Friday, May 28, 2010

Wrap skirts

Hiya!
Let me just start off this post by letting you know a quirky thing about me.
I HATE sewing clothes.
I avoid it like the plague.
I have been sewing since I was 8 years old, and creating everything under the sun. And the few times I have made anything wearable, I get extremely frustrated - so i totally avoid it! LOL
Personally I think it's because every BODY is different, and no one pattern will ever cover all of the differences in a person's body!
I am short. 5' 4 3/4" - 5'5" on a good day :)
I would have done well in the roman crusade days when they liked reubenesque women :)
Nicely put, i have curves! LOL
And sometimes those curves are bigger, and sometimes they are smaller. Right now, I am desperately trying to make them smaller! But it's been rather slow going :( These last 20 pounds are hanging on for dear life :(
Soooo ... i got a brilliant idea to make a few of these for my summer wardrobe, because they would adjust as my size goes down - and I wont have to buy new clothes until I hit my goal weight. Smart, eh?
I mean... how cute is this??
Simple. Comfy. Casual, and yet can be dressed up. Perfect for summer!
And how hard can it be? I am a good seamstress! LOL
(i do this to myself every now and then, i guess i forget why i hate sewing clothes for myself and have to give myself a reminder! lol)
So the pattern arrived, and I dropped everything to run down to my sewing room and get started. I was very excited!!
So being the smart girl I am... i was not going to waste good fabric to try it out and find out it didnt look good. So I made a mock up out of muslin and some ugly fabric for trim first. Glad I did!! This is a VERY simple pattern! It only took me about an hour to make it, start to finish. Three big pieces, and top and bottom trim.
Simple pimple!
And for the most part, it fit great, and was designed very well! But my short, rounder frame needed some adjustments.
So trying on the mock skirt, I discovered it veered out, making my lower half look like a big obtuse triangle. :(
Well it sure doesn't look like a triangle on the gal in the photo! haha
So... adjusted the angles way down.
And, I had a bunch of extra fabric all loosy goosy at the back of my waist, that wouldn't tighten up no matter how much i cinched it.
I assumed that was because i put the buttonhole too close to where the layers overlap. (Wrong assumption!)
So i set about making a real one, and my daughter Emily had way too much fun digging out fabric from my stash and holding it up on me - "dressing" me! LOL
So i asked her if she wanted to make one too. Well.. she jumped at the chance!
She is a beginner sewer, and this was the perfect beginning pattern for her to try her hand, and have something to wear when she was done!
Sooo.... we started cutting, and i started educating :)
It was tons of fun!
Granted... it took us 11 hours to get through the process! LOL
But she did all the measuring, cutting and sewing!
(i did help by doing the serging of the raw edges, because she was a wee bit intimidated by the serger - but i think she was less intimidated by the time we got it done- and that sure doesnt take away from the fact that she did EVERYTHING else!!)
She was totally stoked!!!
And having a normal, pretty straight frame, this wrap skirt fit her perfectly!
(we did use the adjustments for angle and waist on hers too though)
Here she is modeling her sewing accomplishment!
How cute, right?!? Well, since i was sewing on mine first, and showing her as i went - we discovered several things along the way. LOL Thankful we did it that way, so hers wasn't a frustration to her!! Mine however.... LOL
I still had gobs of gappyness at my back. So... i added some darts along the back side to help make it fit correctly. I made my buttonhole in the waist about 4 inches away from where they overlap, so there was room for losing size, and it all worked out!
Then on hers, we hadn't added the top sash yet, so we were able to curve in and take a few inches off the waist area - and that made all the difference in the world! Hers fits terrific! So... i have fabric to make two more, and i have my notes on my adjusted measurements, and I think they will go pretty smoothly now! woohoo!! So.. i'm not into modeling. LOL But here's a peek at mine :) Now that i know what i need to do, i am going to make the other 2 simultaniously. And it will go much faster, since i will be sewing alone! :D
I have some soft thin gorgeous Kaffe fabric, and some that i picked up from hobby lobby for the other two. I think i may be on a roll now! LOL Wish me luck! xo Bren

7 comments:

Tammy Burks said...

Hey Bren, those are super cute! Maybe even cute enough for me to try one myself!

Katherine said...

So Weird!!!!! I was looking for a solid yesterday, to go with the fabrics you sent. I want to make this SAME pattern!!!! Your fabric would make for great trim!!! And you go and post my plan. Hahahahaha.

WoolenSails said...

Those are fun skirts. Changing waistline is why I like elastic, lol. Another great invention, is the hip pants, that way it is below the gut;) I really want to make my own clothes, I hate shopping now, bad colors, wrong fits and poor quality. I want to make skirts with matching tshirts, so I will have to pull apart one of my old ones to make a pattern.

Debbie

Kathy (woolfind) said...

Oh you are too funny, not posing for the camera. I hope your next one, we can see how it really fits you!! Love it, and love how your daughter Emily is joining in on the fun. Great way to spend time together.... (and pass on your gifts/talents to her :) )

Kathy (woolfind) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jacque. said...

WAY TO GO, Bren! They look GREAT! And, good job on conquering the world of patterns! haha Those skirts are awesome.

Primitives By The Light of The Moon said...

You did a fabulous job on the skirts! Love the fabric you used it was a perfect pick :)