More, More, More and a Target?!

Whilst I was hunting through my closet for the clothes for the last two posts, I came across a skirt that I hadn't blogged about as well as my houndstooth skirt and matching Sorbetto that I had not photographed together.  In fact, I don't think I blogged about the Sorbetto.  So, I have now :)
 

The next skirt I would like to show you is from a metre cut that I bought from the craft section in Wal Mart.  It is duck cotton, so a slightly heavier fabric, and the colors are just fabulous:

The centre of the flowers is a lovely chartreuse colour - the colour of another McCalls 6168, - it is cut out and just needs sewing.  But what is that I see on the rear view?

Yep, target practice :)  Oh well, I can live with this, but I will crtainly be a bit more careful with pattern placement in the future!

Ooh.  I think I have resolved the photo clarity issue - I think that my new camera has the resolution set pretty low.  I'll take some more with a higher resolution, as well as looking for better lighting, and we should be good to go!

Fashion Shoot - Catching Up!

Well, it looks as though I may have solved my photographer issue, and now do not have to worry about relying on my Father or Mr. SDSC (fabulous photographers that they are!)  The solution?  Cashing in some of those Air Miles and turning them into a camera that I can work remotely through my iPhone,  It is a Lumix 'point and shoot' - nothing fancy, and in fact the spec is a little less than my current camera.  However, as it has a wireless thingy (hey, if this is getting too technical, let me know!!)  I have downloaded an app for my phone, and the phone acts as the remote - I can even zoom in using the phone.  Pretty freaky, right?  The only downside is that I have to hold the phone to take pic, but I am not complaining about that!  So here we go, modeled photos of the garments that I gave you close ups of here.  There are five skirts to get through (Butterick 4877), so I hope that you are sitting comfortably!

Let's start with the purple ruffle skirt made from fabric from Vogue Fabrics, and worn here with a RTW black tank, a black ponte cardigan (based on McCalls 4466.  I've made a few of these cardis but don;t seem to have blogged about this one) and shoes that I would usually wear with trousers (my heels - and I don't actually have many pairs - are at work!)

Hmmmm. The photos are not as sharp as I would like, I may need to play around with this camera.

Next is the white corduroy.  Same black tank and cardigan as above:

Want to see some color?  How about the red Butterick 5687?

I tried to get a motion pic (see above) to show you how flippy the ruffles are.  Love them!

Do I look like I'm thinking?  Working?  Checking emails?  Actually, this is me setting up the camera using the phone app.

The next skirt is one of two that I made from the same rayon/poly tweed fabric.  One is plain ans straight, the other I went a little crazy and added hip pockets . . . . . that ended up a little small because of how I finished up the waistband.  No matter though - I can still fit some lipsalve in or a $1 for my morning coffee!

The last set of photos are of the brown corduroy skirt:

I am wearing my Kwik Sew 3752 from 'Comfortable Dressing'.  I'm not too sure if I like the top with this skirt as I don't think the proportions are very flattering - I think that the top looks better with the longer skirt in the original posting.  I need to think about this combination!  Feels good though!

I have quite a few more outfits to show you that I photographed today, but I do rather think that 17 photos is enough for getting on with!

Oh, one thing that came to light as a result of these photos - I think that my right hip is higher than the left.  I know that my posture is appalling, but when I did stand up straight, the skirts did not hang straight unless I hoiked them up on the left-hand side.  Certainly something to consider for the future.

So, these form part of my Birch Tree Collection and they will be great workhorses in my wardrobe!

Skirt Snippets

I have been really busy sewing (5 skirts, 6 pillowcases and 2 cardigans) but have not had chance to model as yet - blame it on busy weekends, lack of natural light etc., so I have resorted to taking photos of details - mostly for me as a reminder of what I sewed, when, and what finishes I used - but also to keep you up to date!

So, first off are the skirts based on Butterick 4877.  I have found that I do not need any front darts on fitted skirts, but that 4 darts (two either side of the centre back seam) at the back as well as wide side seams that can be adjusted as required, makes a very good skirt for me.  So that is what I have done!

I made one in brown cotton corduroy (Fabricland Sale 2012, $6/m) that has a bit of stretch to it.  Actually, I have to confess, this was cut out ages ago, and I found the pieces whilst looking for some lining . . . . so I finished it off!  Gotta love UFO's that you have totally forgotten about (and then found) that fit into your current sewing blitz!

I trimmed the waistband with some cheery red rayon tape.  The hand sewn hem was trimmed with brown nylon lace and the rayon (Bemberg Ambience) lining was trimmed with black lace.  It looks a little chaotic here, but it really does work well.  And it fits a dream!  A great addition to my Birch Tree Collection.

Next is another cord skirt (I love me some corduroy!!)  This is a really thin wale, also with stretch, bought last Christmas from fabric.com to make a winter skirt with.  I's only taken me a year to do it!!

I used a pretty quilting cotton offcut to trim the waistband, cheap nylon lining (couldn't find any suitable rayon lining), and white lace to finish it off.  This fabric was featured in my Birch Tree Collection.

