FO: The Birthday Skirt

It's my birthday today!

As one who sews clothing fairly often, I just can't go against the urge to make myself something that I deem my "birthday outfit". Last year, it ended up being my Blue Beignet Skirt (which I still love). This year, things have been pretty stressful, I can't lie. I had no real plans on making anything for my birthday just because I didn't want to add additional deadlines on myself, but that all changed when my mom asked me to go to Hobby Lobby with her last weekend. I was just along for the ride, and I was very good about not shopping around, until we hit the fabric section and saw that the spring fabrics were 50% off. There were a few floral printed twills that I had gawked over earlier this year that were all in the sale. Oddly enough what drew my attention to these fabrics was a little baby jumper made from them as a sample (so good job to the sample maker, ha ha). Since the fabrics was on sale, and I knew what I wanted to make AND I would make it up immediately, I splurged and bought the fabric :) It's so cute!

Since I was in the store and the fabric was a spur of the moment purchase, I had no pattern in mind. At first I contemplated a Hollyburn (what can I say, I have Hollyburn fever at the moment), but I really loved a striped coordinating fabric that I wanted to use as a border on the hem line, so the curved hem of the Hollyburn made that no longer an option. Since I knew what I wanted, I just decided to self draft a pleated skirt - which sounds much fancier than it technically is, lol.

Since this was "self drafted", I thought I'd outline how I figured everything to make this skirt and the sewing order I used in case others have never tried it. I used the full width of the fabric, first cutting two long rectangles of the floral print in the length I wanted my skirt to be minus the width of the hem band and the waistband. I cut one piece in half because I wanted a center back zipper (I need a little more fabric around my front so it worked out great). Next I cut out my striped fabric so that the stripes I wanted for the hem had enough to 1) have a seam allowance above them, 2) had an equivalent amount of fabric to fold to the wrong side and enclose everything as a true hem band, and 3) had a little extra on that back piece to fold under to stitch in the ditch and close it all up. I cut two strips of the stripes, also the full length of the fabric, and after some creative ironing, my band was ready to attach. I started by inserting a lapped zipper (my first ever and definitely not my last!) so that I could sew the back seam closed. Next, I attached the hem bands to the front and back pieces. Next, I decided I wanted pockets, but in a split second decision I decided to use the Hollyburn pocket piece - those are my favorite part of that pattern after all. So, I just cut the scoop for the pocket off the front piece, sewed pockets by the Hollyburn instructions, then I sewed the side seams. I prepped my waistband by cutting another 2 strips that were 2" tall and the full width of the fabric, interfacing one of them, then I sewed them together at the top and understitched the seam allowance getting it ready to attach. I wrapped the waistband around my waist and marked where it needed to meet with pins. Next I added inverted box pleats to the skirt. It took a few tries to get it to the right width, but we got there in the end. Next I attached the waistband, and jerry rigged a little flap at the end. I had to get creative and use my "alterations" skills on the zipper area to get it to sit correctly, but it all worked out and in the end I have a lapped zipper that connects to a flap that closes with a button on the other side. My final step was to fold the seam allowance under on the waistband and stitch in the ditch to close it all up.

I added in a few extra areas of top stitching - I like to top stitch my box pleats a little at the top so they lay flat against my tummy area, and the flap on the waistband had to be top stitched because of the order I sewed everything, but I think it turned out just fine :) Making a skirt from scratch like this certainly takes a bit more time and head scratching than using a pattern that already fits, but I think it's a fun challenge. Also, you are making it "size YOU" instead of a number designation - I didn't even have to technically measure my waist with how I constructed this. So if you're dealing with number anxiety, this is a good way to avoid it.

