So, I have just decided to enter my first sewing contest. I chose to enter the vintage pattern contest on patternreview.com This is the pattern I will be using. More details and updates to follow.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Vintage Pattern Contest
So, I have just decided to enter my first sewing contest. I chose to enter the vintage pattern contest on patternreview.com This is the pattern I will be using. More details and updates to follow.
Sew Serendipity Three-Fabric Skirt Completed
My original book review can be found here. If you don't have this book already, I highly recommend it!
I will probably wear it styled like this, but tucked the shirt in so I could show the cute pockets better.
I finished this skirt a couple of days ago, but didn't get around to photographing it until yesterday! All photo credits go to my 2 daughters!
This skirt turned out so cute! The only problem is that I lost some weight and now it is a little big. But, not to worry! I'm sure the food on the upcoming cruise will take care of that!
That said, I do plan on sewing up some of the other versions of this skirt. There are so many!
And here are just some more photos by my 10yr old. She has a lot of talent with the camera!
She loves the shoes, but boy do I need a pedicure!
This skirt was really easy to fit, easy and fairly quick to construct (when you aren't running into all kinds of distractions!) There are so many ways that this basic pattern could be done up. I also plan to take some of the fullness out and do more of a pencil skirt soon. I highly recommend this pattern and the book!
Bonus! I found out that I have a few Serendipity Studio patterns in my stash!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Sew Serendipity Three-Fabric Skirt
So, I finally got around to trying one of the many really cute patterns included in Kay Whitt's Sew Serendipity that I reviewed here. I chose the Three-Fabric Skirt.
I used fabric from the Fandago collection by Moda from fabric.com. One of the things that I really like about these patterns is that the sizes included run xxs-xxl. That's quite a range!
According to the measurement chart, I traced off a medium and quickly sewed up a muslin. The only change I needed to make was to lower the waist at cb for the sway back adjustment and add that measurement to the hem of the skirt to complete the alterations. The instructions seemed really well written and would be easy for a beginner to follow and the book has lots of pictures and diagrams.
I don't know what kind of zipper the pattern calls for, but I chose an invisible zipper and was pleased that I have gotten good enough with them again that I was able to install it right the first time while on the phone with my husband! Yeah me! (I just love wash away sticky tape!)
Overall, this project should probably have taken me just a few hours, but Oh! the interruptions! And then, to top it off, I ran out of thread! I thought I would just run into JoAnn's, grab the thread and get out. But, I was derailed again! Simplicity patterns- .99! So, that quick trip turned into over an hour. (Future projects featuring said Simplicity patterns will be coming soon to a Blog near you.)
One tip that I want to share- I tried the skirt on in different stages and one issue that I noticed was that if I put my hands in the pockets, when I pulled them out, there was a fold left in the upper corner where the pocket is sewn into the side seam. It straitened out if I gave it a tug, but I don't want to have to worry about that, so I placed strips of interfacing over the side seams from the waist down just past the pockets. Problem solved.
This also works to keep the side seam smooth if you have a hollow in your hip.
Some other things that took up a lot of time on this project: lots of ruffle gathering (I am going to get a ruffler for my sewing machine), deciding to line the skirt instead of just facing it, and top stitching. Lots and lots of unnecessary top stitching. But hey, at the time.... Well, it looks good.
I used fabric from the Fandago collection by Moda from fabric.com. One of the things that I really like about these patterns is that the sizes included run xxs-xxl. That's quite a range!
According to the measurement chart, I traced off a medium and quickly sewed up a muslin. The only change I needed to make was to lower the waist at cb for the sway back adjustment and add that measurement to the hem of the skirt to complete the alterations. The instructions seemed really well written and would be easy for a beginner to follow and the book has lots of pictures and diagrams.
I don't know what kind of zipper the pattern calls for, but I chose an invisible zipper and was pleased that I have gotten good enough with them again that I was able to install it right the first time while on the phone with my husband! Yeah me! (I just love wash away sticky tape!)
Overall, this project should probably have taken me just a few hours, but Oh! the interruptions! And then, to top it off, I ran out of thread! I thought I would just run into JoAnn's, grab the thread and get out. But, I was derailed again! Simplicity patterns- .99! So, that quick trip turned into over an hour. (Future projects featuring said Simplicity patterns will be coming soon to a Blog near you.)
One tip that I want to share- I tried the skirt on in different stages and one issue that I noticed was that if I put my hands in the pockets, when I pulled them out, there was a fold left in the upper corner where the pocket is sewn into the side seam. It straitened out if I gave it a tug, but I don't want to have to worry about that, so I placed strips of interfacing over the side seams from the waist down just past the pockets. Problem solved.
This also works to keep the side seam smooth if you have a hollow in your hip.
Some other things that took up a lot of time on this project: lots of ruffle gathering (I am going to get a ruffler for my sewing machine), deciding to line the skirt instead of just facing it, and top stitching. Lots and lots of unnecessary top stitching. But hey, at the time.... Well, it looks good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)