Blossom Blockade Bias Skirt

This is my expression after dealing with out of focus pictures shot by a 12 yr old...

Behold View A of Kwik Sew 3003, the extra-simple two piece version of the bias skirt.  I thought this juicy red and pink fabric could take me into Sept nicely.  I used the serger to make a rolled hem, making finishing even faster!  This one was 40 minutes from layout to finish.

 The two piece version is a lot swingier than the four pieces with the chevroning.  This is bias cling and swing at its full potential.  Joel Dewberry Heirloom Blossom Blockade in Crimson available online here..

I took a picture of my mid-western flat backside.  It only curves at the bottom!  I cropped the picture so you couldn't see how it looks like my bottom is hiding up front in my belly from this angle...

 The Mina (age 12) was very impatient with this photo shoot, and kept coming too close for the skirt to be in the pictures.  And all the pictures are pretty much out of focus.  Here's my favorite pose, so sad it's fuzzy.

At the end of the shoot, she backed up really far and I got angry.  The final shot, of course, was not out of focus.

Although when I was playing with effects to add definition, I turned myself into a Linda Ronstadt album cover!

A Biased Afternoon..

We got the Joel Dewberry Heirloom line in at the store, nearly a month ago, and yet I hadn't made anything- not even a schmatte, out of any of its gorgeousness yet.  So when I found I was going to get to teach the Bias Skirt class, I was struck by a hard fast need to create.

This is Kwik Sew 3003, a simple oull-on skirt cut on the bias.  It has two options, to make the skirt in two pieces, back and front, or to make the skirt in 4 pieces where you can use a striped fabric to make a cute slimming chevron effect.  I just knew this marble stripe pattern was perfect to chevron.

joel dewberry heirloom "marble stripe" in jade

see how the bias hugs my girly & feminine belly?

In a bias cut, the pattern pieces are cut diagonal to the warp or lengthwise grain of the fabric giving the garment more stretch, drape and “cling”.  In a simply cut skirt like this, with a curvy figure, the "cling" provides a LOT of sass.  I have wide hips, but a mid-western recessed tail-feather, so a bias-cut does a lot to create some booty curves.

This pattern could not have sewn up faster.  Even with my careful stripe matching, the cut-out took about 40 minutes, and sewing it up took maybe 40 minutes- and that's with store business going on!  It has an elastic waist, so I am thinking of making an obi-style wrap belt like the one from the Knit N' Woven Dress used in Patty's class..Kwik-Sew 3758 so I can have a tucked in shirt option, or a nipped in waist option.  Maybe out of a coordinate from the Heirloom line like one of these two.

Empire Weave in Dandelion

Heirloom Opal in Jade

But with a skirt cut on the bias, maybe it makes more sense to not tuck or nip, and let the curves roam free-range...

Sorry I felt the need to stylize the photos of myself so much.  The bright sunshine required that the contrast be amped up, and the additional filters just followed naturally..

There's still room in my Bias Skirt Class on Thursday, September 1!  It's 3 hours, from 6-9, and you can register online!

Blossom Blockade

Tune in tomorrow for the second bias skirt I made that same afternoon!

Be there or be square...

A tale of two dirndls

Photos by my 12 yr old.  Focus on silly!

I've had a recent much-needed burst of creativity, focusing on the simplest execution of some classics to build up my me-made wardrobe.  Because I have a ruffle attachment on my loveable Singer 503A "Rockateer", I have made a few dirndl skirts, this being my favorite. 

 

Elastic waist dirndl(self-drafted) in Valorie Wells Nest

  Made of medium weight cotton woven from the Valorie Wells Nest line, not only is it a color palette that works immensely well for coordinating with my existing separates, but I got to impudently play with several style rules with great success, mainly, that hourglass curvies shouldn't wear gathered waist skirts, and that white is to be avoided.  It might be the 1.5" elastic waistband, but I really like how this silhouette works for my body, especially with tops tucked in.  I used my ruffle attachment set to pleat every 6 stitches (which is the same recommendations Kay Whitt uses in her Sew Simplicity book) and in the middle center front switched to every stitch for some additional camouflage for my child-torn lower midriff since I'm not big on wearing smoothing shapers.  To draft this, I simply cut two panels of 45" wide fabric, 23" long and gathered as indicated above.  If you wanted to refer to Gertie's dirndl formula, I gathered approximately 89" to create fullness from my 38" waist.  I created the waistband using 36" of 1.5" waistband elastic laid over the stitchline created by my ruffler attachment.  To create an even stretch, I divide the elastic into equal fourths and match those points up to center front, center back and each side seam, gently stretching to line those points up. 

