Simp 4138, and some Poly thoughts!

Im the first to admit I'm a rather free spirited sewist. I could not handle a SWAP if my life depended on and would probably go nuts just trying. But that doesn't mean I don't have goals and plans. I never have enough white shirts. White's a color that looks good on me. I'm a "Winter" and us icy winter types look good in white, not beiges. (Don't ask how much beige is in my closet!) So I had the goal to sew three white shirts/tops and that has been met. Now I'm on a skirt buzz. Skirts are perfect for my work and I hope to make a few. One thought is some of the patterns for skirts that I like take so much fabric. What you see above is not one of those. This is a simple 6 gore trumpet skirt, knee length. I fretted over the length. Every bone in my body that lived through the sixties is begging for a frumpy long skirt, really. I've taken pics and know that mid knee is the most flattering length on me. But for some reason I never make that length. I've decided, in my dotage, to poo poo the sages and wear my skirt lengths at my knees if that is what looks best. So what if said knees are a tad baggy. Photographs taken by my hubby brought me to this enlightenment.

What you see above is my perfect idea for work, a crisp white shirt, a belt to highlight my waist while it lasts, and a loose, flow-y, colorful skirt. I just feel so neat and crisp in an outfit like this. I know it's not coming down the runways right now but color is and so are those gladiator sandals so I'm good with that. Accessories are a great way to keep your maturing style updated. I actually love to wear classics and have trendy accessories. That has served me well. Plus it is something that flatters me at this age. Most runway business doesn't. I am not a fan of tee shirts or knits and I guess I go against the tide with those opinions but at this stage I am pretty sure of what is flattering and still comfortable for me and that's what I make.

The skirt is 100% poly "stuff" from Joanns. It has a crepey texture and is fairly opaque. I will wear a short slip with it.  These poly "silkies' are quite seductive with their wonderful color and design but they can be a bitch to sew well. Here are just a few hints that I thought might help. Haven't we all succombed to their look and price point?

Mark the right side of your fabric. Often the sides are just the slightest bit different from each other, not enough to notice until you put them together wrong. Lo tack tape does not stick to these. So I pinned the tape because pins don't want to stay in this fabric either. Which brings me to pins......

THEY WILL NOT STAY IN! That is unless you have the double pins from Clover. I found these to work wonderfully at holding this nasty fabric.

Start your seams on a piece of paper stabilizer that can easily be ripped right off. Use a "single hole" foot and plate. It makes it much easier to work with this fabric and prevent it from being sucked into the nether regions of your bobbin area. I like the 1/4 inch quilting foot as it is a great help for French seams.

This garment is all French seams. Because the fabric is a stripe I needed to cut the pattern out on the cross grain. That can be a gold plated invitation to pucker seams and I was very worried the French seams would not work on the cross grain. I have had that experience in the past. So it was time to make a sample. I made a fairly long sample with a French seam on the crossgrain and it worked beautifully. I hung it up to make sure it hung ok. You just have to sample these things when sewing, one of those lessons you learn the hard way.

 

Here you can see it hanging from a shelf with no puckers.  I did set my tension to "normal" and a stitch length of 2.0. I like small stitches when I am doing French seams, particularly on something that ravels. 

To do the hem on this fabric I used the Kenneth King Tiny Hem technique and it came out beautifully. I just love that technique and you can find it in the tutes in the sidebar. It is so quick and easy. 

So with this project I got some quick gratification, a good thing after working six days this week. Sometimes you just need a colorful easy hit of sewing and this filled the bill. I am not going to review the pattern because it is so simple and classic and there must be loads on Pattern Review. It is  easy classic. Now maybe I'll make one of the long versions, a la frumpy.......Bunny

Another of Sham's Tablecloth Skirts!

Finished another of Sham's fabulous Tablecloth Skirts, my Summer rendition. Do I mention that I should have smoothed out the skirt a bit before clicking the camera now or when I am done? Guess you get it now.


Pattern:

http://communingwithfabric.blogspot.com/2011/11/self-drafted-tablecloth-skirt-with.html
 The design and pattern are courtesy of the generous and oh, so inspirational Shams over at Communing With Fabric.   She brilliantly figured out how to copy a designer original and inspired many of us to make one too. She even has a gallery of tablecloth skirts.  I really would like to make this out of a sheer next. You'd think I had enough but I love the design and it can be whipped out in a few hours.





