FO: EnCircled in Kitties Skirt

I finished this make weeks ago, but only just was able to photograph it. Halloween is a seriously busy time for a sewist! Anyway, I set out to make this skirt, and here it is! 

This is my entry for the Put a Cat on It Sew Along hosted by Cindy of Cation Designs. As soon as I saw the announcement, I knew it would be a great kick in the pants to make something with this fabric I scored back in July for a sweet deal. It's from Gertie's spring fabric line at Joann's (still available here) and it was marked way down on the 4th of July. I snatched up 2 yards figuring I would make some type of skirt. I kept with that idea, but decided to add a first to the project and make a circle skirt.

I've never made a circle skirt before, can you believe it? I'd read other people's success with the By Hand London Circle Skirt Calculator, and seeing as I hate math with a passion I decided to let this handy app do the math for me :) I just plugged in my measurements, clicked full circle skirt, and put how long I wanted it to be. Boom! Skirt pattern given. No muss, no fuss. I knew I wanted to have a curved waistband, so I did change the waist measurement to slightly wider than my waist to accommodate the angle of the waistband and that worked out well. The calculator shows a picture of your fabric and tells you how far down from the edge to cut your waist, then how much farther than that to cut your hemline. You use the folded corner of the fabric as the point you base all these measurements from, slowly angling around the edge and marking the spot to be joined later on to make your pattern piece. My pattern required that I cut two half circles and seam them together at the side seams. Considering the fabric is a dobby chiffon, I french seamed both sides, even with the zipper insertion (there's a great tutorial on how to do this here). I also drafted a curved waistband using Sunny's tutorial here.

So, what's the best part about a circle skirt? 

The swish effect! I don't know that I've ever owned a circle skirt before, at least not a full one, and this baby is delightfully swishy. I had quite a fun time getting a decent swish photo. I kind of want to twirl the whole time I wear this though.

The fabric is light, but it's also fairly see through. It has a gingham-like underpatterning going on and the squares are more sheer than the rest of the fabric. Considering this along with the fact that circle skirts are notoriously dangerous for flashing incidents in strong winds, I decided to line it with a gray 1/4 circle skirt. I figured the 1/4 circle wouldn't be able to open up so much if the wind caught it, giving me hope that I will be a bit more concealed in such an event :) I used a very odd fabric that I've had for ages that was so cheap I can't even remember properly (something like $0.38 a yard). I had no idea what the stuff was at the time, but the more I've handled it, the more it reminds me of window black out lining. I don't think it is, but it's reminiscent. Anyway, it's weird stuff. It wrinkles if you look at it wrong. Good thing it's on the inside!

My photo area was not conducive to a full body photo, but I had to document my full outfit on the lovely Bernadette here. I just wore a plain mock turtleneck t-shirt so that I could show off one of my favorite pieces of vintage jewelry - a hand painted kitty cat portrait! I don't normally post about my jewelry online (mostly due to paranoia), but seriously this little guy just had to be shared with like minded cat lovers. It's 80% silver, which means it is probably from somewhere in Eastern Europe and it's dated in the first third of the 20th century. Isn't he just precious?! My nephew named him Mr. Pettybone out of the blue when I distracted him from a minor toddler injury one day by showing it to him. We all thought he was some creative genius for coming up with such a random name, but we found out that's the name of Goofy's cat on Mickey Mouse Club (his favorite show). So child genius he may no be, but he's got a good memory! lol Anyway, I just love this necklace and look for any excuse to wear it and contemplate the circumstances of it's creation. Was this a custom portrait of a beloved cat to be cherished always, or just a generic cute kitty for sale en mass? Maybe someday we will find out ...

Details! I'm ridiculously proud of my invisible zipper insertion on this skirt. I stabilized the opening with knit stay tape, sewed the zip in the main fabric, then sewed the lining to the zipper tape. I've done this a few times now thanks to Sunny's Free Craftsy Class and it just looks better and better each time. So professional looking! I love how it hides all the messy innards. I also love how cleanly the seam sits under the zipper considering I was winging it with an online tutorial to put a French seam there. Once I was ready to hem the skirt, I had a notion. I have an entire bolt of this narrow lace trim that was given to me when someone's grandma died or some such time. I've never used any of it, and I figured the lace could also help hide a not so perfect narrow rolled hem since this fabric was so flowy and I was afraid it would not cooperate fully (spoiler - I was right). I tried a little on the hem and I liked the result so I just kept going. I did a narrow rolled hem completely around first, then top stitched the lace over the edge, then went back and zig zag stitched over it again just to make sure it was nice and secure. I finished the lining with a narrow rolled hem as well (much more cooperative). And look at those lovey kitties and flowers! If you can't use a lace trim on a fabric like this, then when can you? I love how the lace adds body to the hem too - a win win all round. 

