Salida Skirt by True Bias

This is going to be one of those posts. The post where I have critiques about the pattern. I don't like making those but I also don't like not doing it. It might be a personality thing but it eats me up when I see what I consider mistakes. And not because we are not allowed to make accidental mistakes, we all do, my goodness. But when I see something that is not helpful or can cause confusion and which should be there, that eats me up and I just have to talk about it. Because patterns are a big part of many people's learning process. 

Burnside Bibs Skirt, Sew House Seven and Simplicity.

Okay, so maybe this stripy fabric makes it look like I'm really wearing an apron when seeing it straight on, but honestly I don't mind. I love my stripy Burnside Bibs Skirt or Simplicity 8641, Misses' Jumper Dress as they call it.

BurdaStyle Overall Skirt 07/2016#109 and Paola Turtleneck Tee.

I'm stuck between being really eager to share this outfit with you and not feeling like writing any blog posts at the moment. Talk about first world problems, ha.

Oversized Sweatshirts and Knit Pencil Skirts

I feel like my sewing is rather random most of the time. If I have a plan it usually gets overtaken by something else that catches my attention. Or if I buy fabric with the intention for a specific pattern, I would say three out of four times it ends up as something else.

Not this time.....

No. 8 Svaneke by How To Do Fashion

Today I'm FINALLY blogging about How To Do Fashion's No. 8 Svaneke Pattern. It was kindly sent to me for review purpose last summer. Yes, big time yikes I'm so sorry for the delay!

Before I accepted this gift I made sure that I was still able to make an honest review and it was granted with an "of course". I like companies and designers that are confident in their product and in this case the confidence is justified. It's a great pattern!

Inari Tee and Pleated Pencil Skirt.

I have made a deal with myself to sew more of my favorite patterns in my stash. I think we can all agree that it is very easy to be caught up in the next new pattern and even though we say to ourselves "I'm definitely making ten more of these because I loved the fit/style/whatever so much" it doesn't always happen. Or at least I don't always get around to it - I should only speak for myself, right! But I'm determined to change that. Because when sewing for myself I always take the time to get the fitting right to my body, and I always make the changes to the paper pattern too, so that next time is SO much easier to sew...although a new type of fabric of course can throw things off.

The Aurora Tee (Hey June Patterns) + Burda Style Narrow Pleated Skirt.

Don't say I didn't warn you about lots of stripes on the blog and here we go again....

The stripy item is The Aurora Tee by Hey June Patterns and the skirt is the Narrow Pleated Skirt 10/2015 #107 from Burda Style. It is my first time sewing both patterns.

The Lotta Skirt by Compagnie M

Marte from Compagnie M. contacted me a while back and generously asked me if I wanted to try out one of her patterns free of choice.

I was very tempted to go with The Swing Skirt pattern but ended up going for a pattern for myself. The Lotta Skirt. A versatile style with some clever drafted pockets. It is a style I love to wear on an every day basis.

Oh man, the result is fantastic! Like YES fantastic. It has the perfect amount of width to make it a relaxed comfortable style but at the same time you do not have to worry about going out on a windy day.

I love the design of the pockets and the chance to add some contrast fabric and pretty buttons on the pocket flaps.

Another thing I was really happy about are the lines and angles of the actual pattern. You can see this is made by an architect that knows that those things matters! The result is a great fitting skirt that feels wonderful to wear.

I also had some things that I was not so happy with and I don't find it super fun to write about those things. I know that it is someone else's hard work I'm criticizing and who am I to do that?!

But I strongly believe that constructive criticism is what makes us all better. I did not get my sewing degree by being told that everything I made was just great. I have picked up countless seams (and I still do) so here goes.....

The first thing I noticed was the creases Marte made with her iron to divide the gatherings on the skirt to the waistband pieces correctly.

And beside the fact that a tiny snip in a notch would do that job in a second, I also have to mention that it is really not a good idea to make creases in fabric unless you want them there permanent. If you are unlucky you simply won't be able to iron them away again - especially since you have to do it in the middle of gatherings which you do not want to flatten at all.

