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Showing posts with label skirt patterns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skirt patterns. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Me Made Monday....A Day Late

As promised, here's my skirt that I made last week for the Thrifty Thursday post. You would think that I have very few clothes to wear as I have worn this skirt 3 times in the last 5 days. I wore it last Thursday after I finished it. I wore it to church on Sunday and I wore it again today. And with all of that wearing, I have not pressed it since I made it!! I think that's rather amazing. 
Because of the swirled shape of the pattern piece, the skirt really holds the flare. Since I don't seam to want to wear any of the other bazillion pieces of clothing I have in my closet ;), I think I need to make another skirt! I probably will as I really do like this skirt. It's so easy to throw on and easy to wear. You can find all of the info I posted on the skirt and the free pattern, here.  
Now it's your turn. What did you wear last week? Hopefully you weren't like me wearing the same article of clothing over and over!!!! Just click on the link button and link away. You may link up until midnight Saturday night, and you may add as many links as you like as I have not set a limit. Remember, we're telling the world that we sew!!!
   





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Thursday, October 9, 2014

Thrifty Thursday

When I was in high school this skirt was very popular. I really wanted one, but for whatever reason, it just didn't happen. The skirt is very hippy-boho. I loved it then and I love it now.
I found the skirt pictured above on this website, along with a free pattern. Score!! The only problem was that I wasn't exactly sure how to print off the pattern. Now those of you who are more computer literate than I am(and that doesn't take much!), I'm sure know exactly how to do it. I struggled around for a bit and this is how I did it. I clicked on the images of the pattern and saved them. The measurements were given for the width of the top of the skirt, so I printed out that page first to see if I had the right dimensions. I did, so I continued to print out the rest of the pages. The nice thing about this pattern is that it is basically 1 size fits all and there are only 6 pages to print out.
Here's my version of the skirt.
As you can see, I did not make the skirt as a wrap. I decided that I would enjoy it more as a normal skirt. I am VERY pleased with how the skirt turned out.
If you decide to print out the pattern, this is what mine looked like once I printed it and taped it together.
 I also decided to not make my skirt a patchwork skirt, so once the pattern pieces were together, I simply pinned them together to make 1 pattern piece.
A few notes about the pattern.
1. There is no grainline included. Once I pinned my pattern pieces together, I folded the pattern in half at the waistline and created a grainline.
2. There are no notches. The notch that is the most important is where the tip of the "j" matches up to the previous piece. Once I cut out all of my pieces, I simply laid 2 pieces together as if I was going to sew them together and I marked where the "j" would join the previous piece and then I transferred that mark to the rest of my pieces.
3. If you look at the diagram above, you will see that if you make this a wrap skirt, you will need to cut off the lower end of the "j" of the last attached piece or it will hang below the hem of the skirt.
All of the above items are easy to fix issues.
If you decide to make this into a regular skirt as I did, you will need to add a zipper. The waistline will also need to be adjusted. Once I had my pieces together, I simply tried the skirt on and pinched it in around the waist until I had a good fit.
I did not line my skirt, just serged the seams and used a piece of bias tape to finish the hem.
The waistline was finished with a piece of petersham ribbon. Please do not confuse petersham with regular grossgrain ribbon.
 Prior to sewing the pertersham into my garment, I shape it with the iron.
 As you can see, it now has the shape of the waistline of the skirt.
To attach the ribbon to the waistline, I begin by sewing a stitch along the seamline of the waist of the skirt. I then lay the edge of the petersham right along the edge of that seam and edge stitch the petersham to the skirt.  
Once the petersham has been attached. I sew small tacks at each seam to hold the petersham in place.
The edges are stitched down along the zipper and I attach my hook and a thread loop.
 My skirt is finished and ready to wear!
If you decide to give the pattern a try, you can lengthen it at the waistline to your desired length. As for the the amount of panels you will need, simply measure your hips and cut the appropriate amount of panels.
I am going to post a picture of me in the skirt for Me Made Monday. Like I said, I REALLY like the skirt and I will be making another. 



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Friday, September 12, 2014

Fabulous Free Pattern Friday

Happy Friday Everyone! As promised, here are the instructions for drafting the 
Sweeping Rectangles Skirt

As a review, you can take a look at the instructions I posted for the t-shirt version here.
The principle is exactly the same.

To make the skirt version, you will need,
1. Your hip measurement
2. Your desired length

I did not add ease to my skirt as I wanted a closer fit, but you can add ease to your hip measurement, a maximum of 2" should be fine.
Divide your hip measurement in half and draw a rectangle that is half your hip measurement in width and the length will be the desired length of your skirt. Remember to add a little extra to the length for your elastic waist.
Decide how long you would like the upper back rectangle of the skirt to be. Mine finishes just below my my bottom,
the measurement should be approximately 12". If you are shorter the measurement will be a little less and taller, a little more. But remember, the upper back rectangle can be any length you like. I am just giving you a guide. Draw out your upper back rectangle, the width is half of your hip measurement and the length you have just determined.
Now that you have the upper back rectangle determined, we need to draw in the angled lines on the front of the skirt. The angled line on the front will begin where the upper back rectangle ends.
 The final pattern for the front will look like this.
The 2 rectangles that form the bottom of the skirt are next. The width of the first rectangle is really your choice. Mine is 8" wide. The length will be the measurement from the hem of the angled front up to where the front meets the back, across the back and then down the other side.
For the width of the last rectangle, measure from the bottom of the first rectangle that was attached to the upper back rectangle and then measure down to the hem of the front of the skirt.
The length of this rectangle will be the measurement from one end of the first rectangle to the other end.
And that's all it takes!!
Since this skirt is made out of knit fabric, you can eliminated most of the fullness around the waist. Once the skirt is together, try it on and pinch out the fullness at the waist prior to sewing in the elastic.  This will give you a nice flat finish over your stomach and hips. Check out this post for a tutorial on pinching out the waist and adding the elastic.
I want to do this once more as a dress, so there will be one more addition to the Sweeping Rectangles chapter.
Good luck. Be sure to ask if you have any questions. The skirt is so easy to make. It literally took me an hour from start to finish. Not couture by any means, but lots of fun!
Enjoy!



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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Me Made Mondays with Frabjous Couture

Marina is back!!! I missed her last week. You should see the dress she posted, it's beautiful. Now here's the catcher, she wore it to take her children out for ice cream...ice cream!!! This is elegance personified. Do take a look.
My me made is nothing on the level of Marina's, but I like it nonetheless :)
You may remember the Fabulous Free Pattern Friday top that I did a couple of weeks ago,
well, here's the skirt version.
There are 4 rectangles, the front of the skirt which is a longer rectangle. The back of the skirt which is a short rectangle. And finally, the 2 long rectangles that go around the bottom.
I'll be back on Friday with all the instructions!
I did make the ballerina top. It's off of my basic top pattern that I use for almost every knit top that I make. There's elastic around the neckline and the top of the sleeves. The elastic helps to keep the top in place when worn.
I wore the skirt to our Haute Couture club meeting last Saturday and everyone seemed to like it. By the way, if you are ever in Chicago on the first Saturday of the month, let me know as we would love to have you join one of our meetings.



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