FO : Pink Poodle Skirt (sans poodle)

Enter: Hollyburn the third.  (No, you still haven't seen the first one.)  I love this pattern!  It's just the shape I like my skirts... although all the old people I know call them poodle skirts.  Especially this one because, obviously, look how pink and voluminous!  All I need is to applique a poodle on the bottom and I'm set for the sock hop ;-)

I do think it's weird how the grain lines run on this pattern and I don't really understand how things are supposed to hang.  This skirt is cut accurately (I thiiiink) using the pattern grain lines, but there are some weird lines as the front and back seam stick out a little oddly.  The odd thing being that they stick out directly to the side of the seam instead of along it.  WTF?  I don't even know.  My grey Hollyburn doesn't suffer from this problem so much as the fabric is very fluid and drapey.  The fabric used for this one, on the other hand, is a super stiff cotton (cotton twill perhaps?) so it has a lot of body.  Incredibly it doesn't really wrinkle that much; these pictures were taken after I'd been wearing the skirt all day.

My face was actually so scary in this pic I cropped it out.  You're welcome.

This is View B, the medium length.  This one and also my grey one both have pretty sizeable hems (about 2 to 2.5 inches) and this one I still think is a bit long.  I'll probably go back to the shorter version with a nice narrow hem (much easier to ease in!) for the next one.

This being my third rendition, it went pretty quickly with only one big problem....  I forgot to interface the waistband!  If I don't tuck in my shirt you'd never notice it... but for some reason I felt the need to share, so here you go.

My shamefully floppy waistband

 I seriously love the pockets on this skirt.  They're big enough to hold so.much.stuff.  Next time I make a full skirted dress I may well just use the hollyburn skirt and pocket pieces.  The pockets look so oddly shaped, but they are certainly effective.  You can even fit a small orange in there!

Wait...  Is that weird?

So pocket happy!

Speaking of the pockets... I actually didn't have enough fabric to cut the pockets out of my main fabric, so the pocket front is a contrast fabric.  I found this fabric at the thrift store (so obviously the skirt was uber cheap, just like my last one).  Much to my chagrin, that contrast fabric peeks out just a bit.  Next time I'll do it the way the Thurlow pattern does it (that's right, next up: pants!).

 Let's get real about zippers for a second.  Look how awesome my zipper is.  Since this is my third time making this pattern it should be perfect (which it isn't, obviously the waistband is maybe half a centimeter off at the center back GAAAAAAHHHHH!) but I only had to sew the zipper in once and it looks pretty friggin good if I do say so myself.  It miiiiight not look as nice on the inside, but I'll never tell ;-) 

I'm getting closer!

What else is there to say?  The only thing I can think of is: expect more of these in the future.  In a far-off, warmer future where there's sunlight past 5pm and tights don't have to be worn all the time perhaps... but they will certainly happen.  I'm not sure it's possible for me to have too many Hollyburn skirts.

New Year's Day Skirt

Here's hoping you all had a wonderful New Year holiday (and will go on to have a wonderful 2014 in general).  I had a nice relaxing New Year's Day off of work and got some sewing (and some cleaning, yeesh!) done.  I managed to just barely finish a Hollyburn skirt from start to finish.  The only thing I had left to do after the kiddies got up was handstitch the hem (and boy what a hem that is!  It just keeps going and going and....)

I actually just love how awkward this picture is

This is my second Hollyburn skirt (the first remains unblogged, as of yet).  Apparently I've gotten rusty when it comes to garment sewing because this thing just killed.  I started cutting this skirt out right after Halloween.  I cut one back piece with the grain running vertically instead of on the diagonal *facepalm* and was so disgusted with myself I had to shove it out of sight until after Christmas.  Of course, I had other, more Christmassy things to be working on at that point, so that was just as well.  It's easier to face the epic quilt of Christmas when you've just failed at a skirt.  Cuz, duh, if you fail at a skirt then why are you sewing dumbass?  Obviously because I can't take a hint.  But what else is new?

