Self drafted skirt

During the recent Me-Made-May challenge I had pledged to address the eternal sewists problem of the half-finished item otherwise known as the UFO (unfinished object) or the WIP (work in progress). I have several 'bags' of these incomplete items and wanted to tackle them in May. This is the first of a few completed garments I have been working on.

This self-drafted skirt was started about two years ago with some stash fabric. It is a beautiful heavyweight viscose I treated myself to from Stoff and Stil way back in 2017 when I made the Sew Over It Alex Shirtdress with it.

Calling it 'self-drafted' feels a little over-stated as it is a basic gathered rectangle of fabric with two pockets. I wanted the insides to be pretty so I bound all the seams with self-made bias tape (this is the point where the skirt was abandoned for 2 years). This part of the process took the most time to sew.

The elasticated waistband was originally one large folded over channel for the elastic but when I only found thinner elastic in my stash I decided to sew through the middle and created two channels. I threaded the thinner elastic through both sections and it looks like an intentional 'design feature'.

I really enjoyed finishing off sewing and wearing this skirt. I am glad it has been released from the UFO limbo that it has been residing in for the past two years!

Recreate at Ray Stitch

Two weekends ago I attended an afternoon workshop at Ray Stitch in Islington to recreate a garment. You select a favourite piece of clothing (I took two) and the very knowledgable Alice Prier demonstrates how to construct a pattern from it.

I chose to take a dress that I bought from Uniqlo S/S 2013. It is a very predictable LBD and I took it along because it fits perfectly and has pockets. What more does a girl need?
I also took a lovely late 1950's vintage dress that has some unique detailing on the skirt section.
I thought about creating a bit of a mash-up of the perfect fitting bodice (Uniqlo dress) with the interesting details of the 1950's dress!

The tools and equipment you need for this technique are:

Pattern paper / any large paper
Pencil
Rubber
French Curve
Pins
A2 or larger foam board (the sort you get in an art shop)

Alice advised us to start with the bodice of the garment and find the centre line. So far so good. Luckily my dress was symmetrical - things get a little more complex for asymmetrical garments. Draw a straight line on the pattern paper (with the foam board underneath), fold the dress in half lengthways and pin down the dress with the fold on the straight edge you have drawn on the paper.

You can now draw around the outside edge of the dress. If you have any internal seams use a pin to follow the line of the seam and when you remove the garment, draw a pencil line using the pin-holes as a guide. It is best to use the French curve to create smooth lines if the pin-holes look a bit wonky.

Continue for another few hours. Mark the pattern pieces as you go with cutting instructions and grain line information. Once you have marked out all your pieces you can then add your preferred seam allowance. I used the standard 1.5 cm. Alice advised us to add a little extra on side seams to give you more flexibility on the final fitting.

Overall it was a very informative and fun afternoon. Classes run regularly at Ray Stitch if you want to try it out yourself.
I now just need to find some time to make a new dress with my self-drafted pattern!

UFO busting - Colette Ginger skirt

The first UFO (un-finished object) I have busted today is the cerise Ginger Colette skirt that I almost finished as part of a two-part sewing workshop at Ray Stitch in Islington back in June!  I would have got it finished during the workshop time if I hadn't tried to be clever and pimp the pattern to include pockets and extend the length of the pattern by about 4 cms.

The (ex) pockets in the side seam of the Colette Ginger skirt

I also decided to line the skirt, which again added to the construction time.... Enough excuses back to the finishing of the skirt. Well, after trying the skirt on with the addition of the side-seam pockets I realised that it badly affected the fall of the skirt and gave me extra 'hips'!!
Sooooo, after all that additional work I decided to sew up the regular side seams and cut out the pockets. I ironed a rolled hem on the skirt and lining and quickly sewed them up and here is the finished article!

Finished Colette Ginger skirt with lining!

Hirst skirt

I have worn this skirt lots of times and I wish that I had made a paper pattern so I could easily make another version. It was drafted from an old skater skirt and I free-styled the construction using some spotty furnishing cotton from Ikea that reminded me of Damian Hirst's spot paintings - hence the Hirst skirt title!

I fashioned a back split and completed the back seam with top stitching to create a stronger seam.

Hirst skirt with side pockets.
I used a baby pink scrap fabric to line the pockets and top stitched to create a piped edge to the pocket. 

Detail of the pocket 'piping' due to the top-stitching on the edge of the pocket.