The "Stealth Pyjamas" Knit Skirt

A few weeks ago, just when we were starting to get a taste of what winter in Canberra was likely to be this year (answer: freaking cold and windy and OMG get me a hot toddy STAT) I rocked up to my local fabric store and spotted some gorgeous red faux quilted ponte stuff. Except it was snuggly in ways that ponte could never be. I resisted that day because all I could think to make was a self-drafted elastic-waisted straight skirt and that's just boring. So I bought some other fabric for other projects, and put the thought of the red quilted snuggly knit out of my mind.

Until a week later when I went back and bought half a metre of it because I couldn't get it out of my mind, like the insane woman I am.



I sat on the fabric for a couple of weeks while I quilted quilts, until my friend Amanda made and blogged her Moneta/Violet Frankenfrock from the same fabric (but in black) which she described as "stealth pyjamas". Are you kidding me? Get me on the PJ train!

The first day I had free from quilts (oh blessed day that was) I made this skirt. To be honest, it would have taken me less time to buy the Colette Mabel pattern, print it out, stick it together, cut out the fabric and sew it. Except I don't really like the Mabel pattern, and I'm a bit stubborn.

First I measured my hips, and sewed up a back seam using those measurements for a snug fit. I realised then that the bulk of the skirt with an elasticated waist would end up being mega bulky, so I created some side seams and shaped them to be less bulky at the waist.



My only problem with this method is that I should have switched the single back seam to a side seam and created another side seam on the other side. That would have done away with a back seam altogether instead of having a knit skirt with three seams. I can be such a sewing noob at times...



I constructed all the seams with my overlocker, and they bubbled like crazy to the point I couldn't even steam out the wonk. That's when I realised my new overlocker had a very close stitch. I lengthened the stitche length to 4, and redid the seams (no I didn't unpick them - I just took another run and made the skirt a little, ahem, slimmer.



I absolutely adore this skirt. It's comfortable, and it really does feel like I'm wearing stealth pyjamas. I can see me wearing this every single day through winter - it's warm and cosy and I'm not forever pulling my skirt up like I do with non-elasticated ones.



The fabric gets a lot of comments because it is quite unusual and begs touching. And did I mention comfortable? I can see me getting another half metre in the black and pulling another skirt out of the hat, except without a back seam next time, and maybe less waist again.



Because a girl can never be too comfortable when it's freezing cold outside.

Finishing

I finished my red and white quilt with just enough thread - there must be a Tardis of threads out there, because I can't work out how a 60 inch quilt quilted half an inch apart used less than 750 m of thick thread.

So for the last few days I've been doing the finishing - the binding, labels and sleeve, and of course burying the threads.

There is something quite exquisite about being so close to the end, but yet so far (hand sewing over 11 metres of binding will make you feel like that). But the slowness of binding, of threading 5 needles at once, of the rhythm of the stitching less than a centimetre apart lends itself to a calmness not usually seen in the way I sew quilts (usually fast, frenetically and a little bit maniacal, but always with a great deal of joy).

For the first time in my quilting life (almost 20 years) I followed the instructions on the exhibition pack and made a sleeve to specification. It didn't make an ounce of sense at first, but then that "a ha" moment happened and I'm wondering why I hadn't done it this way before.



And this year the Guild has provided labels for their special Red and White category. They are quite lovely.



Ever since they announced the special category for 2015 at the 2013 presentation ceremony, I've been looking forward to entering and seeing the display. Apparently 110 red and white quilts have been entered in the exhibition and I suspect it might be spectacular. I haven't entered the quilt I thought I would, but I've entered something I'm pretty proud of, and stepped outside my comfort zone a little bit (but not too much, because that would be, well, weird.)

Red and White

I showed a photo of my red and white quilt in progress over on the Book of Faces the other day and someone commented "cheer cheer the Red and the White" and I'm all "NO WAY José" (oh when the Saints go marching in...)

Anyway, this quilt.



This quilt was one. Big.  Mistake.