I pulled it back out New Year's Day, determined to either make it or trash it.  I went ahead and cut the other back piece the same way.  It actually turned out to be just fine... I'm not sure that it's detrimental in any way.  I think it actually looks better than my first Hollyburn.  I won't go so far as to attribute that completely to my "design feature" though.

My theory is that consistency is key.  Consistency is what turns a mistake into a design feature. I kept the original grain lines for the fronts since I didn't know how the grain change would make things flow.  An ugly skirt front is much more bothersome than an ugly skirt back.  Speaking of which...

This might actually be my best zipper ever.  Look how pretty

Zipper!  One of my sewing goals in the coming year is to figure out zippers.  I never can seem to install one without tears (and possibly the occasional blood and/or sweat).  As a matter of fact, the only reason this one looks passable is that my thread really is that great of a match.  In truth I had to rip out about an inch on one side because the zipper would.not.shut.  At all.  Ahem, I have a problem of sewing too close to the zipper teeth and then, obviously, the zipper pull can't move :(

I will explain why my kitchen looks like this very soon...

Ahh well, at least it's more or less working now.  It may still stick just a wee bit in one spot, but I'll call it passable.  I bought this fabric second hand quite some time ago.  I  It's very textural and rather thick, but stretch and a little bit sheer.  It's really weird.  On first sight I immediately thought "pants!" but once I brought it home and examined it I realized it's definitely not right for that.  Of course the interfacing in the waistband negates the stretchiness that might otherwise allow an especially large lunch, but that's probably for the best.  (Damn New Year's and it's silly resolutions.  It always makes me want to be better all at once, and that's kind of exhausting).

Awesomely large pockets!

I made view B, the medium length, and the hem is about two inches (or maybe a little more).  It hits a little below the knee, so it's just perfect for work.  I was afraid that the mystery fabric would be difficult to hem, but in fact the width eased in beautifully because of the vertical ridges running through the fabric.  Would that it could always be that easy!

My pretty handstitched hem... and not so pretty zigzagged SAs

 The side seams are French seamed, the pocket raw seams are bound with bias tape, and the front and back seams are zigzagged then pressed flat :P  That's what the pattern recommended so that's what I tried.  They're both such awkward seams to finish because you've got to press them flat (so definitely no flat-felled seams) and they're so visible.  You don't want anything that will interrupt the fluidity and drape of the fabric (at least that seams to make sense to me).  Next time, if the fabric is thick enough, I'll try bias tape.  For reasons I can't quite explain, I just hate zig-zagged seams.  I hate the way they look and I feel lazy using them.

Center front cut with the original grain lines

As it turns out, I love this skirt.  Having the center back on the straight of grain made it waaay easier to put in the zipper without weird ruffliness at the edges.  A plight that, sadly, my first Hollyburn skirt suffers from.  The whole zipper area on that one is kind of a clusterfuck as a matter of fact.  Plus, I never got around to the hook and eye.  Because, obviously, who has time for sewing on hooks and eyes?  Oh wait!  Apparently I do!  (For this skirt anyway.)  

I promise there's a reason for that big pile :(

End result: I love it!  It's my new favorite skirt.  I'm already eyeing all the pieces of fabric in my stash that might be suitable for Hollyburn skirts.  Muuust haaave moooore!  By the way, with all the supplies this skirt couldn't have cost more than $5 to make.  Which is pretty exciting.  I know that this post is about the least exciting garment on the planet (dark grey A line skirt anyone?) and it probably doesn't warrant as many photos as it got... but what can I say?  I'm kind of excited about it.

Don't I look so excited?

Now I just have to figure out my bloggy resolutions (and maybe some top 5s?) and get that post together.  I like to think of January as a grace period....  It's a new year all month long right?

Pink maxi refashion

As I've mentioned before, I'm trying to get through my big pile of things to "relove".  My dearest mommy has a habit of sending all her unwanted stuff my way, most notably all her big, long, gathered skirts.  This pink knit skirt was in good condition, but totally not my style or size.  Totes my color though, non?

 The before:

And after

This was a really simple, quick refashion.  I basically measured where I wanted it to end and begin, then cut off the old elastic waistband and the excess at the hem.  Then I  tried it on inside out and pinned where I wanted to sew the new side seams.  This skirt had princess style seams, so now there are two old seams on the front, two on the back, and the two side seams that I sewed.  