Now for the one unfortunate confession - My waistband is wonky! I was super careful with the kitty fabric to stay stitch around all the curved edges since I knew it would be really prone to stretch out with all that exposed bias, but I did not even think about it for the lining. Guess what happened? The lining pieces stretched out :/ Ugh! It's so frustrating that such a stupid little thing can do so much harm to a project, isn't it? I can't wait til I have enough experience that I don't make such mistakes as often. When it came time to finish things off, I had to shorten the lining considerably just to get an even hem, then I had to sort of fudge connecting the main fabric and the lining at the waistband. I couldn't stitch in the ditch like I originally wanted to because it would have lead to a huge bunch up that I couldn't help. Instead I tried adding clear elastic to the waist seam to pull things in, then just periodically stitching in the ditch to sort of ease the stretched excess in. It didn't work completely though and I ended up with some bunching at the side seam. Ah well, I never tuck shirts in anyway, so I know it will still get worn. I certainly learned my lesson for the next circle skirt though!

So, there you have it: the girliest thing I've ever made, lol.I may poke fun, but I really do like how this came out and I'm sure it will be a fun conversation piece when I wear it. Those kitties just make me seem like I must be a nice person to be wearing them, don't you think so? Hugging kitties + pink flowers + gingham + chiffon +full circle skirt + frilly lace trim = cuteness overload in a socially acceptable way. I can't wait to tell random strangers that I made it myself and watch their incredulous faces! Thanks Cindy for having such a fun sew along and helping me bring more cat-wear into my life :) This makes my second cat skirt for the year and I'm not sure if that means it's a good or a bad sign, lol. At least it's been fun in some ways!

And here's my Daisy cat :) We took her in two years ago when some neighbors abandoned her. She's an old girl (the vet guessed over 7 years old at the time), but she's been the best and sweetest cat I've ever been around. She even loves our corgi, Gordo (it's a mutual affection, and it's so cute). Thanks, Daisy, for being such a good friend that can always be relied on for cuddles when I'm feeling down.

Summary:
Fabric: 2 yards of Gertie Collection Poly Dobby Chiffon Kitty Fabric - $10.20, 1.5 yards weird gray lining - Free
Pattern: Circle Skirt Calculator from By Hand London, Contoured Waistband Tutorial from A Fashionable Stitch, French Seams on Invisible Zipper by Compulsive Seamstress - All Free
Notions: 9" invisible zipper - $1.50, fusible interfacing - $0.75, thread - $0.75, clear elastic, hook and eye
Hours: 5 including drafting
Total Cost: $ 13.20

WIP Wednesday: Penelope-ing and Cat Sewing

I've been sailing right along with my knitting this past week. I had kind of an off week overall and was feeling really down for no good reason. Meaning I could barely force myself to do anything at all once I got home from work. Thankfully, knitting came to my rescue :) I didn't feel like do anything but knitting, so even though nothing got done around my house for a week I do have some crazy sweater progress to show for my time!

I finished the entire body of the sweater this past Sunday! I just started this sweater on October 1st to go with the knit along, and this is the most progress I've ever made on a sweater in that period of time. I think part of that speed is due to the incredibly simple nature of this sweater - it's all stockinette! I decided to just follow the size large this time and I'm really happy with the fit in the body. I did make the sweater about 4 inches longer than the pattern calls for, but I have a long torso so this still makes it hit me at the hip. 

Sunday night I realized that I had no idea what buttons I would use for this sweater, and the time for buttons is fast approaching so I scoured my stash and came up with nothing whatsoever that would even remotely work. Thankfully Hancock Fabrics had a big Columbus day sale and Monday was the last day. They had all their buttons 50% off, so I went a bit crazy and picked up 4 possibilities.

The bad part of my button excursion - they didn't have enough of the ones I like best. The blue iridescent ones on the top are far and away my favorites (they look like they were made to go with the blue yarn, don't they?!), and they only had 8 buttons in the store when I need 11. I bought them anyway in hopes that I can find another card of them. Just in case I can't get more, I bought the other sets as back ups. I think my next favorite set is the pink and yellow speckled ones, then the clear-ish iridescent ones. I swear my button stash grows by leaps and bounds with each finished sweater. Anyone else have this problem?

In sewing news, I did manage to get a project to almost completion before my funk fully kicked in. I made my first ever circle skirt (which has absolutely no hanger appeal whatsoever, lol) with this Gertie design cat fabric for the Put A Cat On It Sew Along. This was a big drafting experiment, and it mostly worked out except that my lining fabric stretched majorly and now the fit is distorted at the waist :/ I've concocted a few plans to fix the issue, but I haven't been home much to try them out yet. Hopefully I'll figure it out this week. After that I just need to hem this and it's finished :) I'm also hoping to muster up the courage to tackle my Halloween costume alterations. Ugh.

