Saturday, March 15, 2014

So here's the thing

I haven't been doing a lot of clothes sewing the last couple of years. It was like I made all my clothes, wore me-made 90% of the time, kept buying fabric to make more clothes...

But somewhere along the line I kind of forgot to sew the fabric up to make new clothes.

I'm certainly not killing myself with guilt over this fact. But what's happened now is that all my me-made clothes have almost worn out, or have stopped fitting correctly after my abdomen turned into a weird shape post-surgery (skirts - I'm looking at most of you), and it's time to start on a whole new wardrobe.


In my last week of a crazy 8 week holiday over summer in which I attempted to renovate my house (and mostly succeeded) I cut out and sewed this skirt because I was going to Sydney for the weekend and I had NOTHING TO WEAR. Not really. I think I was just sick of what I had in the wardrobe. It took me a total of 2 hours to make this skirt, and I ended up not even following the pattern.

I've been wearing this skirt pretty well non-stop since I made it. And today I finally stood still long enough to get it photographed.


It's a simple a-line skirt pattern, which I've taken in quite a lot at the waist, and out at the hips a little, and completely done away with the usual facing at the waist. Instead I sewed a grosgrain ribbon as facing on instead.

It's my favourite way of finishing off a skirt. If I wasn't such a unique shape, I'd probably have a waistband or facing like every other schmuck, but this way suits me just fine.



I apologise for the state of my skirt - I'd had a long lunch with some fellow sewists, and then we all trooped through Addicted to Fabric for some shopping. And then I drove home in a hot car with the windows down singing 80s tunes at the top of my lungs (that might just explain the crazy hair too)



And after a brief discussion today with Amanda about how to pose for photos, here is my (very poor) imitation of one of her favourite raptor poses.


I'll work on my style, Amanda. I will. Promise.


Details:

Pattern: Simplicity 9193 View F
Variations: side split sewn up, waist taken in and hips taken out. Used grosgrain ribbon as waist facing.
Fabric: Echino Cycles in gold - linen/cotton blend
Made before? despite this pattern being in my stash about 10 years, this was the first time I'd made the skirt.
Make again? It might almost be the perfect pattern. Definitely.