The waistband is all knit, no elastic, just like a neckband.  I like this for knits, I think it's a nice clean finish.  I cut two pieces measuring half 85% of the body measurement where I wanted the skirt to fall by twice as tall as I wanted the waistband to be (wow, how was that for jibberish?!).  Then I just stretched and sewed.  It probably would've been nice if I'd zigzagged down the seam allowance, but, yeah...  Just, no.  I zigzagged the hem because I broke my twin needle, remember?

I absolutely love this skirt!  It's so comfy but I think it looks pretty good.  Even though it's a knit it looks good with a shirt tucked in or left loose.  I'll be honest; my life is incomplete without a pink A-line skirt and now I have a new one =D  Simple and easy, awesome results.  I really needed a quick, simple project, too.  I feel like I've been having an excessive number of epic sewing fails lately.  You may see a return to simpler projects for awhile...  

And of course I'll show you the fails for the comic value, it's just too soon.  The pain is too fresh.

Thrifty Thursdays: I love the 90s

I do.  I love the 90s.  I am a child of the 90s.  I love brown cords, Friends, I know all the words to Closing Time, Torn, and all the songs from Everclear's first two albums.

But some things, like this mirror, just need to get wiped clean.  Please excuse my messy sewing room.  Now that I'm in such a smaller space the mess is that much more obvious.

I remember this being in style kind of towards the late 90s/early 00s.  Instead of a regular skirt, the sides on this sucker are suuuper long.  I got it from the Goodwill outlet for, umm, like 20 cents or something like that? (They sell by the pound there; that's right. BY. THE. POUND).  Expect to see a whole mess of refashions soon thanks to them.

Obvs the droopy sides were not workin' for me so I decided to whip up something equally ill thought out and trendy: the high low hem.  Business in the front...

Partay in the back.  This is a pretty moderate high/low hem.  I've seen some seriously crazy ones in the U District....  you know, the place inhabited by masses of the partially educated?  Yeah, that's the one.  Anyway...  I'm not 18 and I don't think I've been on trend, erm, ever?  For realz.  There's something about being trendy that kills me a little bit on the inside.

Yet here I am.  It seemed too boring to simply put an even hem on this thing.  So ya wanna know how I did it?  A stroke of brilliance really, this one.  I turned it sideways and then brought the side-turned-front waaay up.  Don't tell anybody, but I've got a seam running up the center front, one running up the center back, and yet another one on one side.  The asymmetry of the situation would kill me it it wasn't already so purposefully asymmetrical.

 The hem is zigzagged because I broke my twin needle the second I started sewing (always remember to change back to a straight stitch... and that's all there is to say about that). 

 There were originally ties or something on this skirt that the original owner tried to cut off. I think it's worth pointing out that this is not how to go about tie removal. For one thing, if you cut too close then a hole forms, as the tie remover in this situation found out. Even if you don't end up with holes you've got all this extra bulk in the seam allowances (and who needs that?) and the pieces that remain stick out all funny. What I did to fix this situation was just to rip open the seams, remove the offending tie remnants, and then sew the seams right back up. It really doesn't take that long. I've done that before I knew how to sew, though, so I'm here to say it's not that hard; you can still save it!

All in all I like this skirt.  It's fun, it doesn't wrinkle, I don't have t wear a slip with it, and it feels a little extra twirly, like having a tail or something.  I'm not quite a high/low convert yet, but this one's ok I guess.

On a completely unrelated note: I move that we ditch high/low, hi/low, high-low, etc. and just start calling it what it really is: SKIRT MULLET 

Verdict: Twenty cents and twenty minutes WELL SPENT.

Chevron Skirt

My first experiment in stripe matching has turned out to be a success.  Check out my perfect chevrons =)

Please ignore the fact that my black slip is so blatantly hanging out.  I really must make myself a white slip.  Actually, I still haven't shown off my black slip.  I've developed a bit of a backlog of projects to be blogged. Fortunately (?) the neverending quilt of doom 2 is fixing that.  By the time I finish it I expect this blog (and the world as we know it) will have shriveled up and died.  Victims of entropy the lot of us.

