Tag: elasticated skirt

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!

A very pleasant turnaround.

I spent half of the weekend in what can only be described as “a bit of a state”. Things seemed rather hopeless on the sewing front, and I wasn’t at all looking forward to coming out to my Shed to start work this morning.

I decided to finish off this fleecy skirt, which had been waiting for its contrast hem band since November.

Polar fleece elasticated skirt

Within an hour of its completion, it was sold!

Since then I’ve updated my Etsy store and taken orders for a dress, a corset and another skirt.

Maybe things aren’t all bad…

Springtime in Paris…

Melanie's Eiffel Tower skirt

This skirt’s been a long time coming – I think it’s two years since I bought this fabric!

It will shortly be on its way to Melanie, who has an enduring love affair with Paris, Versailles, and all things Marie Antoinette.

The skirt is different from my usual elasticated skirts – instead of just a front and a back, it’s made in eight panels. This was the best way to keep all of the Eiffel Towers the right way up! It also enabled me to make a skirt which was nice and full at the hem, but quite closely fitted over the hips.

The waistband is made from deep frilled elastic, the hem is trimmed with bias tape, and the fabric is by Michael Miller.

Valentines Skirt

Spotty circle skirt

I made a new skirt to wear for Valentine’s Day. 

It’s a full circle with an elasticated waistband.

I didn’t have enough fabric to make the skirt as long as I wanted, so I added a ruffle at the hem instead.

The ruffle isn’t as, well, ruffly as I would have liked, but considering it took just over an hour and a half to finish hand sewing the pink binding around the bottom, I don’t think I would have liked it to be very much rufflier.

My new bias tape maker arrived the other day, and it’s a big one – it makes 50mm tape! I think the next incarnation of this skirt will be minus the ruffle, but with a nice wide trim at the hem.

Bewitched!

Lettice's Bewitched Skirt

No, not the nose-wiggling variety, nor the Ella Fitzgerald song… but the Alexander Henry fabric of the same name!

I’ve made dozens of these simple elasticated skirts now, and I never cease to be pleased with how prettily they turn out.

I’ve been asked to write up a tutorial for drafting the pattern in your own size, and putting together the skirt from it. I’m a bit pushed for time at the moment, but I’ll definitely sort that out as soon as I get a minute. These skirts are so easy to make, everybody should have one!

 

[edit] You can now find the tutorial over here!

Diane seems happy!

Diane's skull fleece hoody Diane's Carnaby Stripe Skirt

As soon as Diane received her parcel, she couldn’t resist putting on her new skirt and pulling a catalogue pose for me! And look how happy she is, snuggled up in her new fleece.

Huge thanks to Diane for sending these in – there’s nothing I love more than people looking happy, wearing clothes that I’ve made for them.

I feel just as warm and fuzzy as Diane, now.