I love all the little touches on this skirt. I adore the lapped zipper - so much so that as I was making the pleats I wished I didn't need them so that the lapped zipper would stand out more. I've sung the praises of Sunni's free zipper class on Craftsy ever since it was first released, but until Meg of Cookin' and Craftin' asked for zipper advice and then ended up going lapped, I never even saw the final lesson in Sunni's class that had lapped zippers! And I was one of the ones who recommended the class to her, lol. I've looked at tutorials before about lapped zippers, even ones that are reputed to be so easy, and I could never wrap my head around it. Watching Sunni go through all the steps though made it all sink in and now I will be using this method fairly often since it's so pretty. I also love the pockets - these pockets are great in anything, I swear. Also - the hem band! Isn't it cute! I've never used any form of border print before, nor have I really ever used two coordinating fabrics to feature any aspect of them before. It was definitely more work (and caused much grief at Hobby Lobby trying to decide how much of the striped fabric to buy), but it was so worth it because I think it really makes this skirt have a little something extra. It takes the cutesy floral print and adds a touch of modernity, if that makes sense. I don't feel quite so twee with that cool striped bottom going on, I guess. Plus the inside of the band is just as pretty as the outside :) Also, I used a really pretty antique glass button that was orphaned in my stash - it's mint green! It perfectly matches my mint green vintage zipper (also from my stash - yes!) and it's always nice to use those single buttons, don't you think?

And I haven't even mentioned the colors on this skirt yet. This skirt's color scheme is quintessentially "me" - mint green, navy, coral, peach, gray - these are all my favorite colors to wear and therefore I will be able to wear this with several shirts and sweaters already in my wardrobe :)

And there you have it - my birthday skirt :) I'm wearing it today at work (my one little bit of birthday excitement. Ah, adulthood, right?) and I know I will get lots of wear out of this in the coming years. Yay for fun skirts for a fun occasion!

Summary:
Fabric: 2.5 yards of floral cotton twill from Hobby Lobby (I only used a little over 1.5 yards, but I'm counting all that I bought) - $11.23, 5/8ths yards of striped floral cotton twill from Hobby Lobby - $2.80
Pattern - None!
Notions: 9" zipper - $0.10 (stash), single button - free (stash), interfacing - $0.50, thread - $3.00
Time: 8 hours
Total Cost: $17.63

Not a bad cost for my birthday :) And I still have almost a yard left to make something else.

*Craftsy links are affiliate links, but all opinions are 100% my own (and the class is Free!).

FO: Pretteh Kitteh Skirt

I am proud to announce that I actually finished something that I planned fro a sew-along and I absolutely LOVE it :) I call this my "Pretteh Kitteh" skirt.

This project sort of started out a year or so ago when I decided I would like to replicate one of my favorite ready to wear skirts. I bought a Liz Claiborne skirt years and years ago that is just over knee length, a fun polyester print with a lining, and has a ribbon waistband on the inside of the lining. It always seemed like a simple construction and I knew I could replicate it if I set my mind to it. A few months ago when I was walking through Hancock Fabrics (I was there for 99¢ patterns and a zipper, I swear!), I passed by this kitty ca fabric and I was in love. It's a nice, light fabric with a pretty drape, but mostly I was so in love with the print that I knew I had to have it in my life. I'm not even a crazy cat lady (I do have a cat, but I think most cats are jerks), but the print was just so fun and I love the colors. I bought 2.5 yards with the plan of finally remaking my beloved skirt with it :)

It's so wonderfully swishy!

Construction on this was fairly interesting. I started by just taking my measurements and drafting a simple a-line skirt pattern for the lining. I dug through my stashed lining fabrics and settled on the only one I had that didn't show through the front and wasn't too heavy - this thrifted pink mystery fabric. I think it might be bemberg rayon, or at least a much higher quality polyester lining material than I've used before because it was much nicer feeling, though it still did fray like the dickens. I think the pink is pretty boring to be perfectly honest. I don't really think it looks complimentary inside the skirt either - I loved the look of a brown fabric I had, but it showed through to the outside :( Oh well, it was the main fabric I was concerned with anyway :)

Ugh, talk about a lack of hanger-appeal!

