Work?!

So, I found and started a new job.  The simple fact of starting a new job has somehow destroyed even the littlest desire to sew.  How can that be?  Seriously, I am working many less hours a day and I have a much shorter/ less traffic commute.  So why am I so tired?  What I do like is that the outfit I wore to interview is this one!

Enough whining.  The skirt is finished.  I have to say it is not one of my best jobs.  The not having enough fabric did result in a rather odd looking waistband which people will not be seeing.  I encountered many more problems with the pleats.  When I finally tried the skirt on, I did not like where the pleats ended.  Lets face it when you are a shorty (5’1”) this is bound to happen.  So, I had to rip out the pleats and make them shorter so that they worked on my body.  Isnt that a great thing about sewing, tailoring to fit YOUR body.

Back...err..
same as the front

Without further ado…..the rather unexciting photos:

Front

Yes, no glamour shots.  Living alone makes the photos of me hard to happen.  I wonder if I can train the cat to do this?

I set the pleats using a water/ vinegar mix and it has worked amazingly well.  Wish I knew about this trick years ago.  These pleats are NOT falling out…think set in stone.  You just need to lower the amount of vinegar ( I went seriously overboard with the vinegar) or let it air out for a day or two.  

Pieces of Eight

Well actually 4.  I was able to piece the waistband together with 4 pieces.  No pictures because it really is not that attractive.  I was able to find one piece of fabric that could go the length of the waistband but not the width.  I pieced together the width of the waistband from various pieces.  It worked, but as I mentioned not really pretty.

Lining a Pleated Skirt

Do you know how to do this?

I did not.  Having found the elusive brown lining fabric, I  now needed to figure this out.  I know that after trying to get the pleats in the fashion fabric, there was no way I was cutting the required fabric and pleating the lining in the same way.  It would give me another headache requiring a nap besides just being too bulky for a lining.

So, I pulled out my lining reference book.  I love this book so much.  I recommend it for anyone who needs help with linings.

Alas, the instructions for creating a lining for a pleated skirt seemed very complicated to me and did not make a lot of sense.  I got out my pattern pieces and started folding parts, trying to spread other parts to follow the very limited instructions.

Then a light bulb went off.  I checked my RTW pleated skirts and the linings looked very simple.  Surely, I thought there has to be a simpler way to do this.  My OCD kicked in and I headed to the computer to do some research. 

Easy, quick lining.  Not
really pretty but functional

Sure enough, there on the Threads site was a super simple, easy to understand quick, down and dirty lining for a pleated skirt.  Righty-oh, this one is for me!  I can measure my hips add a couple of inches and divide by 2.  I added a couple of darts front and back to make the waist fit and I was done without the need for a nap this time!

Please Pleat Me

Wow, apparently I do not understand pleats.  Or maybe I just don’t understand English.  It is one of the two.  I spent hours trying to figure out the pleats on this skirt.  When I followed the directions, they way they read to me, I came out with a skirt that looked nothing even the most remotely like the pattern picture. 

I think something is missing
from these instructions

I have a degree …hell I even have an advanced degree….still the instructions made no sense!  I tried it another way…nope that wasn’t it either.  At this point, it just seemed like the pattern picture and the instructions were mocking me. I eventually had to throw away the instructions and just try to recreate the pattern picture.  After some trial and error and a couple of hours….I figured it out….miracle of miracles!

I was then exhausted and had to take a nap!

Miscalculation

McCall 8086 is cut out and read to be sewn.  I thought there was plenty of fabric.  It looked that way when I eye-balled it.  However, I have a bad habit which gets you into trouble: I don’t trace the waistband or lay out a pattern piece.  Really, all you are talking about is a 4 inch wide rectangle….why use a pattern piece?

How do I get a waistband out of this mess?

Up until now, this has not been a problem, there was always sufficient left over fabric for the waistband. I prefer not to have a lot of fabric left over from a project because I tend to hold on to the fabric thinking it may come in handy for something….so I like it when I estimate just right.  Not so this time….take a look at what is left.  Bits and bobs really.

It looks like a lot of fabric but it isn’t.  I am going to have to piece together a waistband.  I am not sure how.   On the positive side, there certainly will not be left over fabric from this project!!

2011 – My Year of the Skirt

I have decided that I want to make one skirt for every month this year.  As I am currently unemployed, I can get a jump start on this skirt making.  I am enjoying how quickly skirts come together, even if you line them.  I have added a little counter to keep track of the number of skirts completed.

Without further ado……drumroll……the next skirt for 2011 is: McCall 8086 copyrighted in 1950.  I had traced this pattern in December so it is ready to roll.

This is going to be a first for me: a skirt with pleats.  I have made knife pleat trim for a Victorian ball gown but never a pleated skirt.

Material will be a heavy chocolate brown cotton blend.  It has a little stretch to it.  I hope it is not too heavy for the pleats!