Last week's fall color
Hey, so the PR Sewing Bee contest is going on right now, and if I were participating, I would totally make my favorite A-line skirt (week 1 challenge), which is New Look 6843, meant for a woven. It meets all the requirements of the contest out of the envelope except the lining--and it is relatively easy to pop one of those in.
I've been making this skirt lately as a stretch knit with an exposed elastic waistband.
Black with white scallops knit skirt sewn in May
Purple stretch lace skirt sewn in August
I sewed the latest incarnation two weekends ago on my brand new serger, yay! This gave me a chance to practice changing the thread and try something new-to-me, which is sewing a rolled hem on a serger.
This fabric is from Paron's. I bought it in Sept with ATP during her NYC visit.
1. For this knit, I cut the front and back out separately. I actually used the front and back pieces with darts folded out, unlike last two times where I used the front for both the front and the back.
2. Since the fabric is striped? chevron? I basted the side seams using my walking foot to try to prevent shifting. I love the clackity-clackity-clackity sound my walking foot makes.
3. Futzed with the stripe/chevron alignment. Decided it wasn't worth it to try to perfectly match it but just make sure the white stripes were aligned with white, gray with gray, black with black.
4. Serged with my new serger and pressed with my Elna Press (that press is a Miracle Worker, I tell you).
5. Zig zagged the waistband (I am loving Pamela's Fantastic Elastic--high quality stuff and you can cut it down to any width you want without it fraying).
6. Divided the skirt and waistband into eighths. Serged the waistband on
7. Ironed interfacing to the bottom 2.5 inches of the skirt. Originally thought I'd use my rotary cutter to cut along the chevron and call that a hem like I did on the black and white scalloped skirt...but it looked terrible!!!
So then it was like, what to do? I could hem it with a blind hem but I would lose length and it was the perfect length already. I abandoned that idea and used the rolled hem feature on my serger to hem it. This was my first ever rolled hem on a serger.
8. Wore with pride!
Dressform shots:
Front
Back
Side stripe "matching"
I have a lot of this fabric left over--would it be too crazy to make a whole dress out of this fabric???
Be well!
This is lovely, your hem turned out really well. I think this would make a lovely dress. Perhaps a fit and flare with three quarter sleeves for winter. you could have a bit of fun playing with the stripe placement
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! A dress would be cute!
ReplyDeleteI love all of your versions of this skirt. I am glad to see your serger is working out quite nicely for you! And I love how you styled your latest version of this skirt with the grey top and black tights…very fall.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I'd want an entire dress... love the skirt. What about your dress pattern with the quilted front panel. The chevrons in the middle with solid black on the sides?
ReplyDeleteSo cute! I think you would be on trend in a dress out of that beautiful fabric. Did you like the results with the folded out darts better than your other versions. I think the fit looks fab on all three skirts.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a quick and easy project that I can sew up over the weekend, so yeah this is a winner.
ReplyDeleteHi! Cute skirt, I really like it! I just had to comment as I made a kimono style t-shirt out of the same fabric a year ago but I really don't like it on me where as I really love the fabric itself. Weird, I know :) Maybe I should have made a skirt too so the fabric is not close to my face.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from the UK
Ana
Your skirt looks great! I love TNTs!!!
ReplyDelete