Tag: elasticated skirt

Organic cotton/bamboo skirt

Cotton/Bamboo Skirt

After years of buying only sample pieces from organiccotton.biz, I finally got around to ordering some yardage. The skirt above is a blend of organic cotton and bamboo, and it’s beautifully soft and drapey.

I don’t believe most of the claims about bamboo fabric having practically magical anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. The plant material (which does have those qualities) needs to go through so many processes before it can be spun, it’s doubtful whether any of its beneficial aspects would survive. However, it’s a very good fibre to use for fabric. It needs no pesticides to grow, uses far less water than cotton, and it grows so rapidly that it’s quick to replenish, which means you don’t need acres of space to plant it. Even better, the fabric it produces is unbelievably soft.

This is my usual ruffled skirt – take one calf length a-line skirt pattern, and stick a ten-inch ruffle on the bottom. Simple! It has pockets in the side seams, and the edges of the ruffle are overlocked with a satin stitch.

Waistband

The waistband I pretty much made up as I went along. It’s based on an old favourite skirt that wore out long ago. The centre channel has a bias tape drawstring threaded through two eyelets. The channels above and below have narrow elastic threaded through.

Things I learnt as I was making it?

  1. Thread the drawstring through before the elastic.
  2. Make absolutely certain that the elastic isn’t twisted.
  3. Whilst the bias tape foot for my sewing machine is a marvellous invention, I need to learn how to make the joins in the bias strip go through it more smoothly.

Leaf detail

The finishing detail is this pair of little leaves on the ends of the drawstring. They each have an offcut of batting inside, making them a little bit textured and squishy. I was torn between overlocking the edges or leaving them raw so that they’d fray a little in the wash. I do like the satin stitch edge, not least because they make the leaves stand out against the skirt, but it isn’t as tidy as I’d have liked. A little more practice needed, perhaps.

I keep going on about the softness of the fabric, but that really is its stand-out quality for me. It’s like the softest sheets you’ve ever slept on, or that favourite shirt you’ve been wearing for years.

I’m working on a set of costumes at the moment, all of which seem to be made with synthetic fabrics and have lots of fiddly little details. It’s been really nice to take a break and sew something simple, that feels like a little bit of luxury.

Herringbone Skirt

Herringbone Skirt

Please excuse the terrible photo, it’s very dark out here in my Shed! I took a couple of hours off from making theatre costumes, to treat myself to a new skirt for work.

It’s made from the same herringbone linen/wool blend as my giant trousers, and I should have enough left over to make either a waistcoat or maybe even a small jacket.

The skirt’s based on my usual a-line pattern, but with added jeans-style pockets. Next time I’ll make them a little deeper so I can put my hands right in without pulling the skirt down. I couldn’t find any matching fancy elastic, so I made a simple straight waistband and threaded plain elastic through.

One day I’ll find a nice strong elastic that I’m happy with. I haven’t yet managed to source one that doesn’t stretch out and go baggy – sometimes even as you’re pulling it through the casing! At least with this style it’s easy enough to take the old elastic out and replace it.

I’m still working to find that balance between the streamlined look of a zip and waist facing and the comfort of elastic. This fabric doesn’t help because it’s quite bouncy, which adds a bit of bulk to the gathers. It’s also soft though, and I’m hoping it’ll calm down a bit after a trip or two through the washing machine.

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the skirt’s actually a sort of greyish-brown colour. I ‘m thinking of teaming it with burnt orange tights (if I can stand to wear them all day) and a mustard coloured top. Failing that it’ll be brown knee socks and a brown t-shirt, with my purple boots and purple lace shawl for a splash of colour. I’ll see how I feel in the morning – and I’ll try and take a photo or two in daylight!

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.

Summer Skirt

Mum's Skirt

Right back at the end of last year, my Mum gave me a length of fabric for a new summer skirt. It’s made using my basic gathered skirt instructions, with modifications to the waistband. Instead of being elasticated all the way round, the waistband is flat at the front with the skirt gathered into it. The back of the waistband has elastic running through it as normal.

I also made two round tablecloths, which I simply hemmed using the overlocker. They were cut from a single size bedsheet, simply because it was the only fabric we could find in the right colour.

(You can also see that I made this before I had my great big clear-out in the Shed. Excuse the mess!)

Skull Print Skirt

Mini skull skirt

So, this is a bit of a departure from the type of thing I’ve been sewing lately – in fact it’s a skirt pattern that came from my first business, about eight or nine years ago.

There are four layers of skirt altogether, each with four panels for fullness. The inside three layers are black net, trimmed with red gathered lace. The top layer is skulls-and-roses print cotton, trimmed with the very last piece of black gathered broderie anglais in my stash. Fabric Land haven’t had any of this in stock for a long time, and I don’t quite know what I’m going to do without it. It really is absolutely my favourite kind of trim.

(Is it silly to have a favourite kind of trim? I do, anyway.)

The waistband is another favourite – red bomber-jacker elastic, also from Fabric Land. it’s made in the same way as all of my elasticated skirts – simply divided into quarters and zig-zagged into place.

I haven’t worn a skirt this short for years – in fact I’m not at all convinced that it’s actually long enough to cover my bottom, or that a person of my advancing years should be seen in it at all. I suspect I will be very grateful indeed for a pair of black leggings to wear underneath!

Skirt and petticoat.

Purple & Black

Today I have been mostly sewing an outfit that I planned almost a year ago, when I was offered my current job. I bought three men’s shirts from Marks and Spencer (lilac, pink and lemon), and bought some poly-cotton and broderie anglais trim from Fabric Land to make three matching petticoats.

Purple petticoat

Here’s the first petticoat – a variation on my usual elasticated skirt. I lengthened the pattern to just below the knee, and then added a 10″ ruffle with a matching broderie anglais trim.

Black skirt

The skirt is made in four panels, and had pockets in the side seams. The waistband is attached in exactly the same way as the petticoat, and the hem is trimmed with gathered broderie anglais. I’m not sure what the fabric is, except that it’s a nice heavy suiting weight. It’s most likely polyester, although the weave looks a little bit like dense linen. (This is what happens when you have a fabric stash that goes back more than a decade – sometimes you can’t remember what you’ve bought!)

I have a pretty lilac sash belt that I can wear if I decide I don’t want the elastic to show, but I actually like the fancy elastic so I don’t mind if it’s visible.

Now I want to knit myself a black v-neck tank top, although that might be pushing the slightly schoolmistressy look a bit too far. We’ll see.

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!

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!