That's it for me this week! Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others have in the works :)

FO: Gertie's Cherries Rayon Sorbetto

On my recent 4th of July fabric binge I was lucky enough to get 1 yard and 4 inches of Gertie's teal rayon with cherries at Joann's on super sale. This was all that was left on the bolt and I've wished there was more ever since I purchased it. The fabric is buttery soft and drapey - just what the doctor ordered with this awful heat and humidity. Ugh, Florida summer, how I hate you. Since I had so little fabric, I knew whatever I made would have to be super simple. While looking through my patterns i pulled out Colette's free Sorbetto and when all the pieces fit I just started cutting.

The Sorbetto is the first thing I made myself back in 2012 when I started thinking I could sew clothes for myself. That poor shirt never gets worn due to bad fabric choice - quilting cotton just will not work for this one unless you don't mind looking like a box. This rayon on the other hand would drape beautifully and really make the pattern flattering. The only problem showed up when I realized that I had no idea what I was doing back when I fitted the Sorbetto, so I had to change quite a few things on the fly. Somehow I had a crazy amount of excess at the shoulder - I think I removed 3 inches total on each shoulder seam - which was a simple fix, but left the top a smidge shorter than I prefer. It's still wearable, just not 100% perfect. Ah well, you can't have everything. I just won't raise my arms ever.

I also don't really know what's going on at the sleeve. The sleeve is actually an add-on pattern piece someone other than Colette Patterns produced. The sleeve pattern only came in one size (I think it was an 8 or something like that) which was way too small for me so I had to scale the piece up way back when. I did this by eye-balling it around the edge to what I thought would be the right size. It worked on my quilting cotton version, but the sleeves were a bit long in hindsight so I shortened them to the length of a dress sleeve pattern I like. Something about the overall cut (maybe it's a grain issue?) seems to make the sleeves flip out in a weird way. Again, not a deal breaker - just not perfect. I do love the drape of the fabric though :)

Here's my fancy surprise on this shirt - it's finished with self-bias ... that I made ... out of rayon! I have to say I impressed even myself that I pulled this off. Knowing that rayon can be shifty, I started out by spray starching the area for the darts so that I could get them nice and straight. This worked like a charm! My machine was already set up with my walking foot, so I just kept that on and in combination with the spray starch it was a sure fire. I had no shifting while I sewed at all! From there, I decided to use the spray starch on the bias tape too. I received a Simplicity Bias Tape Maker from my in-laws for Christmas this past year and I am sad to say I hadn't used it until now. This machine is a boss! I'm kind of embarrassed to say it, but I've never successfully made bias tape before. I always end up cutting it wrong or burning the crap out of my fingers and have to stop. This machine made it so much easier. 

Once you cut the bias strips and get them sewn together, you just load it on the spindle and the machine does the rest. The only tricky part was threading the bias tape through the tip - rayon is not so good at this. I just sprayed the first few inches of the fabric with spray starch and threaded it through -  no problem! Beautiful! I did have to press down slightly on the little iron piece and hold the folded tape that was coming out so it didn't bunch up, but I'm pretty sure that's because I was using such a drapey fabric. I now have really pretty bias tape, and I can't wait to make more! (By the way I'm not being endorsed by Simplicity or anything, I just really love this machine and wanted to let others know about it - Amazon usually has the best price if you decide you need one!)

Obligatory mannequin shot - because everything looks better on her :) I love this print, don't you?! If I could have, I would have bought enough for a dress but they don't even have it available online. *sigh* Oh well. I'm borderline on thinking this shirt is too plain - do I have a problem? lol I can't decide. I mean, I know it's cute, but I think it could be cuter with something going on at the neck like some buttons or a trim. I haven't found anything that looks good with it yet though, so I'm open to your thoughts.

Detail shots - I used matching minty thread so it didn't take away from the awesome print, and I think that turned out nice on the hems and neck. The bottom two shots are peaks at my self-bias. Since the shirt came out a little shorter than intended, I'm glad I went with the bias since that kept just that little bit more at the hem. Also the front center is slightly shorter than the rest of the shirt, so I'll need to adjust for that next time. At least now I know how to adjust the pattern for the next go round!

Well, there you have it. A cute but simple top that's perfect for the Florida heat. I will certainly be making more shirts like this, and I have a complete obsession with rayon now. So prepare yourself!

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard 4 inches cherry printed Gertie rayon from Joann's - $4.19
Pattern: Sorbetto by Colette Patterns - Free!
Hours: 4
Total Cost: $4.19