 My other dirndl was made of one of the many circus fabrics in my collection.  This one is especially sweet, retro, with just the right amount of whimsy.  I made a folded over waistband with an elastic casing only on the back waist, but I am unhappy with where it sits on my waist, which is a little too high in my opinion making my chest look more the size of cantaloupes than the preferable pomelos.  My original plan was to make this fabric into the "No Fuss Knit N' Cotton Dress" which is Kwik Sew 3758.  The Michael Miller chartruese dot fabric I was using went with so much of my wardrobe, that I switched gears to create separates instead. This was the skirt I used to refine my personal dirndl equation, but I did even pleating here, and I prefer the switch to single stitch pleats over my belly, for flattery.  I'm switching out the fabric waistband for a 2" black elastic waistband.  I love the small touches of black and gray in this print, and think it will transition into Fall well.  I am excited to layer the black tulle skirt I often wear as a petticoat with this once the weather allows me to wear something lined with nylon polyester as my tulle skirt is.  I tried wearing it in June and it was an awful tactile experience.

The T-shirts featured are also both me-made.  The green polka dot is Michael Miller interlock by Patty Young, charmingly named "Ta Dot".  We're all out of it at Sewtropolis unfortunately.  The pattern is New Look 6569, which I am quite pleased with.  It elongates the neck into slight swaniness, but doesn't take you all the way to Cleavage Avenue.

The gold shirt is from the Oliver and S City Weekend knit collection.  It's called "Cafe Dots", and the mini polka dots are perfect for pattern mixing.  Kwik Sew 3036 is the pattern we're using in the Basic T-shirt class I'm teaching in September.   It's a great first knit pattern, since it's two pieces, front and back with kimono sleeves, and I love it because the pattern instructions are done manufacturing style, with you hemming the sleeves before sewing your side seams.  I was especially pleased because I used a double needle for the hemming, so we could include that skill as part of the class.  It sews up great even without using a serger, and finishing it with the double needle adds that RTW touch that all nervous home sewers crave.

The beard coordinates with the circus skirt AND hides my weak chin!  Styling learned from chubby hipster boys nationwide...

Tune in Tomorrow for a post on the bias skirt frenzy I had earlier this week!

The Lonsdale Dress Sew Along!

I'm making a Lonsdale dress during the sew along for Sewtropolis!  I blogged about fabric inspiration here on the Sewtropolis blog, so follow along with me!  My next step is a full bust adjustment, and I think I'll be using Sandra Betzina's fast fit method, since there are no darts to worry about...

And now let us turn to Autumn

More to come.  Dreaming of wearing layers won't make it so!

And now let us turn to Autumn by mommylap on Polyvore.com

Park Ramble Wrap

Here's the sample I made of Kwik Sew 3497, a cute faux-wrap shirt I'm teaching a class on this Saturday.  I made it in size L since Kwik Sew runs big, out of a great interlock knit from the City Weekend collection by Oliver and S.  The design is called Park Ramble, and not only is it a great combo of persimmon and aqua, it's got little touches of pink and yellow in the branch blossoms.  I didn't even plan for it to go with my orange pencil skirt, but I am pretty consistent in my color choices..

 I really like this pattern, but do think it could use the same elastic that secures the neckline on the arm facings.  It's super easy (except for the gathering, when I turn into a perfectionist freak) and satisfying to sew up.  If you used a serger, it would be super fast!  I didn't serge it since in class we'll use the zig-zag stitch. 

I feel like this is a tried and true silhouette for me, although not the most modest.  I might make a little coordinating cleavage tarp to wear with it so I can wear it on the bus.

 There's all kinds of additions that would be easy to make with this pattern too- adding sleeves would be easy, but this way it's a perfect layer under a jacket or cardigan.

In closing, I leave you with a picture of me contemplating why I thought the stairs would be a good substitute for a tripod.  Adieu! Take some adventures with knits!

I'll Take Manhattan

Welcome to my sundress quest.   This is Kwik-Sew 3520, which I thought would make a lovely base for so many of the coordinating fabrics that are carried at Sewtropolis.  Ever since I made the sample for the Study Hall Skirt, I've been wanting to sew with Kate Spain's Central Park line again. Especially since one of the styles is park and zoo animals.  So here are some of the pattern combos I've concocted.  View B has 4 different fabrics in it for a total of 5 yards..

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Central Park A

This first one Central Park A, features the leaf zoo fabric and really begs me to highlight the purple. I like that I didn't go crazy with the orange.  But it also saddens me.

Central Park B

Central Park B is a refined version of my 6 yr old self.. it's me at 8, listening to The Monkees and allowing green into the room with orange and the zoo animals..

Central Park Quintet

I really like this 5 selection extravaganza.  There is no plum in the zoo with the white background, so no purple is playing here.  I'm thinking the animals could be the bodice alpha in this scenario, with the other selections beta-ing things up. Both the tree motif, and the leafy wonderfulness are stripey which will be sweet with this pattern of barely flaring gores.

Central Park C

 This selection has 2 stone backgrounds  and totally works the plum.  It does not highlight the orange, but whatever colors are left out of the accompanying fabrics seems to magnify them in the zoo panel. Oranges so orange, yellow like a  beacon. I like you Central Park C, you make me feel young again.
                                                                                               

I appreciate your feedback here, because making the sample swatches in Paint was ridiculously fun, and I would get almost done with one I thought was good and would have a mad flash on how to improve it, and I could have mixed patterns and built blocks all day.  Like a video game about coloring.