Then I noticed that the tutorial shows to overlock both skirt and waistband pieces all the way around - also at the top. There is no reason to overlock seams that are going to be hidden inside the waistband. That is both a waste of time and thread plus it adds unnecessary bulk. Especially since the top of the skirt is later gathered and that adds a ton of extra bulk. IF it is for some reason necessary to overlock the seam where the gathered top of the skirt is sewed to the waistband then do it afterwards in one go, gathered skirt seam and waistband seam together.

Then lastly there was the lining pattern - and I know there are lots of opinions about this but this is my blog, okay! If I buy a skirt pattern with an option for a lining I want a separate lining pattern. I do not want to cut the lining pieces by using the skirt pattern pieces and let me tell you why:

- It needs to be shorter than the skirt which means I afterwards have to measure and cut of more if I don't have a lining pattern. It is a waste of time and fabric.

-When you have a skirt with width like this one you do not really need or want the same width in the lining. You need some but not all. A new lining pattern would be able to compensate for that

-And the last reason is that when I do not have a lining pattern pieces, I do not have notches for the pleats. The pattern is very correct stating that instead of gathering the lining like the skirt, instead use pleats which is less bulky. But I do not appreciate to be told to do my own calculations so they get placed evenly on each side. This is a product sold for money and in my opinion is it the pattern maker's job to make it complete.

The same thing happened for a placement of a notch. I needed a notch where the end of the pocket opening meets the waistband but instead the tutorial tells me to put my waistband up to the skirt and make a mark myself. All this should have been done in the pattern making process and notches should have been added to the pattern.

All these things I'm mentioning above might sounds like minor things and they kind of are!

Yes, of course the most important thing is the base of the pattern - the actual shape of the pattern pieces are perfect. 

But like I said before when a sewing pattern is for sale then I think it is in order to expect all the techniques to make sense and all the pattern pieces to be complete - also an optional lining piece. Plus a complete set of notches to ensure a pleasant sewing process.

I might be alone about this but I do not only want a perfect result like I certainly got with the Lotta Skirt. I also want a pleasant sewing process where I don't have to get up from my sewing machine unnecessary times to make notches and marks along the way.

Okay, deep breath and let's move on, alright :-)

Now let's return to the lovely things about this pattern because there are lots of that too!

The pockets are ingeniously made. Simple yet very cool. They are part of the skirt and then folded over. Smart!

I love these old buttons I had left from when I had my apparel company.

The fabric is that same flower printed cotton that I used for the yoke for THIS top from Miss Matatabi. The fabric had the perfect drape for this skirt but was ever so slightly see-through so I added a lining. The navy fabric on the pockets is double gauze. I interfaced my pocket flaps. I felt I would get the best result like that.

I really love wearing this skirt and I have already made another one (which means I have to go through another photo shoot arghhhhh).

I also made this dolman sleeved t-shirt in organic interlock knit from Organic Cotton Plus (psssst it's on sale at the moment).

The pattern is from the Japanese sewing book called Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori. It is actually a pattern for woven fabrics AND a dress but hey....this worked too. Interlock fabric is not very stretchy anyway and I knew this pattern was plenty big and I actually ended up making a size XS (which is not my normal size) and it is still roomy just the way it is suppose to be.

I love this outfit and as soon as I don't feel like wearing wool cardigans every day it will be worn all the time.

Thank you Marte for your generosity!

I will be back soon-ish with another Lotta Skirt paired with another top from a Japanese sewing book.

Get you Lotta Skirt Pattern HERE. The link is for the pdf-pattern that I used but you can now also buy it as a paper pattern.

Pleated Pencil Skirt - Flower Edition

Warning: These photos are taken in direct sunlight and included a very sweaty 'model' in a thick blouse and with squinting eyes. Ugh, so sorry! But I have had this skirt finished forever (okay, a couple of weeks) and we have had builders in the house since then...and I do NOT take photos of myself with builders as an audience. (and yeah I know...I'm weird since the photos are for a public blog - but somehow taking photos and showing photos are two different things to me. Is that just me??) 