I meant to quilt straight lines one inch apart. Except the metal gauge on my walking foot is too long, sticks out into the throat space and just gets in the way so I decided to gauge it by the foot only and my foot only goes to half an inch. So I have stitch lines going this way and that. HALF AN INCH APART oh dear baby Jesus save me now.



Last night in a fit of shoulder pain, I switched it up a little and did something one inch apart and sod that bloody walking foot gauge. It looks good. Sloppy, but good.

In the meantime, the other 4/5 of the quilt is half an inch apart, and it's a 60 inch quilt.



Oh, and I should tell you that I went to the quilt shop yesterday to buy more thread because 750 metres of Aurifil 28 weight is never going to go very far. The quilt shop that is only open Tuesday to Saturday and I can only go on Saturdays because I don't have a car during the week. And I bought a shedload of fabric for a group quilt I am organising, and not one spool of thread. NOT ONE. By the time I realised it was 3.57 pm and I was 20 minutes away.

Yeah, so the quilting of this quilt is going really well.

On the other hand, the orange peels are looking fabulous.



Five days to finished quilting a 3/4 finished quilt; and trim, sleeve, bind and label both of them. Sir, can I get an extension please?*

* I know I should be quilting and not blogging, but I'm on a break, ok?

Orange Peel Special

My days are filled with cycling to work, work, cycling home, cooking dinner, gardening, household chores. My nights are filled with this:

Endless rows of this:

Backwards and forwards, trying to relax my shoulders, remember to use the knee lift, needle down, turn, one two three stitches, turn.  And do it all over again.

It took me ages to settle on a quilting design. The modern quilt group I go to asked me how I was going to quilt it, and I said "well, on the exhibition entry form, I used the words '... and the quilt is then heavily machine quilted'". I'd built a rod for my own back. But I like how it's turning out.

Of course, once this quilt is finished, I have another quilt to baste and quilt as well. For that one I've said 'The quilting design swirls through the leaves.' Shit. All in three weeks. No pressure or anything.

Michelle vs the StyleArc Brooke Skirt

I made the StyleArc Brooke Skirt because I wanted to make a skirt that wasn't my usual a-line skirt pattern.



I was so proud of myself. After adding a second dart to the back for the swayback issue, and taking in the sides a little at the waist, I had myself a really lovely skirt. And it was a bit different!

And then I wore it to the inaugural CBR Sewing Crew session back in February, and while sitting on my arse for 4 hours (with breaks to use the iron and raid the cheese platter), it stretched about 4 inches in the waist. It was embarrassing to say the least, especially when I had to hold my skirt up with both hands on the way to the car to stop it falling down. I blame both the fabric and the construction method equally.

The fabric is a linen print from Spotlight purchased about 5 years ago I think. It is heavier than a handkerchief linen, but lighter than the usual cotton-linen blends I use, The weave is not that big, so I was surprised it stretched so much. But the construction method used is different for the back and the front. For the front, you sew the two panels together along with twill tape, and turn them the right way round so the seam is completely hidden. I even added edge stitching on the inside for extra strength. The back section involves a fold-down facing complete with iron on interfacing.  Neither construction method was enough to temper the stretching possibilities of me sitting down in it for 4 hours.

Line drawing from the StyleArc website

I ended up washing the skirt, then taking the skirt apart from the hip up. I unpicked the waist stitching at the front, and basted the skirts together with a raw edge. I cut off the back facing completely (and the interfacing had fallen off in the wash anyway). Then I joined up the side seams, and added my usual petersham ribbon facing. So much better - and while it still stretches a little bit, it's not enough to affect the daily wear of this skirt. I love it!



This skirt is the classic a-line I love, but with an overlapping front panel. I made the long version of the pattern, but it is still far too short for me. I am making this again in a blue tencel for work, and to make it a little more modest I've added 2 inches to the pattern.

The hem on the front panel is constructed first and it involves a mitred hem at those pointy bits. Yes, I felt very clever when I worked it out and it looked so neat! I struggle with the StyleArc instructions a little bit (well, a lot) as they are so different to the way the Big 4 set out their pattern instructions. But I actually got this one.



