Tag: circle skirt

Handkerchief Hem Skirt

Handkerchief hem skirt

I’d been thinking about making myself a floaty black skirt for a while. My seersucker skirt‘s been worn almost to death, so I thought I ought to have a backup plan for the day it comes out of the washing machine in pieces. I’ve been waiting for this to happen for months, thankfully the fabric’s more resilient than I’d thought!

This time I wanted a more floppy skirt, full and drapey, with an asymmetric hem. I looked at patterns, browsed through fashion magazines, and eventually had a brainwave in the middle of the night. This is made from my simple circle skirt pattern… only instead of rounding off the hem of each quarter piece, you just leave it as a square! So it’s effectively four squares sewn together, with a little shaping at the top for the waist.

As usual it has pockets in the side seams, and my trusty elastic waistband. The edges were done very simply on the overlocker, because I didn’t want to make hems that might spoil the soft draping of the very thin cotton lawn. I’m not sure this would work as well in a heavier fabric (even a shirt-weight cotton might be too much), so next time I’d like to make one with two layers. If I offset the points at the hem I think it could look really pretty, especially if I went for contrasting colours.

The only problem with using a fabric as lightweight as lawn for a skirt (aside from it being a bit chilly if you happen to live in a country that’s apparently not having a summer this year) is that it creases like crazy! This skirt was beautiful when I took it off the ironing board (yes, believe it or not I did iron it!), but within seconds of putting it on it was all wrinkly again. I think I’m going to have to adopt the same approach as I have to linen, and simply not mind looking a bit crinkly around the edges.

Broderie Anglais Circle Skirt

Broderie Anglais Circle Skirt

I’ve been clearing out my fabric stash, and stumbled upon four metres of crinkle broderie anglais at the bottom of a pile. I bought this while I was working at a fabric shop, and had been sent to a different branch for the day. Black broderie anglais is a very rare beast, so I snapped up as much of it as I thought I could carry home on the train.

It’s been sitting in the stash ever since because the sewing machine I was using at the time would have made a dreadful mess of this crinkly fabric. Thankfully my trusty overlocker has no such problem, and I ran up this simple skirt in no time.

The spots of pink that you can see through the holes in the fabric are from my Giant Petticoat of Doom.

I have just over a metre of fabric left, and I’m planning to use it to make a matching top. I’m not a hundred percent certain about going out in an outfit made entirely from crinkly fabric, mind you. I don’t want to look as though I’ve been sleeping in it!

Another Cherry Circle Skirt

Cherry circle skirt

The Art Market went really well on Sunday – I sold a few things, and came home with a lovely print of a girl with pink hair!

The skirt above is another cherry print circle skirt for Tiger Lilly in the Harris Arcade, to replace one that was sold a few weeks ago. I’m going to have to put these on hold for a little while, as I seem to have bought every single inch of black broderie anglais trim from my local fabric shop, so I’ll just have to wait until they’ve got some more.

It’s probably about time I wrote a tutorial for these circle skirts. They’re extremely easy to make, along the same principles as my a-line elasticated skirt.

I was also really pleased to discover that the tutorial for the gathered skirts was featured on an Australian site called Frugal and Thriving. They’ve collected a grand total of 48 skirt tutorials, which are well worth a look!

Dresses and skirts for Tiger Lilly

Here you go – these are the eight finished pieces that I’ve made for the Tiger Lilly boutique. I just need to sew in the labels, and then I can take them into town.

Just in case you’re wondering how you might order a circle skirt or a tunic dress for yourself, you can do that here. Bear in mind though that I won’t actually be able to start work on any orders until after I get back from my honeymoon!

Once I get back, I need to put together a fabric chart. That way you can see which fabrics are readily available to order, and which vintage pieces I only have enough of for a single dress or skirt.

I also need to have a big clearout of my fabric stash. (Shocking, I know!) I have loads of pieces that I collected over the years which aren’t suitable for the things that I’m making now, and I need to create a lot more space in my Shed.

For now though, I need to get a move on with some of the pre-wedding preparations – and that includes getting these skirts and dresses out of my Shed and into Tiger Lilly’s shop!

Tulip print circle skirt

Tulip print sircle skirt

Here’s today’s offering – another full circle skirt for Tiger Lilly, this time in a bold cherry print. This one’s a size XL, which covers UK dress sizes 24-28.

I have one more tunic dress to make now, which will also be in this cherry print fabric, and then I can label everything up and take it down to the shop. Hopefully Chloe will sell a few pieces or take a few orders while I’m away, and we can take things from there.