Finally this saturday lunch time hubby took the kids out and I finally had the house to myself - super hot September mid day or not....this was the time.

Pleated Pencil Skirt by Delia Creates - Pattern Remix + Visible Zipper Tutorial.

I was planning on taking a break on the blog this summer and I kind of did....almost!

But when sweet sweet Delia from Delia Creates asks you to make a remix of her brand new Pleated Pencil Skirt Pattern....well, then you say yes.

Sew a Wave Skirt - Full Sewing Tutorial

Today I am bringing home my first post as a contributor on Me Sew Crazy.

Welcome to my first Sewing Rabbit Creative Team tutorial and if you are the visual type I am pretty sure your are going to be satisfied after this post. It took me 27 photos to explain how to sew this skirt and I hope you will 'see' everything you need...and there is some text too for those types, haha!

So what are we making? This skirt!

You might remember the skirt from THIS pattern drafting tutorial? In the end of the post I promised a sewing tutorial....and here we go:

You need to use some fabric with a great drape. I have used cotton voile and was therefor forced to put a lining in too. But poplin would work great too and if it is not see through there is really no need for the lining. Up to you!

Since you are the one drawing the waves/curves on the skirt pattern, you can totally avoid this 'tricky' part by not having the middle part of the skirt go all the way down and become part of the hem. But I personally really like that detail. Juuuust saying.

*I made the first skirt (from the pattern drafting tutorial) with French seams on the curvy seams (because you know - or will find out - that I am annoying like that) but it kind of back fired. Like any other curvy seam they either needed small cuts (which I would only do on a totally hidden seam) or a more narrow seam allowance to make a smooth surface on the skirt. So I ended up having to stitch the seams on the first skirt which works okay but I would prefer it without. So this time I choose a way more simple solution. Sew and cut 2-3 mm of when overlocking. Worked like a charm!  

*Okay, this photo gets it's own space because you need to see this on a big photo. I have learned it from my friend Rikke who has learned it from her friend Line (we all have the same education from Denmark and you can imagine some geeky sewing conversation we can have!)

SO this is a trick to sew your lining/inner waistband/facing to an invisible zipper. It is actually super simple. You are probably used to placing the inner waistband - right against right side - and sewing down along zipper. Well you are still going to BUT first you are going to shift out your inner waistband so it sticks out 1 cm at the very top and 0.5 cm at the bottom of the waistband (see photo above). The rest of the way (the lining) you just do as usual and no shifting. And NOW you sew down along the zipper. See graphic stitches on photo above.

You will need to come a little bit further down in the tutorial before you see the point with the shifting....but I promise you that you won't be disappointed - ohhh, the pressure! 

And here you have it folks.....the result of the shifting.....look at the right photo above. It always makes me smile when I have used this technique because it just looks so clean and finished.

Well, so I guess the 'prize' you get for making it all the way down here is the reveal of what my next Sewing Rabbit Creative Team post is going to be about. Great! 

And you are in luck. The bias tape post is on Me Sew Crazy tomorrow July 23rd. I would love for you to come back and check it out.

SONP 2013 - Elastic waist skirt with in-seam single welt pockets - TUTORIAL.

Holy smokes do I have a tutorial for you guys today.

This is part of Summer of No Pants 2013 (SONP) on the great blog Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! (yes I know, that name is hilarious! And since I had the pleasure of meeting Marigold (and how is that for a cool name by the way!) at Fabric Weekend, LA I can tell you she is exactly the opposite - beautiful, clever, funny....and not stinky at all, ha!) So if you are coming by from there....welcome to my blog! 