Once I had the lining fitting well, I added a 1/2" wide orange polyester ribbon just outside the seam allowance to act as the "waistband" but still be invisible from the outside. Next I just measured my original skirt and cut two pieces of the cat fabric across the entire 60" width (the pieces I cut were 26" long). I sewed the side seams first and inserted the invisible zipper, then I sewed the lining to the zipper - I had never done this before, so I followed the free Craftsy zipper class to do it and I am so proud of how professional it looks! The hardest part of this was figuring out the size to make the pleats. This took a few hours of measuring and pinning each pleat as I went, trying to make the main fabric the same width as my waistband. I finally ended up fudging it a bit - the pleats aren't all perfectly even, but I don't think it's very noticeable unless you're really inspecting it close, so I can live with that. These pleats are sewn down as rectangles and then all of them are laid in the same direction inside the skirt. Once I got the pleats situated, I sewed the lining to the main fabric and under-stitched the seam allowance onto the ribbon. It kept everything very neat and tidy inside :) Sadly, when I tried it on I discovered a big mistake - I had sewn the pleats 5" long and straight down - I didn't angle them out for my hips at all! The result was that my waistband had to sit up under my boobs to even zip up - not a good look. I was really bummed, and I certainly wasn't going to unpick the under-stitching and everything at the already graded waist seam. I had to unpick the bottoms of the rectangles until they were only about 2" long, and when I tried to stitch the bottoms back at a perpendicular angle, I kept sewing the pleats together accidentally since it was pretty impossible to separate each pleat enough to get my foot onto the original seam line at that point. I ended up hand stitching them back, which is certainly less than wonderful looking, even from the outside :( I still plan to finangle it somehow into my machine sometime soon to keep it from falling apart on me. That would be tragic.

Here are the detail shots. Isn't the fabric great?! I love the occasional blue cats with stars on them - so fun! And I am still impressed at how good the inside of my zipper looks, even though the ribbon doesn't match exactly - oh well, you can't have everything. I also am thrilled with my narrow hems! I've only done narrow hems a few times, but I am fast becoming addicted to it - it's really simple with the rolled hem foot on my machine, and it just looks so professional. And I'm pretty proud of the outside of my zipper as well, even though I didn't pattern match at all - the pattern is so crazy that it didn't matter to me.

So, there you have it - I have a ridiculously fun skirt With kitties AND goes along with a sew-along AND goes with my Swedish Hasbeens wonderfully :) I'm so excited about this skirt, and even in spite of its flaws I know I will wear it like crazy. Hooray for sewing!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards Polyster Value Print from Hancock Fabrics - $ 7.00, 1 yard pink mystery lining (possibly bemberg rayon) - $0.25 thrifted
Notions: 9" invisible zipper, $1.00
Pattern: self drafted from rtw Liz Claiborne skirt
Hours: 6-ish?

Ha ha, these were just too ridiculous not to include in this post. Enjoy!

Knitting Update: Pleated Cloche Baby Hat

It's done! This is a special baby gift for my friend Heather :) I was really excited when she requested this hat. I've had this pattern for about a year but I've never had any baby girls coming along to make it for! Now I can officially cross it off my list.

This is the Pleated Cloche Hat from 60 Baby Knits. I have to say that I was a little surprised when I read that the pleated section and the color band is done on straight needles and then seamed together. "What?!" I thought, "That's probably just because the writer doesn't like dpns. I'll just do it all in the round!" Oh cocky me! Turns out there is a very good reason you knit it flat first - the color changing. This is my first ever real color changing project, so I really had no idea this was the reason until I started going on it. If I had followed the directions, I would have knitted each color back and forth. Since I did it all in the round, I had no choice but to cut the yarn after each color change. Once I had it all knitted, I went back and had to tie the two pinks together where they meet, and weave in the ends. All. 44. Of. Them. Yeah, that wasn't so much fun and it felt like it took just as long as making the whole hat, lol.

This is the result of my tying - a bunched up middle section. I was able to cover one side with the super cute bow, but this side is out there for all to see. I also had some random issues because the pattern is a little vague. I was able to fix them, but honestly if Heather was a knitter I would be embarrassed to give it to her lol. At least it looks cute from the outside! Oh, and I made this in the recommended yarn for the pattern. This is Cascade 220 Superwash in Aran, Strawberry Pink and Salmon.

I can't wait to give this to Heather and see it on a little baby head :)

Sewing Update: My Simple Khaki Skirt

So, remember last year around this time when I started posting about the sewing projects I started? I'm sure you had given up hope that I would ever actually finish any of them, and rightfully so considering that I started 3 clothing items for myself and have never posted any results. Well, prepare to be amazed!

