Spring Maxi Skirt

Yesterday morning while perusing Pinterest, I saw a really cute maxi dress tutorial pin and got all inspired to drag out some cotton crinkle gauze I've had stashed FOREVER.  (literally...since 2003? 2004?)  I didn't want a tank dress (I didn't have any tanks I could sacrifice), so I decided to make a skirt.

No pattern or tutorial followed (although the tank dress tutorial above, is pretty thorough, if you need one!)  I just cut lengths of gauze, size determined by holding the gauze at my waist and eyeballing how long I wanted it (adding about 6" for mistakes, casing and hem).  The panel width is double my hip measurement.  (At first, I had even more, since the gauze is very floaty, but that just added unnecessary inches so I hacked off about 10" per side!)

I did a very small "paperbag" waist casing, since I knew I wanted an elastic waist, but one that would still be cute if visible, but the ruffle should still sort of anchor a belt if I wear one:

The crinkle gauze will probably shrink up in the wash (I prewashed it eons ago, but that's how gauze is.  It is a shrinky-dink in fabric form).  I have about 1/2 a yard left though, so my plan is to just add a wide ruffle hem at the bottom if it shrinks up too much in length.

It's windy today and this sucker floated all over the place...but is surprisingly still fairly flattering:

In the top photo on the right, you can see the hem is about 3" deep.  I thought the extra "weight" might pull the skirt down so it didn't puff out as much around my hips.  Ha.  Wishful thinking.

I wore this outfit yesterday about 5 minutes after finishing the hem.  I wish I had a statement necklace...Are bib necklaces still "in"??  That would be perfect.  Or one of those fabric bead necklaces??  Help a girl out!

I did get some interesting double-looks and stares while out and about.  I started to worry I had black panties on, but Lu assured me I didn't.  And judging from these photos, it's not particularly sheer either.  It *might* have been because I was in Atwoods Farm and Home. 

I also busted out the summer shoes...my favorite sandals, from Modcloth.  I even painted my toenails.

Super easy and quick project.  Took about an hour start to finish.  I have big plans for a couple more!

Spring Break Day #1:  Successful. 

Vintage Patio or Fiesta Skirts

What I'm obsessed with right now: The colorful, twirly, rick-racked perfection of the "fiesta" or "patio" tiered skirt.

Also charming in dress form:

There are tons of patterns from the 50s for these tiered skirts.  I wonder where the inspiration for their popularity came from?  Westerns?  In any case, there are a wide variety of styles available in pattern form out there...

And if you make a patio skirt, you must make a peasant blouse to go with.  Am I right?

Surely spring will be on its way soon...

Oldie but Goodie

First week of school!  I was so tired Tuesday I actually went to BED at 8:30!!  ha.  I'm feeling a little more normal now and today went relatively smoothly.  I think we're crossing the line from "complete disorganized chaos no matter how hard I try" to "this IS a real teacher".   :-)

Sadly, I have nothing new to share (I had a bit of a virus over the past few days that lingered and made me extra tired over the weekend.  Super bad timing!)  But I can share what I wore today...not that I took a pic of my outfit or anything. 

Remember this skirt?  I drafted the pattern from the Sew What Skirts book, and used a psychedelic cotton print from Hancocks.

My favorite part has always been the pockets:

And an old photo of me wearing it.  I wore a turquoise sleeveless knit top and a cropped white cardi with short sleeves.

It was a hot day, so a good outfit for the heat!

Hopefully I'll get those buttons finished on the mustard skirt so I can wear it in a few days and share that too. 

Something new I "wore" today that I thought I'd share (even though it's a little, um, indelicate?)  This is SkinDura Secret Shield:

It's a skin protectant stick for anti-chafing.  (Wow, this is sort of awkward. ha.) 

Anywho.

If you need it, you know what that is.  If you don't, you don't. Am I right?  ;)  In a nutshell, for those days it's just too dang hot for Spanx (or faux Spanx.  Fanx?)  Two words:

Loved. It.