So what are we doing today you might ask? Well, around a year ago I made a pattern drafting tutorial to THESE elastic waist skirts with pockets and when I got the chance to do a tutorial for SONP I thought hmmmm, I have actually never made a sewing tutorial for that type of skirt. That changes today! Being the annoying person I am, of course I had to change something from the skirts I have already made. And I came up with this in-seam single welt pocket (yes, I have totally gotten help to that description - thanks Shannon!).

But the measurements from the pattern drafting tutorial are still working and I am giving you the info you need for these pockets in this post - I hope...otherwise please feel free to ask!!

Let me first give you a short explanation to the magic change of fabric and colors along the photos in the tutorial...argh, I know!! So I was sewing the orange and coral skirt and taking the photos for the tutorial along the way. When I was done sewing I uploaded the photos and saw that the photos for sewing the single welt on the skirt - and this is for sure the hardest part of this skirt - does not work at all - grrrrrrrrrrr! SO what to do...well, the easiest solution for me, since I can't do graphic design, is to simply cut another skirt and photograph the steps I needed again. And this time I got what I needed. But there was no way I was going to make another skirt in the same two fabrics (I am not that crazy) and since this neon pink polka dot from Michael Levine had been calling on me since Fabric Weekend I decided to use that instead. You can see the other finished skirt HERE.

So now that we are past the little bumps on the way let's get this tutorial started, shall we!

I am only showing you the pattern piece for the front skirt because the back skirt is exactly the same as the one showed on in the pattern drafting tutorial - except you have to cut of that top strip for the color block piece and add seam allowance (if you want the color block version of course).

I am adding interlining to the 6 x 20 cm welt pocket pieces. I would for sure recommend you do that too so that the pocket openings holds up.

After you put the interlining on then fold and iron the welt pocket pieces so they becomes 3 x 20 cm - right side out.

And now I hope the photo collages should tell you the rest you need.

I do have one small change that I only did on the neon pink dot version. Before sewing the side seams together on the waistband, I cut of 1 cm on each side of ONLY what then becomes the front waistband. That way the side seam and therefor also the pockets gets pushed a bit forward on your body and simply looks better when the skirt is worn.

And now to the finished result worn by yours truly.

Oh and this is the full skirt version and the neon pink dot/yellow is the less full version. (You will understand what I am talking about when you see the pattern drafting tutorial.)

That's all for me. Thanks Marigold for having me.

Skirt Week 2013 - How to draft a custom fit skirt pattern with a wide waistband.

Okay, ooooookay first of all YAY for Skirt Week 2013.

If you have no idea what I am talking about I would suggest you check out THIS post at Crafterhours because that explains it all. But come right back because you don't want to miss this post, okay!

A year ago I participated in Skirt Week for the first time and I got the surprise of a lifetime. First of all I got pretty surprised that one of my skirts was chosen from the Flickr group to actual go to voting. Then I got not-so-surprised when my skirt got like the lowest number of votes (yeah, thanks for nothing guys ;-))) BUT I guess the judges felt sorry for me or something because (and now comes the surprise of a lifetime-part) then I won Judge's Choice for THIS a-line skirt. Whaaaaat, man I am still so proud of that. 

And now I almost feel like I won something again by being invited back to do a tutorial to (hopefully) inspire others to make skirts. Thanks Susan and Adrianna from Crafterhours who arrange Skirt Week!

So I was thinking how can I help and inspire the most and my answer (which is not necessary the right one but never the less my answer) a tutorial on how to draft a custom fit skirt pattern with your own measurements (hence custom fit...but you know......) 

The skirt I am going to show you how to make is a (kind of) half circle skirt with a wide fitted waistband. 

A wide fitted waistband is a great tummy control type of waistband (pretty sure I learned that word from What Not to Wear (when they teach them what to actually wear....not when they basically break them and their wardrobe down in the beginning!). AND a half circle skirt is great for thigh disguise (yep, totally made that word up myself).

In other words I am making a skirt that would look good on a lot of different female body types. And you don't actually have to have a tummy or thighs that needs any disguising to look good in the skirt. Juuust saying!!!