This afternoon I’m taking a break from sewing to go down to a local job fair. I’ve never been to one before, so I don’t quite know what to expect. But anything that might increase my chances of finding a job has got to be worth a look.

Pink spotty circle skirt

Pink spotty circle skirt

This is another skirt for Tiger Lilly in the Harris Arcade, and I think it’s my favourite so far! It’s probably just as well that it’s not my size, otherwise I’d be far too tempted to keep it.

I have one more skirt and another tunic to make, and then I’m going to deliver everything to Tiger Lilly before the middle of next week.

From next Thursday it will all go a little bit quiet for a while – I’m getting married on the 31st, and then I’m off on a nice relaxing honeymoon for the two weeks after that. Expect me to come back with lots and lots of photos to show you!

A Couple of Cupcakes.

Cupcake skirt and tunic dress

In case you’ve been wondering about the sudden flurry of sewing photographs that have been appearing on Flickr and Twitter – I’ve been asked to put together a few things for a local shop.

Tiger Lilly is an independent vintage and retro boutique in Reading’s Harris Arcade. Chloe has a lovely ever-changing collection of vintage clothes from the 40s to the 80s, but a lot of vintage clothing tends only to turn up in smaller sizes. To remedy this, Chloe also stocks a range of complementary vintage-inspired clothing from labels such as Vivien of Holloway and What Katie Did.

I popped in for a browse a couple of weeks ago, and on the spur of the moment asked Chloe whether she’d be interested in seeing some of my skirts. I put a photo gallery together, took some samples in, and Chloe has asked me to produce a small range of circle skirts and tunic dresses for her. We’ll see how they go while I’m away getting married and honeymooned, and then I can get some feedback on my return.

You can see the first few skirts and dresses in their own Flickr set. The tunic dresses will be £40 and the skirts will be £48. Each comes with its own matching sash belt, and the skirts have pockets hidden in the side seams. I’ve drawn up a range of four sizes, each of which will fit a wide range of body shapes. The skirts have an elastic waist, and the loose fitting tunics can be drawn in with the belt.

Chloe’s on a mission to support local designers, so I can only hope that her customers love retro styling and interesting fabric as much as I do!

Cherry Skirt

Cherry circle skirt

I’m a little bit poorly this week, and the medication I’m taking is leaving me unable to concentrate, so I spent the day yesterday making a very simple skirt.

It’s made in the same way as my Elasticated Skirt but instead of being an a-line shape, this one’s a full circle. What looks like the waistband is actually a matching sash belt – the waist is made from my usual frilly elastic. There are nice deep pockets hidden away in the side seams, and that’s five metres of lacy trim sewn on at the hem.

I’m also still making Simplicity 3737, a petticoat that I started working on in March. Unfortunately it hasn’t spent the past eight months in storage magically sewing itself together, so I’m going to have to get on and finish it. If you hear swearing, it’s just me. Drowning under fourteen metres of net. Ugh.

Liberty Lawn knitting skirt.

I’ve had this fabric for about eighteen months, but I’ve been “saving” it for just the right outfit. First it was going to be Vogue 8470, and then McCalls 5431. Then I decided that neither of those options would be comfortable, and I couldn’t decide what to do instead.

Chris Zydel wrote yesterday about how precious art supplies can make you afraid to use them. That’s definitely true for me (don’t ask me how many blank sketch books I own), and it’s true of my fabric stash as well. Because I usually can’t afford to buy fabric from Liberty (this piece was given to me in part payment for a dress that I made), this lovely cotton lawn fell into the “precious” category, and I was afraid to use it on the “wrong” garment. I wanted it to be something that I would love, and not something that would just sit in my wardrobe without being worn.

Yesterday I made an executive decision that I didn’t want to wear the blue smocked tunic to the Albert Hall on Sunday, which left me still in need of a blue outfit to wear on the day. I knew I had a blue t-shirt, and it suddenly occurred to me that this knitting print was also blue, and would make a fabulous summer skirt!

The skirt is a full circle, with my usual fancy elasticated waist. I’ve added pockets to the side seams and a ruffle to the hem. The ruffle is made from 9 metres of fabric, gathered down to fit the 4.8 metre hem. The lawn was a little bit see-through, so I’ve lined the top part of the skirt (not the ruffle!) with a plain white lightweight cotton.

I’m really pleased with this ruffly summer skirt. I have a pretty piece of white broderie anglais with rainbow coloured stitching that I think would be ideal to make another one. I only hope that there’s enough summer left for me to wear them!