Sunday, May 25, 2008

A Skirt Per Week

I'm embarking on a new quest, to actually sew the skirts I've bought fabric and patterns for. What a concept eh?
I'm getting tired of all the room this stuff is taking up in my studio as well as on my mental to-do/shame/regret list. I also am still not buying new clothing as part of my wardrobe refashion pledge. I want a bunch of lightweight, easy-care, comfortable skirts that I can wear this summer instead of all my very worn-out shorts.
Because of the progression of my disease/condition I can't tolerate a lot of binding tight stuff around my middle. So I don't think that I can make anything that is really structured with a constructed waistband. Maybe if it is set low enough I can. But I'm not sure how flattering that would be, since I do still just barely have a defined waist, I ought to emphasize it, right?

I used fabric that I blogged about just over a year ago. One of my long-term half-baked plans was finally ready, hooray! This vintage fabric was found in Goodwill for a couple of bucks. I really like all the browns in it with a bit of contrasting blue, and the allover patterning is great for hiding wrinkles. And I have a shirt that goes with it, even better, right? One less thing to have to make...
So this elastic-waistbanded skirt was made with a pattern I drew myself from the fun, clearly written, beginner book Sew What Skirts. I've never sewn anything for myself to wear without using a store-bought pattern, so this was kind of thrilling in a small personal way. Instead of taking a pattern and altering it to fit me, I made a pattern from my measurements (what a thought, right!). And lo, and behold it fits, hey I can follow directions sometimes. The skirt is perfect, not too tight, not too loose, waistband just right, and I like the length. Now I can't get too cocky because this is not like sewing pants or something, but I'm still pretty chuffed about it all.
Now to choose the next one to work on for the upcoming week. I think it will be the embroidered purple cotton gauze using the Park Bench Patterns swirly circle skirt Griffith Park.

5 comments:

Donna said...

congrats! You did a great job of making a pattern and sewing :-) I too have a fe bits of fabric for sewing clothes, but somehow I can jsut never get around to it...

Anonymous said...

Great choice of fabrics and style for you! And it looks wonderful - and it's even FINISHED! What a friggin' concept! LOL

Do you use a serger for the seams or do you leave them raw. I'm really wondering what your finishing technique will be for eht swirly circle skirt, if I made it all those raw edges would end up being one of those jumbles of strings that happen when I pre-wash fabric (now the reason I no longer pre-wash fabric)

:-D eirdre

Laume said...

You should be proud of yourself Julie, the skirt looks lovely on you. And I like the brown too. My pile of thrift store vintage fabric finds and ideas for what to do with it all is a similar nest of guilt and frustration. I'm so impressed with not only the pattern making and construction but that you actually FINISHED it. I was just saying the other day that I seem to be able to accomplish 80% of any project but for some reason get stalled past that.

Jaye said...

GREAT job! The skirt looks great and it is perfect with the shirt. You look really nice. I think the skirts suit you.

Anonymous said...

Geez Louise! When I made the elastic waist skirt from that book it came out like a TENT! I'm jealous!

I like your "skirt a week" idea! If I didn't already have enough skirts to clothe a marching band, I might join you.

But guess what? I tagged you at my blog, Darling Petunia. Enjoy!http://darlingpetunia.blogspot.com/