In the end I will show you a skirt I made using this method with my measurements. But the possibilities are really endless with this model so lots of chances to use your creativity.

First we need 4 measurements....let's call them A, B, C & D.

A: Circumference of your stomach/waist area where you want the waistband to start. Generally (on post teenage years people) this is like 1-2 in./2.5-5 cm below your belly button. But YOU decide remember! Do what looks best on your frame and what you feel most comfortable with.   

B: The height of your desired waistband. I made mine 3 in/7.5 cm.

C: Circumference of your low stomach/high hip area where you want your waistband to stop. You get this by: start where you measured A, then measure down with the B that you decided and at that spot you measure the circumference and you got C.

D: From C to your desired length of the skirt. I choose just around knee length and ended up with 20.5 in/52 cm.

Along the way you need to make some Kindergarten level calculations....you will be juuust fine!

 Now that you made your muslin, tried it on and made the changes to the skirt and waistband pattern (if there were any) you are ready to draft the pattern for the lining....if you want lining in your skirt. I kind of prefer not - especially in summer skirts - but some of my fabric for the finished skirt was a bit sheer so there was no way around it.

1) You use your skirt pattern but you don't need it as wide as the actual skirt. So what do you do? YES, you use same method that we used to make the waistband more narrow to fit measurement A. 

But because you don't want to cut in your finished paper skirt pattern you simply just fold it somewhere in the middle. Why do we not just take it off from the side seam? Because then we would loose our 90 degree angles which are so important for the finished 'lines' in the skirt. Try to sew something together with a 80 degree angle and you will see what I mean....it will be pointy not a straight line.

I have already made the fold on this 1) photo between the dotted lines.

The top curve (that is going to be sewed on the bottom of the inner waistband) will become a bit pointy when you fold (those pesky angles) so when you copy the pattern you will need to smoothen that out. See yellow dotted lines on photo 1).

2) Here you see the copied lining pattern with a smooth top curve and still all 90 degree angles. Since you copied your skirt pattern that already have seam allowance you don't need to add that. But you do need to shorten it so it does not stick out under your skirt fabric. It shortened it so it just covers the sheer fabric but again that is up to your skirt design.

3) This photo is just to show you how to sew the inner waistband to the lining. When you, in the very end, sew outer waistband (with skirt) and inner waistband (with lining) together  - right against right side of fabric - at the top waistband seams, you will get a skirt with no visible seam allowance - at least when you look from the top. Since the skirt and lining does not have same length and width we obviously does not close it by the hems.

And now I think it is time to see that skirt I made, right!

A curvy/wavy color block skirt made with three different thin cotton fabrics that all have a great drape which is kind of important in this type of skirt.

In case you are interested in an actual sewing tutorial for this specific skirt I can tell you I have plans of making that too in the near future. So keep an eye on my blog and if you are a new reader visiting from Crafterhours (welcome!!) maaaaybe you should consider following me with Facebook, Bloglovin or how you prefer to follow blogs! Whatever you need for this is in my right side column.

Now go make your own skirts! (Told you I can be bossy!)

Who wants this skirt? It's GIVE AWAY time!!

Okay people this is seriously exciting for me.....and hopefully also for you.

My first give away!

I was actually planning that my first give away was going to be in the end of next week with the aaaamazing knit webshop Girl Charlee when I am doing my first guest post on Project Run & Play as one of their sew-along-friends. 

I know!!! 

That previous sentence contains so much exciting news for my little blog here that I can barely take it. I mean give aways with an external amazing sponsor AND guest posting on one of the blogs that I have been following since I discovered this amazing world of sewing blogs. Friday the 10th of May is the day so please don't miss that. 

BUT before we get to that I realized I needed to test this give away thing. More precisely I needed to test The PunchTab that will help you earn entries and me to (hopefully) keep track of everything. It is not set up directly for Bloglovin (like it is with Facebook and Pinterest) so I am kind of curious if that will work. Cross fingers!