I didn't use an invisible zip, as per instructions, because this skirt was meant to be a wearable muslin, and I couldn't find the stash of invisible zips I bought at ClearIt last year. (Probably my sewing room needs a bit of a tidy up). I also apologise for the creasing and the wonky edge to the upper zip - I took these photos after sitting at a Berry cafe for breakfast for a couple of hours

StyleArc rated this pattern as "challenging" but I would add that the construction came together quite quickly once I'd worked out the instructions. If you are going to make it and you don't have a curvy shape that stretches waists when sitting, I'd recommend using a thicker interfacing on the back section. Or do what I did and add a different waist finishing altogether.

I'm looking forward to finishing off the blue tencel version this weekend, and then I will blog it with a top, made a couple of months ago, but never worn because I had nothing to wear it with. And then, I promise, I will stop being in denial over summer being over (sob) and start sewing more seasonally appropriate clothes. As I write this, it is 10 degrees and I'm wearing flannel PJs and knitted socks ... with Birkenstock sandals because I just can't let summer go.

The Last Days of Summer - A Tale of Two Skirts

Summer is winding down here in the Nation's Capital, and I have much sadness.  My local outdoor pool has closed for the season, the morning bike rides into work are getting decidedly nippy (and dark), and my sandals tan is fading.

But the good news is that while I haven't been blogging (four posts this year - what the heck?) and doing all the householdy things that become essential when your partner busts his hip (later this afternoon I am apparently getting up on a tall ladder to check the gutters. Yeah.), I have managed to make a little time for clothes sewing.

I'm sorry to disappoint, but I've made a couple of skirts from a TNT (tried and true) pattern. How boring, right? I had a think about this while we were taking blog photos this afternoon - why is it that I keep returning time and time again to the same patterns, the same shapes, the same wardrobe staples? It's not as if I don't have the skills to make something different, but I suppose when your figure has the foibles mine does, you tend to stick with what you have worked hard to adjust, and know works. And when you are in desperate need of a couple of skirts because you've thrown out all your old ones, you kind of get lazy (well, I do).



Oh McCalls 2873. I'm so glad I met you.



I actually cut both of these skirts out together - one piece of fabric on top of the other, both on the fold. It's easy enough to mark out the darts this way - just insert a pin in each marking point, and peel the layers apart as you mark where the pin is.



The gingko skirt was very straightforward to make. I do love the 2 1/2 inch hem the pattern gives me. And I've worn this skirt all day - at the movies, and at drinks after, and it hasn't crushed too badly at all. The fabric is a linen/cotton blend by Kokka that I picked up at Addicted to Fabric a couple of years ago. I also bought a citrus handkerchief linen to make a shirt to go with it, but I still haven't made that, and it's getting a little late in the season for a sleeveless linen shirt anyway. Next summer.



I'm not one for pattern placement at the best of times, but this one I took a little care with, and while it's not perfect I do love the results. And referring to the back view, I once again did my "third dart" adjustment on each side of the back - adding an extra dart to counteract swayback and sharp hip-to-waist incline.



The red and cream fabric in this skirt in another Japanese linen/cotton that I bought at Addicted to Fabric. I can't remember the designer (and I think the selvage was in Japanese anyway) but it's quite soft for linen cotton and wears really well. The shirt is a Simplicity 2938 in white linen that I made quite a few years ago. I don't wear white often, but it's handy to have in the wardobe when nothing else goes with your skirt.



For the first time in my life I put a zipper on the outside. I like it, although this zipper, bought at Studio Mio at the last Canberra Quilt Show, hasn't worn well at the sides. I suspect it is supposed to be washed by hand, but in this house that kind of behaviour is verboten! So a shabby exposed zipper it is.



I've since made a couple of more McCalls 2873s for work, and there will be more again before autumn is done. Next post I might blog about how I am questioning my style at the moment. It always happens when the season changes.

Or perhaps I'll post something new that I made. Not a TNT pattern at all.

Not a finisher

This is my design wall at the moment.

There is really no plan here - just the start of six quilts I'll probably never finish.