Wore it all day, no problems whatsoever.  Never reapplied.  I walked from one end of our building and back 4 times today (it was library day for my classes!) and you don't get much hotter or more humid than Arkansas in August!  I bought it from their Etsy Shop.  I recommend!

Vintage Simplicity 4657 - skirt!

I finished my skirt, the sun came out, I had cute shoes...time for photos!

 

Here the illustration for Simplicity 4675, a vintage pattern from the 50s:

I really just used the skirt pattern piece for length measurements (plus, I had to shorten due to limited fabric!)

This cute dotty fruit print has been in my stash just over a year, but I bought it on ebay and I can't find another piece of it anywhere!  It's by Darlene Zimmerman (? I may be butchering that) and was part of the "Clothesline Club" in 2007 per the selvedge. 

It's just your basic dirndl skirt, but I love it.  It's swishy and poufy.  Maybe shows a bit too much knee, especially on a windy day, but I have a vintage crinoline/petticoat on the sewing table right now being "altered" to fit me.  It's RED polkadot lace and will be perfect peeking out at the knee. 

I stitched the hem in red:

No pockets yet, but as someone pointed out to me, I can always add them later!  I did cut them out, so I'll just stash the pockets away.  They may look cute on a different skirt at some point in the future too!

My red bow ballerina flats are from Target:

I have them in black too!

That about sums up the sewing for the week  (I sewed on one hook/eye and a button).  We had Saturday school to make up for snow. Blech.  But now we're on the downhill slide to summer...can you feel it??  I can!

One more swishy vintage skirt picture...

 

Enjoy this beautiful, sunny Sunday!

Vtg Simplicity 4657: dirndl skirt in progress!

I saw this adorable strawberry print dirndl skirt on Sewing Through the Motions blog. 

Isn't it the cutest?  Amy is going to do a tutorial for making a dirndl skirt soon.  I happened to be inspired by it and thought the style would be perfect for a "Fresh Picked by Darlene Zimmerman" cotton fruit print I've had in stash for a while.  I'm using this vintage Simplicity 4657 for measurements:

I've used this pattern before, but Amy's right, you don't really need a pattern for this style of skirt.  It's just rectangles!  Or I think there might be instructions for a dirndl skirt in Sew What Skirts (one of my most-loved sewing books!) 

Anywho...Here's a sneak peek:

This is the hem, so you know I'm nearly finished already!  Quick projects are the best.  I have very nearly hemmed it too short.  A bit more of my knee is showing than I would prefer, but I think it will be fine.  I might even see if I have a cute red ruffle-edge slip to peek out.

I had to narrow the waistband due to fabric constraints.  I think I like this narrow waistband better, it's very comfy.  Sometimes accidents are truly happy:

Zip is in, hem is done.  I just need a trouser hook fastening, and I'm undecided on pockets.  I cut 2 large rounded pockets and rickrack, but can't decide if they'll just be lost in all that fruit.  Hmmm.  What do you think?

I'll be sure to snap some pics tomorrow, if the sun comes out!  (Or inside if it doesn't.) I have a knit top and hopefully a pair of PANTS (yes, pants!) nearly finished and ready for photos too.  Spring break is nearly over.  It went by too fast, as it usually does. 

NL 6899: a new "vintage" circle skirt

Circle skirt, finished!

Here's the backstory.  Last week I found myself infatuated with this series of photos via Pinterest:

That dress is TDF!  Yellow, lace, circle skirt?  Bicycle??  It apparently was a photoshoot for Vogue, but don't quote me on that. 

Knockoff wheels started turning.  I had just pulled an icy blue satin from stash (10 years old minimum), thinking I'd use it matte side out because the color was richer (plus, more practical).  And last fall I placed a huge order for assorted colors of nylon tricot and laces from Sew Sassy for some lingerie (um, that's all still on THE LIST).  After I saw the above photos, it took me about 35 seconds to put the two together!