And it is actually so lucky that I have made this skirt a couple of months ago and when I was finished I decided to either try to sell it or give it away here on the blog. I never came around to the selling part sooooooo who want to win this skirt?

The skirt is made in this beautiful 100% cotton voile from Victoria & Albert Museum for Westminster/Rowan Fabrics. Collection: Bromley Voile. Color: navy. Because this fabric is slightly sheer I have lined it with a simple navy 100% cotton voile. The lace is a drop crochet lace in 100% polyester. It is sometimes super hard to photograph neon colors....but the lace is totally classic pink neon. You can see the color better in THIS post.

The skirt has an elastic waist and is measuring: 73 cm / 28.7 inch when not stretched out. Which means you at least have to have that measurement where you normally wear your skirts to fit it. But is can for sure be stretched to at least 80 cm / 31.5 inch and still be comfortable to wear.
BUT I also wants to add that since this is a skirt with an elastic gathered waist you can VERY easily and I would almost say with minimum sewing skills either tighten the three narrow elastics that runs in the three casings or change them to longer ones. All you need is access to a sewing machine and I have a feeling quite a lot who reads this blogs has that, right!?

The full length of the skirt is: 60.5 cm / 23.8 inch.

My guess is that with this current elastic length it is a size 38 (euro) / 8 (US).

I just want to show you a photo of the skirt on the inside because I managed to make it with no visible seams and you know that always makes me happy.

Log in to the PunchTab below using your Facebook account or email.
So knock yourself out and for the sake of my desire to get more followers please try to earn as many entries as you can. Please don't hesitate to ask me if you have any questions.

The winner will be announced here on the blog saturday the 11th of May 2013 so make sure to check back in.

From pants to skirt.

Yes, I am alive - and to add a little drama: barely. My husband and I have 'planned' our children so well that not only does their birthdays fall in January, right after Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas madness, they are also only two days apart. They turned 3 and 5 years old and this year we held separate birthday parties for the first time. Wilma the 5 year old wanted a non-sleepover (okay I decided the non-sleepover part) slumber party with glitter tattoos and freeze dance and there was just no way that would mix well with Evelyn's young friends so two parties it was. Phewwwww, I need a vacation now AND to sew again. But as they say you don't get everything you want here in life so here is the skirt I sewed.

Do you remember THESE pants that I made for Wilma heavily inspired (okay, kind of directly copied) from a pair of Celine pants? Since I made them I bought this great organic cotton twill and wanted to make her another pair.....and suddenly it hit me that the model could very easily be made into a skirt....for me, horray!

It has side pockets (you can see the burgundy peek out) but is otherwise made just of retangles. I love sewing clothes like that. The drafting of the pattern is easy, there is no need for making a muslin and there is barely any fitting involved during the sewing process. I guess in that way you can call me lacy. It's funny but the better you become at sewing and drafting the longer everything take. You know you can get a perfect result inside and out but you also know that requires not skipping any steps, taking your time both getting the fitting and the actual sewing right and redo when things does not look up to standard. And this is where I come with the usual excuses about how I rarely have more than 1-2 hours continued sewing time and mostly just 10 min here and there during afternoons with the kids so working on a project that will take weeks is just not for me at the moment blah blah blah. But I am really trying to be better because I really want to go back to making other things to adults than skirts with an elastic waist....even though my next project is already in the making and yes, it is another skirt, ha......I said trying!

Sorry for the ugly plastic hanger. Husband is working and my kids, though a year older, not old enough to handle the camera...or model the skirt. I just really wanted the latest post on my blog to be from the year we are actually in, okay! Oh and that big purple polka dot on both skirts photos....I have no idea what happened. Reflection from the sun maybe?

A skirt with a lower band like this calls for a nice hemming, right! Sewed from the outside of the skirt. The seam allowance on the inside is folded 8-9 mm instead of 10 mm which in theory gives the result on the inside as you see above - it might take a little practice though (it certainly did for me!).