back. The size is hugely adjustable due to flexibility in the amount of overlap. I’ve designed this to have detatchable ties for minimising knots in laundry and with a 6cm overlap both sides for my current measurements.
I’m pretty happy with it. It’s a great experiment though not the most flattering of garments. It makes me look rather stumpy and dumpy, but everything kind of does ’cause I kind of am. This photo isn’t too bad but believe me it was very much the best of an unflattering bunch.
But the skirt is very fun and very huge. It’s way over a full circle.
WordPress tells me this little blog of mine has just hit 10,000 views. Yay? That’s probably not very much for the 5 years it’s been running. Still, I thank all of you who read this.
I wanted a new winter skirt. Plain coloured, dark, washable, comfy, with goodly large pockets. I had a couple of metres of an unusual dark corduroy. Black base fabric. I struggle to tell whether the pile is a different colour or whether that colour is just printed over plain black cord. So dark, but with quite a sheen in greyish chocolatey colours.
I cut a simple A-line four panel skirt. Of course one needs to make the pockets first. I have a habit these days of doing patch pockets both front and back. If I ever settle on a pattern I’m happy with I might actually make proper jeans front pockets. Anyway, patch pockets on anything vaguely jean like beg for decorative stitching. I have such fun with pocket decoration. I find that gentle curves and pointed shapes are both easy to sew, while tight curves are hard to do well. What meets those restrictions, is something I haven’t done yet and appeals? I thought I’d try a rising sun motif. Et voila!
I went with a zip closure plus elastic waistband. Comfy and practical.
I couldn’t think of an appealing way to set it up for a picture by itself. They don’t make skirt hangers for larger sizes and folding the waistband like they do in the shops doesn’t make for honest display. So here it is draped on a little sofa.
It turned out more closely fitted in the hip than I had planned but the effect is nice. I might make a looser version out of lighter weight cloth later.
First project, first post of 2019. I wanted a skirt for travelling.
-durable to tolerate a standard wash, and possibly tumble drying.
-dark enough to go in a dark wash
-patterned to not show crushing and/or dirt as much
-lightweight in both senses
-colours to go with the other things I mean to take
-comfy
-adjustable waist.
-pockets
-natural fibre of course.
This fabric was bought early 2018, just before I instituted the fabric buying moratorium. It was a bolt end from spotlight. In two pieces because it also had some printing faults. I think it’s really fun. It has both yarn dyed stripes and overprinting that must have been done with some kind of bleach, then subsequently dyed, in a way I don’t understand. I love the finished effect though.
The whole thing is made from rectangles, except for an arc cut from the top of the front skirt sections to level the hem. The two layer design was inspired by dresses from the early 1900s. The under layer is mostly made of shiny rayon lining. A sort of inbuilt petticoat that stops it catching on knickers or leggings worn underneath. The hem edges are bound with straight grain strips of black cotton to give some definition in all that splashy colour.
The fastening is one I had trialed in an earlier skirt and quite liked. There is a short section a little longer than needed to go around one’s waist, into which the rest of the skirt is gathered. This functions as combination waistband and basque to drop the gathering fullness and bulk away from the waist. There is both a drawstring and button placket.
On me, including showing off one of the pockets. It might be a bit too long. Easy enough to amend with tucks if I want to given everything is straight cut. I expect it will sit a bit more softly after it’s first wash, so I’ll wait until after that to decide.
That is, Folk (music) Festival Fashion. The first folk music festival I went to, I just wore regular jeans and tshirt type things. When I saw some of the interesting things other people turned up in, I felt like I had missed an opportunity big time. Guess who likes dressing up? So when there is a festival in the offing, I like to make an appropriate new thing or two. This one ticks both the wholemeal and vaguely-other-ethnicity boxes.
As usual, I’m having a “my goodness this fabric is great” moment. Really, I’d buy more of this in lots of colours if I could get it. However, I bought this as a bolt end, also as usual. Sigh. It’s mid weight cotton with a hand loomed sort of look and a relaxed crinkle. Launders and wears beautifully. I haven’t been wearing much brown of late, but this will take me back there a bit at least.
This is a half circle wrap skirt made up of 16 gores. Most are cut as balanced triangles, the end gores are cut with one vertical edge on the straight grain so the end facing/hems will be stable. It even has a pocket.
I’ve broken my usual rule of not doing contrast top stitching in order to add restrained interest, and to lighten the overall dark impression. The implement that makes this achievable neatly? Using my blind hemming foot to guide the top stitching. It works wonderfully well, as long as one can restrain it from running off the guide seam.
Garments with strings are a pain in the laundry. My solution is to make the tie strings detachable as so:
Here is the skirt on, with bonus towel on head:
And here, styled to head into town to an exhibition:
I’ve belatedly put labels on all three new denim garments. I try to remember to sew them on by machine, but often forget until I’m past the appropriate construction stage. Oh well, putting them on by hand was a good job for a still lurgified me this morning. Thought I’d show you the zip plackets too. These are not seen at all during wear, so one can go as mad as one likes with the fabric choice.
I’m quite pleased with the neatness of the construction stitching on these. I did make a few mistakes but they are not obvious to the casual observer.
I thought I’d have a bit of fun and put the skirt label on the outside for a change.
I ordered the labels a few years ago from Fantasy Labels. They are woven cotton, really nice quality. Can be sewn on in a variety of ways and are comfortable against the skin. They amuse me too, and that’s worth quite a bit.
On my list was a short A-line denim skirt. Yesterday I cut it out and made it’s set of pockets.
Today I put the skirt together.
I had fun using a bright scrap to make the zip placket
I’m not entirely happy with how it sits. It might have been a mistake to use this very thin fabric. It might work better in proper traditional denim. This will be nice and light for travelling though.
I cut 8 identical gores. Then pinned it in to fit me, and trimmed it back at waist and hem to level it. I’m finding I enjoy this approach. It’s way less frustrating than having 4 different pattern pieces that one can get confused and probably have to adjust later on anyway.
This ex garment has been hanging around my house for years. It used to be a babydoll top, you can see the remains of the centre front neckline at the top of the picture below. The shape was awful on me, but it’s pure cotton and the lace pattern in the knit was so lovely I refused to throw it out. I’ve been meaning to make into a skirt, and today I finally did.
Edit: look what I found in the photo files! It seems I chopped this garment up in November 2011.
Chop the top off, remove the buttons, sew the fronts together, fold the top edge over to make a channel, thread with elastic and voila, a skirt and a cute one if I do say so.
Montjoye Makkinstuff 