Summer Skirt - a New Take on an Old Favourite

I needed to make a skirt to complete the challenge for the Spring 6PAC on Artisans Square, and although I was a little hesitant about how a skirt would suit my burgeoning Lagenlook aesthetic, a skirt was made. I used Simplicity 4221, a pattern that I have used many times before for more 'dressy' skirts. I like a swishy skirt, and this 4 gored skirt that flares towards the hem, was just perfect. As there is only one pattern piece, I like to wear this design with a full panel front and back, and one on each side, rather than having a seam centre front, centre back and over each hip - and that turned out to work perfectly for my LL version. I knew that I needed two layers as the bottom layer would peek though, and I did toy with the idea of making two different skirts so that the underskirt could be worn with other outer skirts, but in the end, I went with the one skirt.

Yes, I know, would have been good to have taken a pic of the skirt on it's own . . . . . .

Here you can see the skirt in 'formal grown up' mode - lovely white linen, mid calf length. And here is the under layer.

I used some off white Bemberg lining as the top portion and a textured white cotton for the bottom portion. I cut the pattern off about 11" from the bottom, and that made the Bemberg portion, and I then cut three widths of fabric, 12" deep for the frill, and 'roughly' pleated it to make the inner layer. Simple right? I then joined both pieces at the waist, served the elastic onto the wrong side, folded it over so that the elastic is on the inside, and sewers it down with a triple zigzag stitch. Now I really wanted this skirt to be Vogue 9114 but didn't have the pattern, and I'm not sure how the bunching works, so for my skirt, on the four seam allowances, I attached a small piece of ribbon with a 'Babyville' popper/snaps. One was placed at 3" and the other at 12" - I didn't want the Bemberg showing through when the snaps were attached to each other.

I hemmed both layers with raw edged bias binding for that TG finish and top and edge stitched all the seamlines. I like the faux 'flat felled' look and ai think it adds a smart, professional touch.

So now I can have a plain skirt, or any combination of the four snaps attached . . . . . Here are a couple of views:

I cannot tell you how pleased I am with this. I think that a black version for winter would be fun, or even a plain coloured outer skirt with a really wacky coloured pleated piece underneath. This pattern is a bit of a fabric suck - about 2m for the outer layer, and 1m for the frill on the inner layer plus some lining - but it is really worth it. It would be a great usage for some leftover fabrics (for the underlayer anyway!)

I am glad that I made a skirt - as you can see it looks great with a dusky rose Zelda slip that I made at the weekend.

How about you? Have you made any garments through gritted teeth, that you then loved when you completed them?

Accessorise, Accessorise, Accessorise

I have to say that after finishing my garments for the SWAP, I felt a little lost . . . . . what to make next?  After much humming and hawing, I decided to make some accessories.  There were a couple of things that inspired me, firstly a posting by Communing with Fabric that spoke about a Koos Loop Infinity Scarf.   That led me to a 'how to' posting by Dragon Threads and some comments to that post then took me to this Nancy Zieman video.  And I made a couple of the smaller mobius scarves:

The first is a mystery jersey that was $12.99 with 40% discount.  I think that it is a rayon/poly mix.  It is very soft and feels lovely!  I bought 1m and the scarf above is 24" x 36" so I have some leftover for another project.  As you can see, it works well with both a white summer slip from my SWAP and also new grey cardi that I made with cotton sweatshirt jersey and Simplicity 2154.  This grey jersey is the reason why I made these scarves, as I read a post on the Vivienne Files about integrating a red handbag.  The author recommends wearing a grey 'column' (trousers, vest top, cardi/jacket) and bringing in the red with a scarf, shoes, bag etc.  Having just finished the cardi, a red scarf was a no brainer!

And if you love one red scarf . . . . why not try another?

This time I used a red and black rayon batik.  I actually bought this about 8 years ago at a sewing show in Toronto from a company called Batik Butik.  The plan was to make a regular scarf and fray the edges, but I am glad that I held off as the fabric drapes beautifully and looks a lot more polished this way.

I am really pleased with these two quick and easy projects - maybe not ideal for the upcoming warmer months, but I find that they keep the chill off my neck when sitting in the office at work.  Have completed these, I have also gone a little crazy with some necklaces and started on a 6PAC - 6 co-ordinating items (yep, and challenge on Artisan's Square) and I plan on making some cardi's/long sleeved tops to work with my SWAP.  More details to follow!

Do you make your accessories?  What are your favourite makes?