I used the same basic pattern I used for my last two skirts...  Except I cut each piece out flat instead of on the fold so there are four main pieces.  I left off the pockets for fear of next level stripe matching, which means I all four pieces are the same!  I'd like to add patch pockets, but this skirt is already seeing pretty frequent wear so it's hard to say when/if I'll ever get around to it.

I think the bias flows pretty nicely.  I like it.  I could technically wear it with the chevron pointing up or down because, hey, one pattern piece!  It's probably worth mentioning that the waistband is elastic (and, ahrm, handstitched).  I wasn't sure how topstitching and zippers and stuff would work with the drape of the bias.     

The fabric was a sheet at Goodwill that was just too cutesy to pass up for $2.  It's mostly purple and pink with some sparkle.  I bought it thinking baby clothes but I obviously got distracted ;)

The colors are a little less pronounced IRL.  I just wanted you to see my awesome stripe matching.  I cheated when I cut the pieces out.  Since this fabric is the same on both sides I just cut one piece using the pattern and for the other three I just used that piece as my pattern.  That way it was really easy to see if the stripes lined up.

Those lines are from the iron-on seam binding I applied then removed.  It was too stiff and the bias cut fabric was all wrinkly along it.  The vintage seam binding from the thrift was a lot softer and drapier than this stuff I bought at the LFS.  Win some, lose some I suppose.   I've heard fabric cut on the bias doesn't unravel...  I guess I'll find out!

Fabric: less than half of a $2 sheet, so $1

Notions: Almost $3 worth of (wasted) seam binding and about $1 worth of elastic

Total cost: $5

Running total: $8.20

Final thought: Seam binding may or may not be worth the money =(  but three skirts for less than $9 is working for me.

Herringbone Skirt

Check out those roomy pockets!

Matchy matchy.  I bought these shoes to match this skirt before I even finished it.  That's faith right there.  Despite the excessive number of bad pictures I've managed to take of this skirt, I like it and I don't think it looks that bad in real life.

It's the same TNT pattern as my purple skirt, but cut a little bit narrower and shorter to be, well, narrower and shorter.  I wanted this one to sit closer to my waist, the purple one is a bit (like, way) too loose for that.  I was afraid it might be too short, but it's fine with tights.

Pockets are super important to me, so both of these skirts have nice roomy pockets.  I still use the same SOP on pockets that I learned from the Little Heartbreaker Pants in Sewing for Boys.  I'm telling you, it's a good book.  If there's a book like that about sewing for women I want it.  I thought about the Colette Sewing Handbook but I'm not crazy about the patterns in it =(

I used a grey zip because, well, that's what I had.  So sue me.  If it wasn't sewn in all ugly it would blend in pretty well, but... it is.  No I won't show it to you.  I will show you the near miss on the pockets though.

I only had a yard of this fabric and I just barely fit all the pieces.  I ended up piecing the pockets with the contrast lining fabric which was a mistake.  I mean, if this shit wasn't shifty as the devil himself and I didn't basically suck at life it would've been fine but as it is you can see it peeping out from underneath.  Fail.

Fabric: $2.  Zipper: 10 cents.  A very small amount of thread, let's just not count thread eh?

Total for this project: $2.10

Running total: $3.20

Not bad for two skirts I love.

I use all the parts.

Lots of top sheets, if not most, have some sort of decorative element along one edge.  A contrast color or print or an interesting hem.  The purple sheet I used for my collared darling ranges dress had these neat little pintucks (or are they pleats?  I really do not know) along the top edge.  There was more than enough after making that dress to squeeze out this skirt. and also some (non-bias) quilt binding.

I just used my TNT (isn't it exciting?  I have some tried 'n true patterns finally) A-line skirt pattern which I frankendrafted.  I'll leave that one up to your imagination.  The tucks point upward so they can look a little funny at the end of the day if I don't sit on them just right.  But all in all I'm really happy with the skirt.  So happy, in fact, that I've already apparently ruined it.  There's a great big stain on the front of it.  I'll be scouring Pinterest this weekend for remedies.

