Jessica's Skirt

You may remember (or not) the this skirt. It was Jessica's desire that I make her a copy of one of her favorite skirts from Ann Taylor. Silly me, I still haven't photographed her in the original inspiration. Nor have I finished my first attempt.... Finally though, I have made her skirt. I used some cotton lawn by Alexander Henry. It feels lovely and she looks so cute in it!

I love the pocket detail.

Bias Skirt

If you don't follow Crafterhours, (you should really check them out, they are nice people who say nice things about me....) then you don't know about this skirt. Jess and I made this tutorial for their skirt week.  It is an easy bias skirt we made from linen and jersey knit. 

I want to wear mine all the time. 

Seriously.

Go to Crafterhours for the tutorial.

If you happen to make a shirt, the skirt waistband and the skirt in the same color fabric, you can have something that looks like a dress but is far more versatile. 

Outtakes.........

We're so lucky he puts up with us.

Hammock vs Uber

Guess who won?

Full Skirt Attempt Two

I finished this a couple of weeks ago..... Where oh where does time go?

Jessica has a favorite skirt she bought from ATL  a few years ago that she wants more of. This was my second try and I think I got it. Now I just need to make hers. When I do I'll show more detail and my first attempt. We took these photos last night, the tired, goofy factor was pretty high. I could blame it on the smoke in the air... There are a lot of fires here right now and this is not a cloud haze it is a smoke haze.

Back to the skirt, it has a 4 inch drop waist and a side zip, which I like because it makes a smooth waistline.

It's made with a cotton lawn and lined with a white batiste. 

It has pockets, you could leave out the pockets but I love pockets. 

 It has just enough gathering to make it comfy and flirty. You can dress it up with a blouse or go more casual with a T or tanks.

Found the perfect pair of sandals at Target to go with it.

Jess, I promise I will get yours done soon!!

Skirt Week!! Wrap Skirt Attempt 1

It seemed like a good time to do this since it's Skirt Week over at Crafterhours. Go on over to their Flickr pages, with five categories, there are already a bunch of lovely skirts in the pools that will inspire you to

  sew something. 

Last week or so (were does the time go?) Jess and I were talking about wrap skirts. It's kind of a love hate thing. The comfort factor isn't quite were I want it. The ties tend to shift. Sometimes they take a lot of fabric. I'd been contemplating it since then and Friday night around 7pm (cause that's the way I do things these days) I decided to experiment. 

I started with this much lovely jersey knit, 

 and a scant thirty one inches of yummy Art Gallery fabric. 

I ended up with this. 

I never felt like it was going to gape or fall off or strangle my waist. 

 I won't wear it with my shirt tucked in, this is just to show you how it looks at the top. 

You can also see I haven't managed to hem it yet. I am going to hem it (I am Jessica, promise.) I have decided to round off the angle at the bottom. 

This is how I wore it out on Saturday. Yes I did, un-hemmed and all. It was that comfortable. 

Should I try it again, work out the kinks and tell you how? 

Would you be interested?

This is just because he's so cute and I know that there are those of you who only come here for the chance of seeing this face.

Easy Bias Skirt

I made this using the Best Bias Skirt from Indygo Junction. We have it in the shop but I think people have trouble invisioning it. The cover is, let's say, less than flattering to the pattern. I decided to make one Wednesday night after work. The "best" means different things to different people... I can say this was quick and easy. I was tired and it only took me two hours from tracing to final ironing. It consists of two panel peices and bias binding. I made my own bias binding cause that's the way I roll.

I used Nicey Jane and Kona in grass. The pattern has you sew on the right side with a zig zag to complete the casing for the waistband and the hem. I really like it since the skirt is meant to be casual.

I wore it all day yesterday and I'm glad to say it was very comfortable. I was not just sitting looking pretty either, it was a receiving day for merchandize and I was bending and lifting a lot.

Did you get to sew today?

Didn't mean to be gone so long

It was a long week. It was a good week. It was a not so good week. For those of you who dropped by Wednesday after seeing me here and here thank you! I was hard at work getting more things done but was having some difficulty getting things photographed and posted.

Thank goodness for weekends.

I am not a sports fan but when the world cup happens and the weather is good, it's fun to go sit outside and watch a game or two. It's fun to watch people get crazy. Seriously crazy. This place is a short walk from our apartment. I'll miss it.

 I've had this toile for years (thanks Sherie). I'd been wanting to make it into a skirt but was having trouble thinking of a shirt I had to wear with it. Kelly wore her Cabo halter last week and a light went on. I made mine with Kona Cotton in a shade of blue that I've forgotten.
The skirt is Simplicity 8664. I did a bias trim for the hem because I cut it a bit shorter than I meant to. Mistake? Opportunity?
This detail is around the top of the skirt. I pulled the facing up just enough to make it look like cording. It may never be seen but I know it's there and I like it! By the way, I used my ever quickly dwindling supply of Wonder Tape for both zipper applications. The skirt was a sort of lapped version ( sorry totally meant to take a close up) and the shirt has an invisible zip. It was wonderful for both. Seriously, as Jess said, it changes lives. Well, mine anyway.

Three more of the shirred skirts. Two for Jess, one for me. Hers are out of Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt and mine is Pastry Line voile from Anna Maria Horner.

Last and maybe least is a project that turned out differently than I had planned. Not bad, just different. I took a tank cut it off and attached the voile skirt. I did five rows of shirring around the bodice and skirt to give it a more fitted look. If I had a garden, this would be my gardening dress. Right now I have scaffolding, a dying rose and soon to be very, very bright yellow walls outside.

A Full Weekend of Sewing

This is what three hundred and five 1" hexagons look like. I am out of scraps.

Sunday's additions.

Jennifer gave me some knit fabric a few months back. I made a shirt for Jessica out of some and this is what I did with the left over. I greatly modified an old pattern. It's comfy but not too frumpy....

I promised I'd try using the wonder tape to insert a zipper. I got around to that today. I pulled out some Japanese damask that I'd gotten peices of a couple of years ago. I've been wanting to make something with it. No one was here to tell me I shouldn't, so I did. First though, wonder tape works great!

Tape on the zipper.

Zipper taped to skirt.

Sewing zipper in on the right side of the skirt. Finished zipper. I will definitely do this again.

Photo session with myself. I crack myself up. Look at this hair.... tomorrow it's gone. Well not all gone but shorter.

Hope your Monday has been happy!