Cotton

A Lacy Maxi

~ Michelle

I really do live in skirts all summer long. I love how comfortable they are, and if you knew me, you’d know I’m not a jeans girl. I like to be a little more dressed up than that. A few years ago I could even say I didn’t even own a pair of jeans, but I had to buy a pair for a job. Those jeans have been in my closet for a couple of years now and I haven’t worn them. That just makes me think, what are they still doing in my closet?

Back to skirts. I wanted a Maxi skirt, and knew the exact look I wanted.  For this  skirt, I modified my Flirt Skirt pattern to use for both the skirt and the slip.

I’d picked up some black cotton lace-like material.

Material

It’s lovely, but it’s also not the perfect material for a skirt on its own. It would show just a bit too much. So, to use this, I made a lining for it with a light-weight cotton, also in black. Both materials are so light, making this a great summer skirt.

Skirt

Oh, I love it! It doesn’t show here on Catherine (my dress form), but I didn’t want the slip to go the full length of the skirt. I wanted some of that open work to show that it was open. So, the slip only goes part way below the knee. Originally, I’d thought of making the slip shorter, but I’m really loving this skirt just the way it is.

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Here I am out with my pup. You can see where the slip ends and the light shines through the bottom of the skirt.

There’s one thing I miss about RTW clothing when I’m wearing clothing I’ve made myself – the garment’s tag. I don’t miss it for any of the reasons it’s likely there – like the brand, or the fabric content, or the care instructions. I miss it because it’s a really quick and handy indicator of the front or back of the garment. With the Flirt Skirts I’ve made, I’m always checking the seams to see where the front or back is before putting it on. I came up with a quick little tag that is uniquely me.

tag

I cut a flower out of some scrap lace that was heading for the garbage and gave it a quick zigzag onto the back seam. Now when I pick up my skirt, I’ll know really quickly where the back is. I didn’t match the thread to the flower thinking I didn’t want pink to show on the skirt. I was tired and not really thinking there. I could have easily used two colors of thread – I’ve done it before. However, I let it be; I chose function over form for this one. Maybe I’ll be my normal more finicky self for the next one and pull out some matching thread.

Happy creating!

A Quick Repair and Another Skirt

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

Recently I was wearing one of my Shelley bras, and something just didn’t feel right about the back. I felt around and I was all done up, so really didn’t know what was going on there. So I had to wait until I got home and could look in a mirror to see what was going on.

What Happened Here

This is what I saw! Well, that’s just isn’t working, is it? I knew I would want to repair this bra right away, as it’s one of my favorites. It didn’t take me long to realize the elastic I used at the back just wasn’t strong enough to hold … well, it wasn’t strong enough hold anything.

I had this elastic in my stash, and hadn’t used it at all because it was so flimsy.

bad elastic

You can see here, I had a fair amount of it too. I hadn’t used it on any bras because it just stretched out; it didn’t recover. I decided this is not anything I wanted in my stash, and it wasn’t good enough to send to a friend. It has left my home and is where it belongs now.

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There are times when a repair or fix needs to happen, and after carefully sewing things on so they won’t come off, I just don’t want to rip things apart. I felt that way after double stitching my  hooks and eyes on, and zigzagging the edges as well. So, what other options are there for a repair?

For my repair on this, I ripped the old elastic out up to the hooks and eyes. Then I trimmed it really close to them. I butted the new stronger elastic up to where I’d trimmed the old away and zigzagged that first. This allowed me to not need to remove the hooks and eyes, which weren’t the problem anyway.

Then I attached the rest of the new elastic to the band. I’ve worn this a couple of times now and no problems at all. Bad old elastic!

This week I finished another skirt. I live in skirts in the summer. In fact, I have my next skirt all cut out waiting to be sewn. Skirts are my summer staple.

If you haven’t tried the Flirt Skirt yet, I really recommend it. It’s a very comfortable skirt to wear, and I get so many compliments on it. It’s that back part. The part I call the ‘flirt’. That’s the part people are saying, ‘Turn around’. ‘Did you make your skirt?’ ‘What pattern is that?’ It’s definitely fun.

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This skirt has no stretch in the material, so I changed the pattern a bit – instead of using my knit sloper, I used the woven one to determine how big to make the pattern. The denim I’d used before only had a bit of stretch, so I didn’t need to adjust this one that much. This is a light-weight cotton with a denim look.

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And from the side with that flirty part showing.

No photos of me in my skirt just yet – my photographer is absent at the moment, and has been too busy to be my photographer this week.

Happy creating!

A Summer Jacket – McCall’s 6516

~ Michelle ~ 8 Comments

I recently made the McCall’s 6516 jacket and love it! I made view D. I was thinking Summer jacket, cool evenings. I wanted there to be lots of options to cover me up and keep me warm – collar, sleeves, as much as I could get. I’m always the one wrapped in a blanket in front of the fire pit trying to stay warm.

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The material I chose is perfect too. I’ve shown this before.

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It’s a beautiful cotton with a waffle texture to it, and a gorgeous floral pattern.  I love this material. I went to the fabric store and saw it. It was not on my list so I left it, and then turned right around and went back in knowing there was no way I could leave it behind. I knew it would be a great jacket. And a jacket for summer was on my sewing list.

This jacket is perfect for cool summer evenings, and not too heavy if I have to carry it around during the day. It just made a trip to the Rocky Mountains with me for a couple of days, and as the weather was calling for rain, I carried it around a fair amount. I also love those big front panels that lay open – when it’s a bit cooler, they’re wonderful to wrap around me and cover me up more. See, I’m all about trying to stay warm.

Jacket Front

The jacket went together smoothly and quickly. It’s a great and fun jacket to wear. I’ve had lots of compliments on it already.

Jacket Side

Here’s the side.

Jacket Back

And the back.

One nice feature on this jacket is the faced cuffs. I really like that when I fold the cuffs up, the facings there make it look more professionally finished. Nice touch!

Here I am in my new jacket. I have both sleeve cuffs folded up, so the sleeves hit just above my wrist. You can also see my white stripe in my hair. I’ve decided to let it come in. It’s a bit Cruella or Rogue, depending on your age and your frame of (movie) reference. A friend encouraged me to let it show. ‘Not everyone gets to have a stripe. Wear it with pride.’ I’m not minding it most days.

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There’s a little bit of material left over from my jacket, and it’s just too pretty not to use. I’m planning a denim quilt. The first of the squares have been cut out. These photos show the waffle texture of this material too.

Squares

As much as I love my new jacket, a fitted jacket is something my wardrobe could really use. Finding one that fits a short curvy girl like me is a challenge. So, recently when I saw a class on sale at Craftsy, I signed up. It’s Jacket Fitting Techniques with Pam Howard. The class comes with the McCall’s pattern 6172 for three styles of jackets, including a fitted jacket. I’m trying to work up my nerve to attempt this for my curvy curves. I love Pam’s Flirt Skirt, so thought I’d try one of her classes. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Here’s the photo from the front of the M6172.

Happy creating!