self drafted paneled skirt

Believe it or not, this skirt took all day on Sunday to make. Mainly because it was one of those projects that just seemed to be fraught with issues.

The pattern was self drafted and is the bottom part of the straight dress I drew out last weekend.  However, in my determination to ensure I didn't overfit the hips and waist I made it much too large. In the end I took a quarter inch off every seam allowance plus extra on the waist.  I've altered the tissue to take the quarter inch off but will fit as I sew for future garments as I think its better to leave enough  to take it in, rather than making it smaller and then having to let it out and not have enough seam allowance to do this.  Also, the fabric is boiled wool and stretchy.  I am going to do a version of the skirt in a woven to see how it fits in a less stretchy fabric before making any further amendments to the tissue.

The fabric is left over scraps from two jackets.  Inspired by Ruthie's recent scraptastic tops I thought I'd get in on the act with this skirt.  I only had odd shaped pieces and only just enough to get this skirt out  with careful cutting.  This has a back seam and originally had a back zip but it wasn't really needed with this fabric so I took it out and sewed up the seam.  I left the skirt waist a touch larger than was really needed and installed wide elastic, which I made into a circle by sewing it up with zigzag stitch, then quartered it, quartered the skirt waist, stretched the elastic to fit, sewing it on with zig zag then turning it to the inside, understitching, then turning the elastic to the inside.  Its a similar treatment to a purchased skirt I have which is comfortable.  Finally, to make the elastic stay inside where it belongs I've stitched in the ditch of all the seams and through the elastic to tame it.  I have included a photo of the waist elastic treatment.  The elastic is super wide, I think about four inches (I've not measured it).

The hem was machined but it  stretched out under the machine foot so I had to hem it by hand in the end.  I would have saved time in the long run if I'd just done that in the first place of course and it would have been less bulky.

I'm rather pleased with how it looks in the end.  I am sure it will look much improved when worn with something other than the top I have on with it.  I finished it quite late in the evening and just threw it on and rushed outside before it got too dark to take the photo.


And finally, apologies for the rather boring layout.  I'm typing this on my new toy; a tablet.  Huge learning curve, and I can't work out how to alter the layout or upload photos direct from the tablet.   I also got a wireless keyboard to go with it... and I'm being driven bonkers by it. It seems to think I'm typing in a multitude of foreign languages all at  once, and is very keen to add just about any kind of written linguistic emphasis you can think of to just about every letter (with a particular emphasis on O and I).  I've also got the letter C stuck four times in this post.   I can't see this particular keyboard lasting me very long before it goes out the window followed by a stream of rude words.  However, I do rather like writìng my blog from the comfort of the sofa.  :)  

Next ùp: was going to be a dress... but I just discovered tonight that I don't actually own a plain black skirt for work.  No idea how the queen of black clothes managed that... but it needs to be rectified.