Apple Skirt! A Different One!

The last large area of the apple print was just long enough to let me cut an only slightly-shortened view E of New Look 6843.

 

 (It's 17½" instead of the 18" the envelope says.)

Is it more doll clothes? No! It's more patchwork!

I had more fabric picked out for more patchwork, and I decided to finally get back to that.  It was over a week ago, though!  I had to drag myself through this project--not because it was any harder (or more tedious) than the previous patchwork projects, but because I had picked these fabrics out first, after I finished several projects last year and thought their scraps coordinated nicely.

Purple flannel herringbone set

Green plaid A-line skirt

Floral motorcycle jacket

Cotton flannel plaid skirt

Corduroy zipper skirt

Wool snap skirt

 

but the problem is that the more time it takes me to get to a project, the more mental weight the project gathers, and it gets harder to approach it in a light, carefree manner like I do with the more spontaneous stuff I make.  The recent "just make something from these fabric scraps that are taking up too much room" projects were a breeze, because they happened almost as fast as the ideas for them formed.  The idea for this, however, had been around since November, giving my brain time to form expectations for it.  Progress gets held back by thoughts of "What if this doesn't end up as nice/fun/cool as I thought it would?"

Still, I kept at it and slowly--eight days!--got it finished

 

 

This is when I hear people say "Eight days? It would have  taken me a month to sew all those patches together!" and I respond that, yes, I understand that this kind of thing can take a while, and I really should be comfortable taking all the time I need for it.  But.  I got the longer, but more spontaneous, patchwork skirt done in five days, so my brain is back there saying I should have been able to finish this one faster.  Brains can be unreasonable.

Random Patchwork Skirt. A Different One.

A bit over a year ago, I picked up a bit of printed velveteen from the craft thrift store free table.  I rolled it up and tucked it into the side of the fancy small yardage drawer, so it was in view when I started pulling fabric from that drawer to make room so the sides of the drawer would stop creaking whenever I put anything away.  I figured I would never make doll clothes, or the hypothetical upper collar, from it like I'd thought, so into the potential patchwork pile it went.  It was quickly joined by a blue soft brocade remnant, which I'd gotten in a destash from a local doll person, that had a tag declaring it to be Pendleton Wool, and on steep reduction in price.  Pieces of the blue left over from the bed cover I made at the end of 2019 matched well, too.  Some olive green fine wale corduroy also came out of the small yardage drawer, although I hadn't initially thought of using any of the "doll pants" fabric.  I don't think I had ever used it for doll pants, either, so, might as well use it in this.

That still didn't seem like quite enough fabric, so I got into the larger yardage, and came out with the rest of the black brocade of unknown fiber content used for a bustier and waist cincher a few years ago.  I had a vague idea this would all go into a shorter A-line skirt, and adding the brocade made it all seem like an appropriate quantity of fabric.

I folded one corner of the velveteen remnant to determine the patch size (measure? me?), getting two full squares plus a bit extra from it.  I ended up with about 36 full size squares, plus all the odd pieces left over, and it was plenty to make view A from New Look 6843 (with the waistband borrowed from Simplicity 9851, like the previous patchwork A-line skirt.)

(I did omit belt loops, because this skirt wasn't going to be anywhere near as heavy as the last one.)

Gray A-Line Fix Fix

About two years ago, I sewed a gray wool blend A-line skirt.  It's a good basic piece that was too small at the waist.

I decided at some point to 'fix' that...and managed to make it too large.  Things weren't helped by my brilliant idea to make the newer, larger waistband from a nice soft knit.

Now, I lived through the late 90s, so a skirt that sits below my natural waistline is not out of the question, but the effect of this one doing that was that the hem landed at a rather dowdy length.

Plus, I had applied that soft comfortable new knit waistband in my usual "sew to the back and flip around to the front, where the edge is stitched down" way, and that does not work as well on a soft floppy knit as it does on a crisp, interfaced woven.

I finally sat down and really fixed it.

A Revisited Skirt Revisited

Nearly two years ago, I took an old idea I'd used on a much earlier thrifted skirt and applied it to a freshly-made skirt.  It turned out well, but...the waistband was, even then, too small to be comfortable.

Since that skirt was made from the sheath version of New Look 6843, it would have been cut in size 16.  So my brain, after making the size 16 New Look 6843 sheath skirt in the previous post work, wondered if I could do something similar with this one.