I finished my khaki skirt! This is a full blown miracle, folks. I can hardly believe it myself, and I am completely ashamed that I first posted about this project on June 18th, 2012. How sad is that?! In my defense, sewing much of anything wasn't a very simple undertaking in our stuffed-to-the-gills condo. In fact, the reason my husband encouraged and promised me a sewing room when we bought a house was to keep all of my craft crap contained instead of finding it all over the house (a.k.a. having to move it all out of the way to do anything else). It was exhausting, I had no space to cut things out so I was crawling on the floor, my kitchen table was completely inaccessible and my husband's bare feet found a few of my stray pins on the floor from time to time. Yeah, not so fun. Fast forward to now - I have my very own room where everything is always close at hand and ready for me to use. It's absolutely a dream realized, and now I have this skirt to show for it :)

The pattern is Simplicity 2215, a Cynthia Rowley design. I would never have paid this pattern any attention except that Mary at Idle Fancy made several of them and I loved hers. Plus, she and I seem to have somewhat similar body types, so I had a general idea that this would be a good pattern for me. I made it up in some basic khaki colored bottom weight cotton twill I snagged from Joann's - I think I paid $15 for the 2 yards I bought, but honestly it's been so long I can't even remember.

The asymmetrical pleats

Originally I cut out the largest size and even added a little to the sides - I am incredibly paranoid of not cutting out enough fabric. In this case, I was ridiculously cautious, since I had to add extra pleats to the top to take up that extra fabric and then some, so I know I didn't need anywhere near as big as I cut. I still need to lay out the pattern and figure out which size I actually ended up making in case I want to make it again.

The oh so hidden pockets

My biggest hang up way back when on this skirt was the zipper. The pattern tells you to sew it in by hand and then use the machine to go over it. At the time, a zipper foot for my cutesy little machine wasn't even an option, so it sat unfinished. Even though I got my new bad ass machine for Christmas, I was still weary from another sad attempt. Then the heavens opened and Sunni Standing's Mastering Zipper Techniques Free Craftsy Class was released. I watched the class and was amazed at how easy Sunni made it look - the key being "with the right tools." So, I used a little of my Etsy earnings money and ordered the SewKeysE Knit Stay Tape from Sunni's store, I got it in 1.25" and 1/2" widths as well as Wash Away Wonder Tape and Clover Fusible Web so I am all set for any type of zipper I want to insert, and the last 2 items are similar products so I can see which I like better. Now that I have used the SewKeysE stay tape for myself, I am definitely a believer. After all the trouble I had with zippers before, I was able to insert this one the first time - no unpicking! It's still not completely perfect, but I blame that on the pattern design. They have you put a side zipper at the same joint as a pocket  that is also supposed to be invisible in the seam. Basically I was so afraid of accidentally stitching my pocket opening into the zipper seam that I deliberately stayed a little further out than I should have and so the "invisible zipper" is not 100% invisible. But I am ok with that! It's at least the same color as the fabric and the pocket opening is right next to it, so the eye is thoroughly distracted.

The back (same as the front - and man do I need a hair cut!)

I loved the pleats on this skirt! The glory of them is that they are completely asymmetrical which really came in hand for me when I needed to add more to make it fit better - I just folded over another please on each end of the front piece and back piece but you could never tell because all the pleats are uneven anyways :)  My only hold up is that because I had to add the pleats and because this is such a heavy weight fabric, it did make for quite a bit of extra poof in this skirt. It's like wearing a khaki colored bell on my bottom, lol. I really do like it though, so I don't care :) ** I forgot to mention a fun technical aspect. I got to use the "stitch in the ditch" foot for my machine when attaching the waistband and man, oh, man did that make it easier! I still slipped out of the ditch a few times, but they were for short stretches and I easily picked it out and tried again. It would have been all over the place without that foot! Love it!

Sorry for my squinty face - the sun was right in my eyes!

I'm so proud I actually finished a sewing project! I know it may seem kind of boring sewing a khaki skirt, but the fact that it is boring I know means I will get a lot of wear out of it - funny how that works. The credit for this goes entirely to my new sewing room, and I can't wait to see what else we can create together :)