Skirt

Oh look! I made something for me, had my guy take my picture and I'm actually blogging about it within the same week. Will wonders never cease.

Confession time: I'm not the same person I was a few years ago. I've grown, and I'm not talking about my state of mind..... This fact has been a bit hard to come to terms with and made it hard for me to make things for myself. This skirt started out as a dress and it was tragic. I cried and threw it in a corner for a year. I mean that literally, my room is a mess. Sad part is, the fabric was beautiful.

 I read an article over on Melly Sews and it struck a cord with me. Yes, I have been sewing upwards of forty years, but I learned old school sewing (where each garment was made to last through the generations, whether the new generation wanted them or not), and I still beat myself up when I make mistakes. Funny thing is, when I was teaching, I would always tell my students, there are no mistakes, only opportunities. Why I cannot seem to apply that to myself I don't know. 

Coming across that wad of fabric the other day I knew it was time to do something with it or throw it out. 

Wanting to be done in one afternoon, this was not the time for me to get caught up in making the inside look as good as the outside. There is no lining or hong-kong finish on this skirt. I just needed something to wear and the pile-o-guilt to be gone from my room. 

I choose to try an exposed zipper because I happened to find a cool metal zip in my stash and it's quicker than doing a back seam and applying a invisible zip. Have I done one before? No..... because I have always been afraid of ruining my fabric. Am I happy with the results. Yes! I'll do better next time. Or maybe I'll mess it up.

I really went out on a limb here showing you both shirt tucked in and out. One is way out of my comfort zone...... 

Pattern used for general shape : Simplicity 8664
Fabric: Beautiful wool, bought so long ago from I forgot where

Thanks so much for stopping by!

A Sweater for Bella

My sister makes beautiful things out of beautiful yarn. She sent this to Bella a few months ago. It's so very cute and I guess it's better late than never to post something like this. So if anyone is still popping in to see what we do here, we do a lot, we've just been lax in the telling. 

The skirt is the swing set skirt by Oliver & S.  I used a brown gauze for both the skirt and the lining. My sister also sent the boots my youngest son wore 23 years ago, and my nephew wore after that. Unfortunately, they didn't fit Micah but Bella thought they were great. They are too big for her right now but she can have fun with them later.

Bella came over a couple of days later and we were able to get some cute pictures of her and the sweater in action.

I don't know about you but I want to squeeze this girl all the time. 

Skirt Week - Color Block Skirt

We are so happy to be a part of Skirt Week! It gives me an excuse to sew for myself and the  inspiration I gain from seeing what others are sewing is always fun. Thanks so much to Crafterhours for hosting and offering up such fantastic prizes. If you haven't entered yet, go whip up a skirt and do it!

If you were looking in on the Pintrest boards started by Crafterhours, you may have seen my inspiration skirt.  You can see that the skirt isn't anything many of us haven't done already. It is the same process I used last year for my simple maxi skirt only this time I made the silhouette more of an a-line instead of fully gathered. So, this is not so much a tutorial, it's more of a, have you thought of doing this?

I started with my four colors and decided how wide I wanted each stripe. I added an inch for the seam allowances, with a bit extra on my hem and waist pieces.  I cut two strips from each color. When I sewed the strips together, I decided I wanted to make the seam lines a bit more. So after sewing them together, I finished each seam with a flat felled finish. It's the one you see on jeans. I figured with everyone loving embroidery the way we do, why not be a bit more decorative with my seams!

You can see here, I didn't try to blend the stitching, just coordinate it. I want to try this again and maybe go a bit crazier.

When I had my strips sewn, I layered my new pieces of fabric right sides together. I laid my pattern piece on top. You can see my very simple pattern in this picture, I measured my waist where I wanted the skirt to sit and added 6 inches for ease, and my hips plus 10 inches of ease. Then I divided that in half and decided on my length. If this does not make sense please do a search for drafting your own a-line skirt, there are so many awesome tutorials out there.

Next time I try this I want to cut it out on the bias. That could be really fun!