Oh dear - that sounded a bit negative didn't it?! But in reality I did a bit of a mental stocktake the other day of all the quilts I have started, half finished, almost finished and just-need-to-quilt-it and just-need-to-bind-it.  And there are a lot.

The reason I did a mental stocktake was because just before I fell asleep the other night, I had decided  I wanted to make a really epic quilt.  Super epic. Preferably by hand. I didn't have a quilt in mind - although La Passacaglia papers have been patiently waiting for me since July last year.

And then it struck me.



I'm already making epic quilts.  I just have to bloody well finish them.

I'm making the Chester Criswell Quilt. Hexy MF. Anna Brereton. The Lotta Jansdotter Hexies.



And Lucy Boston.



And I've got some crazy plans for some needleturned orange peels (I'm just not entirely sure what sort of crazy, and how crazy it will get).

And then there is the Red Maple Leaf Quilt which is getting so close.

The funny thing is, I've always been more of a starter than a finisher, and in the last year I've worked at being at peace with that. But you know, it might be nice to finish something.  Anything, really.

*************************************
Last year, after the Sydney exhibition, Australian Patchwork and Quilting got in touch with me about doing a showcase on my Across the Universe quilt. So that's how my story of my quilting life and two of my quilts got to appear across three pages in the latest edition. (Vol 24 No 8 in case you wondering, Mum. I talk about you a lot.) It feels a little weird being in a major quilting publication, but I'll be back to being anonymous again next month which will make me So. Much. Happier.

How Michelle got her quiltjo back

I haven't quilted anything for about 4 or 5 months now. Though now I think of it, there was a little foray back into Chester Criswell when I returned from Japan, and also a little 1/2 inch hexagoning while travelling, but other than that, nothing.

I didn't want to quilt. I didn't like quilting. I thought the quilting community was getting ridiculous (which is actually a ridiculous thought). I liked my sewing bubble, and my little sewing community, and I am really enjoying making my own clothes. Between gardening, sewing, cooking, working and swimming, I don't have time to make quilts.

I knew my quiltjo would return one day, but I wasn't expecting it to return while sitting in the dentist's chair earlier this week. I hate going to the dentist - far too much tooth action going on when I was a kid, I think. So I try to not clench my hands too much, and think nice thoughts. For some reason, my mind turned to making a red maple leaf quilt.



I got to work with no plan on paper, but it all in my head. Isn't that the best way to start quilting? I roughly worked out the maths for making a 9 patch maple leaf with a scrappy background, and got cutting.



I made two on Monday night, and most of another five on Wednesday night.



Just eighteen more to go.



Yes, I'm hooked. And I'm back.

The Simplicity 2247 "It'll Do" Muslin

If you were reading back in March and April 2012, you might remember I had to make a formal frock for my niece's wedding, and while the dress itself turned out ok after numerous fitting disasters, I had also made a muslin, which I eventually abandoned as I just ran out of time and patience.

When I was cleaning up my stash cupboard before we left for Japan, I noticed the dress there, lonely, and unfinished except for the hem and facings.  Should be a doddle to finish this off, I thought. I'll get right onto it when I get home, and then I'll have a nice new summer frock for work.



This is the photo where I look really, really pleased with what a splendid example of home sewing I have made.




This photo is how I really feel about it.

So yeah, it wasn't really a doddle. Thanks to the blog post mentioned above, I finally remembered what state I'd left it in. I recut a whole new bodice with a C cup (I don't think I've been a C cup since I was 13). And I still had side boob issues. And it kept getting worse from there every time I tried to fix something.

• I took in the princess seam at the upper bust by 2 inches (that's a 2 inch total on each seam, people!) which left me with a little bit less side boob, but a lot more gape. 
• I added a freaking side boob dart to take out some of the excess. Tacky. And more gape
• I wanted to throw it in the bin, but you know. Stubborn.
• So I took the shoulder seams up 
• I then recut the armholes freehand.
• I still wanted to throw it in the bin.
• I bound the armholes rather than redrafting the facing
• I sewed up the back rather than insert a zip (it's stretch sateen. As long as I don't have a stiff back or neck that day, it's totally doable in getting on and off)
• I bound the hem as well and holy crap I have a frock.  