I started with this New Look pattern (not vintage but vintage-esque!) 6899:

I love this pattern because it has both a full circle and a half circle version, in two lengths.  I used the long version, full circle skirt.  I had to fudge just a teeny bit on length due to my yardage on hand but I knew I was adding the lace so that made up most of the difference. 

I cut a straight waistband, planning to do a side lapped zip.  I hate shaped waistbands.  They never sit correctly on my waist.   (And it's easy to cut a straight waistband substitute!  No pattern piece needed!)  That brought the skirt up a little in length, since my waistband was narrower than the shaped on in the pattern.  I love the finished length though.  I think it's perfect (even if that's a fluke):

I'm hoping it's more "slip-like" and less "she's wearing a slip with no skirt!"  Ha. 

My big cheat...I didn't have a zip (story of my life) and rather than sit on this project for several days I just did an elastic waist!

I used the waistband piece I had already cut and sewed it together in a circle, the pressed it in half lengthwise wrong sides together.  I cut a piece of 1" elastic to fit and sewed it together in a circle too.  Then I just tucked the circle of elastic into the waistband and pinned close to the bottome edge of the elastic. Stitch close to the edge with a zipper foot.  You do have to stop about 3/4 of the way around and redistribute the fullness of the waistband because it is longer than the circle of elastic.  I just redistribute, pin again and sew. 

Last step is just pinning the waistband to the skirt and stitching in place.  I serged the raw seams:

Note that I have a double row of stitching.  When I stitched to the skirt, I could see the first line of stitching in a couple of places, so I had to go back over it again. 

Pinning that lace into place was a job!  I pinned about 1/2 of the skirt and stitched, then pinned the rest in place and stitched  I used a zigzag and followed along the lace header.  Which...was CURVED. I didn't realize that until I went to pin, but the color was so perfect I sucked it up. 

After stitching, I trimmed away the excess fabric from behind, close to the zigzag stitching.  I would have gotten closer, but I'm not convinced this satin won't fray like the devil when it's washed.  This will probably be a handwash item!  Here's the interior where you can see the fabric trimmed away (and the shiny side of the satin is on the inside!)

That's about it!  Pretty new skirt for not a lot of work.  Now let's see if I can get that plaid dress finished today!  I'm already eyeballing a new project. 

skirt tutorial envy.

Oh, you know how it is. Cut out a shiny new skirt. Can't find time to sew. Discover shiny new skirt tutorial online.

I haven't been on the paperbag waist skirt train yet. For one thing, I rarely used to tuck anything in, and this skirt really needs a tucked in, slim-fitting top for the full effect. Now that I'm wearing more cardigans and things, I'm pretty sure I can rock the whole paperbag waist.

Here are some cute RTW versions for inspiration and ogling (albeit several are so short your pootenanny might need covering to prevent said ogling of another sort):


I'm lovin the paperbag pencil skirt from Asos above (actually I think all of these but one are from Asos. The khaki is by Tulle.)

Anywho. I randomly landed at this adorable paperbag waist skirt tutorial in two versions, a zipper with pleated version and an elastic/gathered version. Here's a pic from Suzannah's blog:


Adventures in Dressmaking is a new blog to me. I think sewing (and especially fashion sewing) blogs exploded among the 30 and under set in the past 15 months or so. I've kind of been oblivious since I had my favorites and not a lot of time to venture out and find new blogs to read.

The author of this blog is an easy read and she's talented and full of great ideas. I read through most of her archives last weekend while in a turkey coma. If you haven't found her before (some of you are followers I know) you might jump over there via the link above.

Just so you know, it is an ad-supported blog, which I usually prefer to avoid (because the ads tend to be very distracting and clutter-y) but I love her style and her carefree sewing mojo.

The real question is...do I shove aside the HP and go for the shiny new or persevere?

Wait. Isn't that always the question??