More Sewing FO’s

I finished another sewing project on Friday that made me very happy. I’ll have to try to get a better photo because this one is not showing it off to advantage at all!

Bubble Twist Skirt

For: me (Why do I bother stating this? Everything recently has been for ME!)

Date: March 2012

Pattern: Self-drafted, inspired by a pattern in BurdaStyle, 7/2010-108.

Fabrics: Crepe weave, polyester (?), dark brown, 44” W x 60” L remnant; Italian satin weave, 80% viscose/20% trilobal, black with silver sparklies, 58” W x 2 m remnant. Total cost: ~$7 (with lots of satin left over).

Notions: 3/4” waistband elastic (35” long), sewing threads (black and brown), serger thread (brown). 2.0mm twin needle.

Comments: When I saw these fabrics in the remnant bin at Dressew I immediately saw this skirt in my mind’s eye. The pattern in BurdaStyle was short, used a jersey knit for the outer fabric and had a waistband and zipper. I wanted it longer, below the knee, and with an elastic waistband instead. So I used the pattern for my Sweat Skirt and used it to draft my own version. The inner lining is just a straight skirt so I merely lengthened the original skirt pattern. The outer skirt is both 5” longer and wider at the hem which was easy to adjust the line outward from the waist. I had lots of the sparkly black satin and cut the lining from one width’s worth but the brown crepe was quite narrow and I had just enough to cut the 2 identical front and back pieces.

Both fabrics are really ravelly so I sewed the side seams with a French seam to completely enclose them. The outer hem is gathered and then stitched to the inner one with a 1/4 skew (seams to centres) and I serged it for security. I basted the waistbands together at the top, this time matching the seams normally, and serged the waistband elastic on. The elastic was left flat for the front 10” and stretched for the rest of the seam. Then I turned the elastic under and twin-needle topstitched it into place. The photo shows a peek at the spot where the two hems meet. You can even see how sparkly the lining is!

I totally adore this skirt! It fits well and sits about an inch below my waist (such as it is) so it doesn’t ride up. It’s long enough to be comfortable but not so long that it gets in the way. The bubble twist is interesting and easy to wear and the colour goes with a lot of pieces in my wardrobe.

So, fresh with my skirt success I decided to go back to my plan from last year to make an undergarment that would serve as a Chub Rub Protector to wear under skirts when I’m not wearing tights, especially in warm weather. I came up with these. Yes, I’m flashing my underwear again!

Bloomers

Date:  March 2012

Pattern:  self-drafted using my Panties pattern as a base.

Fabric:  soft lightweight knit, warm white, 100% unknown fibres (possibly some cotton or rayon content) from the bargain room at Dressew.

Notions:  3/8” beige lingerie elastic – 2 kinds, sewing thread and serger thread (white).

Comments:  The pattern is very simple, just a rectangle for front and back that is split up the leg in order to insert a double gusset strip. I think the next time I might try the “burrito” method of inserting the gusset similar to the way panties are made. That would keep the stitching inside the two gusset layers removing yet another thing that might chafe. I didn’t think of that this time though so we’ll see how well these wear. I have lots of fabric so I can easily try again except that I need yet more elastics. I seem to be going through those mighty quickly! I like the lingerie elastic with the soft fuzzy side against the skin so I’ll have to get more. Lots more! It’s only 25 cents a metre so it’s certainly not going to break the bank. I don’t really like the type of elastic that I used for the leg openings. It’s not very soft at all.

These fit quite well although the bottom of the leg does “bloom” a little more than I expected. I would have to taper the side seams to remove that excess fabric but first I’ll wear and test these on a few long walks to see how they do before making another pair. Yes, I know they are boring white. Since I have no idea what the fibre content is I never thought to dye them first. I could throw them in a dyebath sometime to test them out if I want to. But the thread at least will definitely not take the dye (since I didn’t use cotton) so I would have to live with whatever comes out of the dyepot.

All in all, there seems to be a pretty good fit and kind of an old-fashioned feel to these undies.

Next I plan to finally make the tailor’s ham that I’ve had in mind for awhile. T-Man saved me some nice sawdust from his studio so I just need to dig the fabrics out of the deep stash. I’m sure I have a piece of wool plaid in there somewhere! I need a ham.

In other news, my teensy indoor garden is coming along. I have some work to do today because I need to plant more seeds and also to start transplanting some of the larger veggies so they can start spending their days out in the greenhouse. Most exciting of all, I have Japanese indigo from my very own seeds! That circle surrounds the very first one to come up:

I know, you can barely see it. How about these a couple of days later and a little larger?

Trust me – those little green dots are going to become this year’s blue dye. Today there are at least a dozen up now and they are growing taller! So exciting.

We’ve also been eating things from the garden. We had kale and mizuna buds in the stir-fry last night for dinner and there’s Egyptian walking onions and mache (aka corn salad or lamb’s lettuce) for the salad. I was trying to finally plant my peas yesterday but got sidetracked by a herd of grandbeasties so it didn’t happen. Today of course it’s raining. At least the nets are in. It’s getting rather late and they should be planted already if I want any before pea enation and powder mildew kill them. But I guess I can only do what I can only do, huh?