A really badly fitted frock, but a frock that I can wear to work and pretend that that side boob gape thing isn't really happening. Frustratingly, this is the only home sewn item that my workmates have admired.



The good news is I have somewhere to stow my lunch when I catch the bus to work.



Ooh hellloooooooo scoliosis! That's what my physio has been banging on about! And I probably should have recut that back armhole a lot more, but eh.



A note on the bound hem. As this dress was already far too short for work I decided a normal 1 inch hem would be horrible, so I bound with store bought binding. I actually quite like the effect on the gored skirt - I get a bit of a twirly skirt as a result.

(You would have had photographic evidence of the twirling except I'm pretty sure the lifting nails on our old deck would have tripped me up...)



If I stand like this all the time no one will notice the fit issues! And I look like a superhero...

Pattern: Simplicity 2247 Amazing Shit Fit
Fabric: Stretch Sateen from Spotlight. It's rubbish, and the black runs into the white everytime I wash it and dare to let it sit in the washing machine for more than 5 minutes.
Notions: binding tape, thread, and a lot of swear words.
Adjustments: too many to mention
Started: March 2012
Finished: December 2014
Make again?: Absolutely bloody not

The Pineapple Linen Skirt and The Black Embroidered Cotton Top

I have been mad for pineapples for quite some time, and it started long before the sewing blogosphere went all cray cray for the spiky tropical fruit of my homeland. I bought some gorgeous pineapple voile in Kyoto, but when I came home I couldn't resist the pineapple linen from Darn Cheap Fabrics that had every sewist's heart.

So I bought myself 2 metres for a Christmas present to myself. And maybe also some pineapple cotton jersey.  Shhhh. No I don't have a problem.

But what to make with 2 metres of pineapple fabric? The pressure was certainly on to make something magnificent. Emma had made a midi skirt which looked fantastic.  Kirsty had made culottes.  Amanda had made shorts.  I briefly entertained the idea of making Prefontaine Shorts, or grading up the Kelly Skirt. However the day that I threw out three skirts from my wardrobe because they were badly worn I realised I was seriously short in the casual skirt department. I plucked out the first skirt pattern I could find in the pattern stash pile on the spare bed and made up the a-line skirt from McCalls 2873.



This was quite honestly the best photo taken this morning. I probably should switch up my coffee to caffeinated on blog-photo-taking days.



Anyway, the skirt fitting was a total PITA. I'd forgotten how much of a PITA it was. Granted, the shape is the best a-line shape of any of my skirt patterns, but the old swayback and waist-hip ratio issues raised their ugly heads and I ended up in a sad place that involved an unpicker, a third dart in the back, and a really ugly side seam.



("Take a picture of all 6 darts!" I said. "Nope, can't see them," he said. "I shall just take a photo of your bum instead.")

In the end though I ended up with a very serviceable skirt with pineapples on it, and a sudden desire to make a summery black blouse to wear with it.



Hellooooooo Simplicity 2929, my old friend!  (I just couldn't help myself.)



This is the bodice of the dress lengthened by 4 inches into an a-line shape. I also pleated the neckline instead of gathering it, solely for the reason that I was using a thicker embroidered cotton than the voiles I usually use, and gathering would have been too much bulk at the neck. The fabric is a black embroidered cotton I purchased from Spotlight over three years ago.



I can't believe I wore this to work today and never noticed that stray thread.



The hem is very wonky, but that's my fault for daring to vary a dress bodice pattern into a blouse by just using a tape measure and a french curve ruler. And yeah, it does look tight across the bust, but it's not. If I was going to make this in a thicker cotton again, I'd probably think about a FBA to avoid that line ... and then probably use a different pattern because I really couldn't be arsed doing a FBA.

I love this blouse. I love that I got to use another button from my vintage button collection.



All up, I think I got a great outfit. I am known for loving a big colourful print a little bit too much, but I totally love the pineapples. I might love it the best of all my skirts. I also love that I have enough fabric left over to do pockets for the Prefontaine Shorts should I ever make them.

Coming soon: More Pineapples.  Many many more.