A simple skirt

I have been updating my blog and noticed that I wrote this post but did not publish it in April 2012.

Written April 2012

I am very excited to make this post as I have finished making my first skirt. Hurrah!

I have always liked the idea of making my own clothes however it has taken a while for my skills to catch up with my ideas.

This was my first time to work from a commerical pattern, and I must have bought the pattern about 8 years ago, took one look at it and get very confused. Being slightly older and wiser I was determined to figure it out.

The pattern I used is Butterick 6834, 'nine sew fast and easy' The pattern is for sizes 12, 14, 16, UK.

Firstly it took me a while to work out even how much fabric I needed and how it all works.

I am in my twenties and although at school have always used cm and metres, at home I used inches for this aswell, and always used ounces for cooking measurements. I often use inches for measuring as it is easier for quilting and sewing and most people talk of 1/4 inch seam allowance etc. However, I buy fabric in metres. 

So on the pattern we have imperial in English and metric on the French side. I used the cm as I find it more accurate, even though it is French. I digress.....

The skirt was to be an a line skirt with a lining, a zip at the centre back and 4 darts. The front is made up of 1 piece and the back of 2 pieces, joining at the zip line.

It mostly went ok, there was alot of reading and re reading, discussions with my mum on how it could work, and eventually I figured it out. I was pretty pleased with my zip insertion, and think it was ok for a first time in a garnment.

There was a band of intefacing which went inside the lining and that helped the skirt to have shape on the top.

I am pleased with the outcome, it fits well and I think I can wear it out an about without any strange looks. 

A couple of issues were that, you can see the top of the zip does not match up, I think this is to do with how I folded the top hem and that I had cut off some of the top of the zip while figuring out how the hemming and folding would work. I don't plan on tucking a top into this, so no one will see it.

Another bad point is that in the lining of the skirt, I have not folded back any of the seams (not sure of right wording for this) so the edges of the fabric are exposed to fraying. I realised this later on and therefore cut the interfaced band with pinking shears to make it fray less.

I also used navy blue thread as the flower fabric is blue, however my lining is black so should have changed thread when doing lining.

New techniques and materials used

* Reading a pattern, cutting a pattern.

*Sewing darts

*Inseting a lining

*Sewing a zip

Flower fabric, no name

Black lining fabric

Blue 7 inch zip

Gutterman polyester thread, navy blue.

Label

Shopping list

*Boyds, Lincoln

*Callyco, Lincoln

Summer bag - Tile Florish

Hello,

This is a bag I finished for myself about Eastertime. I have been test driving it since and am very happy with it.

Pixie bag

Close up of inside lining and magnetic fastener

The fabric is from Joel Dewberry's lovely collection, and the fabric is Tile Flourish in green. I saw this in John Lewis a while ago when thinking of the bag and knew that was the right fabric. Something fresh and bright for Spring Summer, while being a pattern which can go with anything.

The other fabric is a gorgeous pale blue which I bought at the same time, it also has a nice weight to it, not too thin and flimsy.

I used a pattern I bought on Etsy which can be found here. It is the Pixie handbag. A very nice pattern, easy to follow and I love how having the darts in it gives the bag so much shape.

The pattern was reversible, but I have only put interfacing on one side, and am quite happy with having it this way round. Also I added a magnetic clasp to the bag. You can see that inside for the lining we have the pale blue for the bottom half, and the tile flourish for the top band.

I stitched it with a pale blue thread to blend in with the fabric.

I focused on making sure my top stitching was as straight as possible and have been working on ensuring that I reverse stitch at the end of a line and keep threads tidy.

I bought the fabric from eclectic maker a website I will definitely use again. Beautiful fabrics, reasonable p&p and quick delivery which was beautifully wrapped.

New skills and materials used

No new skills, but improving my technique on topstitching, ironing and darts.

Joel Dewberry - Tile Flourish green

Pale blue cotton

Interfacing

Gutterman polyester thread

1 magnetic bag fastener

Shopping list

 http://www.eclecticmaker.co.uk/

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/94730453/reversible-pixie-handbag-purse-email-pdf