I then made a skirt from some gorgeous rayon/poly blend from Fabricland.  Other than the fact that it unravels like nobodies business, it is perfect in every other way - washes well, hangs beautifully - great drape and weight.  Lovely, lovely fabric, and another that was 70% off.  Wish I had bought more.

Same finishes as before, including an invisible zip.  I lurve invisible zips!!

The inspiration for the next skirt was a blog post by Funnygrrl and it uses Butterick 5687 - a 'wardrobe' pattern that includes a straight skirt with ruffles on the back.  As I do not have a mind of my own - OK, because her skirt was sooo lovely, I totally copied the color as well, using a great red crepe that has a wonderful drape.

And guess what - I learned to use the rolled hem feature on my serger and it is FABULOUS - how did I manage without it?  Feeling pretty good with myself, I even sewed the hem of the skirt with my double needle - pretty fancy smancy right???  This is such a great pattern - I used my Butterick 4877 sandwiched with this pattern, and it worked out perfectly.  I will do a proper PatternReview on this at some time on the future, as I love how it turned out.  I was able to use the back pieces of '4877 to make the lining (Ambience again) and it looks/works great.  The skirt feels lovely on - and it makes me feel very sassy!!!

Finally, I got around to making a quick and easy skirt with some ruffle fabric that I bought from Vogue about a year ago.  The fabric itself dictates that hand sewing really does not look good, so I interfaced the pieces with a tricot knit.  I serged the tricot to the fashion fabric and treated it as one.  This skirt has an elasticated waistband, but in actual fact there is very little gathering due to the stretch.  To finish off the hem I sewed some nylon 'petersham' type tape to the bottom of the skirt, then hand sewed it to the tricot lining.  The tape gives the hem a really good, stable edge that hangs well.   I love this skirt - it is soooo cute!

Phew, there are lots of photos here, so I think I will write up a separate post for the pillowcases and cardigans that I have made - hopefully with some 'action' shots!  I am hoping to get a new camera pretty soon that I can operate via my iPhone, so I can then take pics with my tripod and not be so reliant on photographers!

All-in-all it has been a pretty productive week, and yet again  have been 'production' sewing (after all, if you can make one item, why not make four?!) and this works really well for me.

I have to ask - what technique does your serger or sewing machine perform that has been quite revolutionary for you?

One Pattern Many Looks - Sorbetto

See, one sew-a-long completed - now it is time for another!!  I am entering the Pattern Review 'One Pattern Many Looks' contest.  This runs for the month of January and is pretty straightforward:

The goal of this contest is to take one view of a pattern, and create multiple garments with distinct looks from that view, without needing pattern drafting skills.

I can do that!  As I mentioned here, I have wanted to make these tops for quite some time, and I was really pleased with my wearable muslin (black serger thread and all!!)

The skirt is my straight skirt version of Butterick 4877 and the orange cardigan is from McCalls  4466.  Both are from my Ikat Winter Collection.

 

The PR Review is here.

I love it!  So I thought I'd cut out another one or two or seven.  Ah yes.  Seven.  And why not???  I have decided to sew these next ones with more care and precision including french seams and self-made bias binding.  I picked up a bias-binder-maker-thingy at the weekend but couldn't get the foot for my Pfaff.  The lady in the sewing shop said that it was hard to get feet for my machine as it was so old (I bought it in 2004).  Cheeky madam.  I've ordered one from Etsy so we will see how that works out.  The other option was to clean up one of my vintage Singers as I have the attachment feet for them.  And a ruffler and lots of other whizzy, whizzy feet!

I am at the stage of attaching the binding, and as this will be a lot of work for 7 tops so I thought I'd take time out and audition some buttons.  This is what I have come up with:

I like the simplicity of the off white buttons (above) but I also like the wooden ones below.

Oh yes, and these grey buttons (below) looked good too!

As did these deep burgundy ones - but I have another shirt for those!!

Three mismatch buttons looked rather funky too.  I think I will just have to make a few plain white/cream shirts to showcase all the buttons!

 

 

I'm liking these dark brown wooden buttons (above).  Plain but effective.  This fabric is a cotton/lycra shirting and there is some texture to the fabric .  It is a pain to hold a crease though so I will probably have to sew the pleat along its length to hold it.

I love the contrast of the black (above) with the yellow - so I think that they are a keeper.  The last one I would like to show you this evening is the polka dot fabric below, with cotton trim and the burgundy button from above.

Finally, cut out a tartan skirt using my straight skirt version of Butterick 4877, using this gorgeous tartan fabric:

I bought the fabric about 10-12 years ago from a booth at the NEC Sewing Show.  I remember it was not cheap - possibly GBP 15-20, but it is a lovely fabric.  I've no idea how much wool it contains, but I hand-washed it gently and it seems good.  I did a bit of research and I believe that it is Stewart Dress Tartan.  I plan on using a red invisible zipper - the pull tab will show but I think it will look fun.  Oh, and of course it will be lined.

So there we have it - this should keep me busy this week (I am back to work tomorrow) so my sewing time will be limited.

How about you - what do you have planned for the week?