I marked on one side where I wanted my pattern to hit on the seam lines, then transferred those markings to the other side, pinning at each so my stripes would be even.

I sewed up the side seams and decided to do a clean finish on them. The waist is a wide elastic, I finished the waistline edge of the skirt and zig-zagged it to the elastic. If you've been following along and making this skirt, now is the time to try your skirt on and mark where you want your hem. I made my hem with a simple double fold 3/8 inches wide. It makes all the seaming cohesive within the skirt.

The fun part about this is, if I ever dress in the dark, I'm not sure anyone will notice if it's wrong side out! 

We've been having a little rain in these parts, it makes picture taking a bit more challenging. 

And maybe a bit more fun.

Jess told me to jump.

 This is what she got. 

She wasn't impressed.

  Not sure who I was channeling here but I figured you could use a chuckle. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see everyone's skirts in the Flickr pools. If you've been inspired here, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

&

Jessica's Skirt

You may remember (or not) the this skirt. It was Jessica's desire that I make her a copy of one of her favorite skirts from Ann Taylor. Silly me, I still haven't photographed her in the original inspiration. Nor have I finished my first attempt.... Finally though, I have made her skirt. I used some cotton lawn by Alexander Henry. It feels lovely and she looks so cute in it!

I love the pocket detail.

Bias Skirt

If you don't follow Crafterhours, (you should really check them out, they are nice people who say nice things about me....) then you don't know about this skirt. Jess and I made this tutorial for their skirt week.  It is an easy bias skirt we made from linen and jersey knit. 

I want to wear mine all the time. 

Seriously.

Go to Crafterhours for the tutorial.

If you happen to make a shirt, the skirt waistband and the skirt in the same color fabric, you can have something that looks like a dress but is far more versatile. 

Outtakes.........

We're so lucky he puts up with us.

Hammock vs Uber

Guess who won?

Full Skirt Attempt Two

I finished this a couple of weeks ago..... Where oh where does time go?

Jessica has a favorite skirt she bought from ATL  a few years ago that she wants more of. This was my second try and I think I got it. Now I just need to make hers. When I do I'll show more detail and my first attempt. We took these photos last night, the tired, goofy factor was pretty high. I could blame it on the smoke in the air... There are a lot of fires here right now and this is not a cloud haze it is a smoke haze.

Back to the skirt, it has a 4 inch drop waist and a side zip, which I like because it makes a smooth waistline.

It's made with a cotton lawn and lined with a white batiste. 

It has pockets, you could leave out the pockets but I love pockets. 

 It has just enough gathering to make it comfy and flirty. You can dress it up with a blouse or go more casual with a T or tanks.

Found the perfect pair of sandals at Target to go with it.

Jess, I promise I will get yours done soon!!

Skirt Week!! Wrap Skirt Attempt 1

It seemed like a good time to do this since it's Skirt Week over at Crafterhours. Go on over to their Flickr pages, with five categories, there are already a bunch of lovely skirts in the pools that will inspire you to

  sew something. 

Last week or so (were does the time go?) Jess and I were talking about wrap skirts. It's kind of a love hate thing. The comfort factor isn't quite were I want it. The ties tend to shift. Sometimes they take a lot of fabric. I'd been contemplating it since then and Friday night around 7pm (cause that's the way I do things these days) I decided to experiment. 

I started with this much lovely jersey knit, 

 and a scant thirty one inches of yummy Art Gallery fabric. 

I ended up with this. 

I never felt like it was going to gape or fall off or strangle my waist. 

 I won't wear it with my shirt tucked in, this is just to show you how it looks at the top. 

You can also see I haven't managed to hem it yet. I am going to hem it (I am Jessica, promise.) I have decided to round off the angle at the bottom. 

This is how I wore it out on Saturday. Yes I did, un-hemmed and all. It was that comfortable. 

Should I try it again, work out the kinks and tell you how? 

Would you be interested?

This is just because he's so cute and I know that there are those of you who only come here for the chance of seeing this face.