Luckily I had this light purple zip in my stash. One of the many I picked up at the thrift shop in $1 baggies with 10 or so to a bag.  The material, obviously, was leftovers.  The thread is one of several spools that have been floating around with the sewing machine since I can remember.  As far as I can tell, that makes this skirt approximately 10 cents.

Oh, wait.  $1 worth of avocado green seam binding which also came from the thrift.  This skirt was originally meant to be a muslin of this skirt pattern so I didn't bother finishing the seams...  Then I liked it so well I decided to try this stuff out as an afterthought.  It must be cheating, it's so fast and easy!  It's somewhat vomitous but I love the way these colors look together.

Total cost: $1.10

I think I might start keeping a running tally of how much each of my projects costs.  Then see how much I've spent on my wardrobe in one year.  Might as well start here, eh?

not a lady

Not lady enough for a pencil skirt anyway.  I'm opposed to any skirt that's so difficult to run/squat down to pick up bottles/climb stairs/get into the car in.  But it seemed more appropriate for a job interview than my usual jeans or full skirt.  Never say never, but seriously never again.

It's made from a nice subtle black and grey pinstripe men's shirt (which you can't see cuz January in Seattle doh).  I got the idea from (where else?) Pinterest.  Megan Nielsen (whom I obviously luurve) made one but kept the buttons for interest on the center front.  Since I wanted a more traditional/professional look I cut off the plackets and sewed up the front which became the center back.  After that it was just a matter of pinning and sewing until I had the right fit.  I also lined it (go me!).  Unfortunately I felt the lining slide out of the hem while sitting in my interview (fail!).  I shall have to fix it, but since I can't imagine an occasion on which I would willingly don a pencil skirt again I am procrastinating. 

The black blazer I purchased at Ross specifically for the interview and damn.  I'd almost forgotten what crap their clothes are.  If I stitch down the facing (which hangs loose something awful) it won't look so bad but seriously, why didn't they do that?

I actually think it's quite nice looking, but boo for skirts that aren't conducive to real life.

what's black & white

and not terribly interesting?  this week's meager offering to the sewing gods.  it's a pretty simple a line skirt in a 

very heavy synthetic floral print.  i got this fabric second hand.  it's so heavy i would assume it's upholstery fabric if it was a greater width.  it may be...

this skirt gave me an inordinate amount of trouble.  i had an a line skirt pattern cut out... somewhere.  and i have several skirt patterns still in factory folds.  why didn't i cut one out?  because i'm out of tracing paper and good little seamsters trace their patters.

so i tried to copy a rtw skirt in my closet.  everything was fine until the waistband... and then the zipper.  eventually some darts were made and one pocket sacrificed but it all came out ok.

i can't say i'm fully satisfied with this skirt but it seems wearable enough.  now to see if i actually wear it.  i used to wear skirts and dresses all the time but since baby #1 it's been tough learning to dress my new (oft changing) body.

the facts:'

pattern: self drafted nightmare

fabric: second hand mystery fiber

notions: one of the many zippers i picked up at the thrift recently.  99 cents for 11 - 12 zippers?  yes please.

time to complete: for the first time i actually tried to keep an eye on the clock and i was pleasantly surprised; i only spent about 2 hours sewing... so let's say 2.5 including cutting

total price: about $4 for fabric and 10 cents for a zip... let's round to $5

first worn: just for pics

wear again? hopefully

final thoughts: i feel like i got a pretty decent return on investment... but i think next time i'll just cut into that tissue paper and save myself a headache 

on a completely unrelated note: i wanna love these boots and i just can't do it.  i just can't seem to style them right.  no matter what i feel like a wicked pointy toed witch.

do you do the pointy toed heels? yes? no?

i think maybe tights would save this outfit, but i'm not convinced.  i think only time will tell... or my husband.  he's usually the one who stops me from leaving the house in questionable garments.  although to be honesty the longer he knows me the laxer his standards get.  (and they say you can't change a man, hah!)


but back to the question at hand:
what's black and white and black and white and black and white?


a nun rolling down a hill

i went to catholic school and that's my favorite joke. ever.  that's for you sister helen.