 Fabric:

This is a cotton with a bit of spandex included picked up in Joann's clearance  a few months back. If you ever had kids who wore Oshkosh overalls back in the eighties, this is the fabric, just a little stretch added. That stretch did make it miserable to iron. I also decided to use a green blend to run a flat piping to accentuate the odd lantern shape. I think the skirt would have been rather drab without it.

Construction: 

That flat piping did pose a bit of a challenge at the corners but it all worked out well enough. By the fourth corner I think I knew what I was doing.  I did do something different, for me anyway that I would like to share.

I had limited time to make this and found I was out of regular white thread. I did have a huge industrial type spool of lightweight embroidery thread that I use in the bobbin for heirloom work. I gave it a yank. It didn't break so I forged forward. But this stuff was wimpy. How would I make a decent topstitched hem with such wimpy thread? I have seen others do this but this was a first for me. I used my "triple stitch" to topstitch the skirt hem.  This is the stitch that goes over itself three times so it gives a much thicker looking finish. I LOVE IT! Here are a couple of examples for you. Makes a great topstitch, doesn't it? And this was with lightweight thread! I will definitely using this technique again.

Another  construction tip: I recently received an order from Nancy's Notions. Enclosed was a free Klasse needle to try, a bit of lagniappe. Wow, do I love this needle!  My machine just hums with it, like a happy kitten. I will definitely be buying some of these. NAYY, just happy.

Also, I cut different dimensions this time. I am only five feet tall after all, but looking at all the iterations of this skirt in the gallery I decided I wanted to try one with the "points" a bit higher. My inner rectangle is 32 square. the outer rectangles are 17 by 32. I am amazed at how even the hemline is which I thought was unusual. I also staystitched the waist then clipped about every inch before attaching the waistband. This helped it have no ripples unlike my last attempt which seemed to require a lot of fiddling to get the waistband on properly.
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 This is one of the narrower window boxes that I filled with the wool doublecloth. Plants are all doing wonderfully and the moisture level is just right.

You know I am passionate about sewing. You may have figured out I feel pretty much the same about gardening. But here's the big dif: Gardening is my husband's passion too! It is something we are thrilled to share. We put our heads together,talk design,plant our brains out, shop together for plants, break our back moving stones,etc....It truly is a passion we share equally and it is such a delight to be working with someone you love on something you both love to do. You are both exhausted, proud, and shopped out by day end equally.  I know couples who never find a shared passion. We are blessed. You can see why this time of year, my priority becomes sharing this pastime with my hubby and putting my sewing on the back burner. I hope you are blessed with something you are able to passionately share with  your partner. It really makes life great......Bunny

The Tablecloth Skirt

I LOVE MY TABLECLOTH SKIRT. Can you tell? First off, I have to thank Shams for figuring out this design and inspiring and sharing it so generously. She even has a gallery of skirts where you can check out other interpretations of the skirt. It is such a simple concept. The skirt is basically a square with a circle cut into it for the waist. The circle needs to be big enough to go over the hips. Connected to each side of the square are four more rectangles, not squares. They then have their sides stitched together to make the points. Shams does a fabulous tutorial here. Try it. It is so easy and I can't wait to make more. This is definitely happening in linen for the summer.

This skirt is really fun to do in plaids and you will see a few in the gallery. I thought I would go the stripe route with a poly suiting from Joanns, nothing fancy but it has body with a nice drape. Drape is important here.

One thing I noticed in the pictures is that various people had their points at different levels of their legs. This is because the center square is an arbitrary size. I think my center square was 34 inches. Next time I want to try making the points more mid thigh with longer rectangles.

For the waistline I covered elastic with black ponte and then serged it all to the center circle cutout. The hem is serged and topstitched. I also topstitched all the seams to get them to have a little more definition. I think with a really drapey fabric that's a must but this is one of those designs where you can really express your own vision.

I can't tell you how many times I have worn this skirt already. Thank you, Shams, so much, and all all the other inspiring ladies on the gallery....Bunny