The first thing I did was remove the waistband.  I let out the back darts by stitching from the point to the edge, tapering to a presser-foot-width from the upper edges, on both the shell and lining darts.  Then I picked out the original stitches.  I couldn't let out the front darts, because one had been decoratively stitched over so it would have been some trouble to change, and I wanted to keep the front symmetrical so I didn't touch the other dart.  Instead, I let out the upper side seams by sewing from the original stitching a few inches above the hem, tapering quickly to a presser-foot-width inside the edge of the serged seam finishing.  Then I removed the original stitching in those areas and pressed everything.

I barely had enough of the wool blend fabric to make the original waist band (I had forgotten that it was pieced) so it was no problem deciding to use a different fabric for the replacement, larger waistband.  I used the same black twill as another (A-line) 6843, but made it as wide as the waistband from Simplicity 9815.  The shades of black of the twill and the wool blend aren't the same, but I don't generally dress in a way that exposes waistbands, so it gets a pass.

(If I ever get a proper belt, I might add belt loops.)

Purple Flannel Herringbone Skirt

After I finished the blazer in the previous post, I looked at the remaining fabric and wondered if I could eke out a matching skirt.

And I could! Barely! And only on a technicality!

Green Plaid A-line Skirt

As I was sorting the fabrics I got from the craft thrift store last Thursday, I realized that the "plaid medallions on dark blue" jacquard coordinated nicely with the "dark green with blue, yellow, and red accents" brushed twill plaid I had also picked up that day, so I decided I would make a skirt to go with the vest.

Ideally, the skirt would have been pleated, but one yard of 58" is not enough to get pleats around my body. The second most stereotypical idea would be cut on the bias, but, even if there had been enough fabric to eke that out, it turned out the plaid was very subtly uneven, so wouldn't have worked well on the bias. So!  Good ol' New Look 6843 it is, view E.

The Black Twill A-Line Skirt I've Meant to Make for Years

 When the quick'n'easy skirt in my previous post did not live up to my expectations for coordination, I decided to finally make the basic black skirt I've wanted in my wardrobe for years.

Of course, an all-black twill skirt doesn't photograph nearly as well as all the cat hair and lint stuck to it do.

Eking out another skirt

 There was enough fabric left from making the cat patch jacket to make a matching miniskirt, using good ol' New Look 6843.

The process of making this was as straightforward as always, even though I once again added lining--in fact, that worked out better than usual.

Day of Quick Projects

 So, for reasons unknown, yesterday the small pile of odds'n'ends sewing projects and random fabrics flipped over from being an ignored part of the background clutter to being something I needed to deal with as fast as possible.

Gray A-Line

 Today is the first day of May, a lovely warm early summer day, and I have made a fully-lined wool skirt.

Dark gray, too--so summery!

Whole Kettle of Skirt

 My last post was a pair of pants I made with fabric left from making a blanket.

And then I looked at the fabric left from the pants and thought...hmm...is there enough to make a skirt?

The answer is yes (provisionally)

Aubergine Skirt Revisited

So, last year, I made a skirt using a free Lekala 3 Seam Skirt pattern that I'd gotten when my measurements were larger. I really like the color and fabric, so I decided to partially disassemble it and use New Look 6843 to re-sew it in my current size.

I didn't touch the back darts, center back seam, zipper, and where I sewed the lining to the zipper.  Everything else got picked apart, including the vent below the center back seam, and I did leave a few inches of waistband attached at one end.

 I know it looks pretty much the same, but I think I took out about 4" at the waist, going by the bit of excess waistband I ended up cutting off.

Cheater Skirt

 Have I ruminated on the blog about how the sewing of simple garments from random (or, at least, somewhat random) fabrics is acting as a replacement for finding randomly appealing garments at the thrift store?

Granted, it's a significantly higher-effort replacement for finding random clothes at thrift stores, but it's still serving to provide the randomness that I genuinely enjoy adding to my clothing options. (And the higher effort is a willing trade off for not only less spending--or, often, the using of things long since paid for--but also less interactions with people who don't, shall we say, share my opinions on mask wearing and social distancing.)

To that end, here's the latest float in the parade of homemade randomness

Quick Plaid Print Skirt

 When I was considering my options for that printed glen plaid, my first thought had been a bias-cut A-line skirt, but the test fit shorts won.

However!

There was enough left for a bias-cut A-line skirt, as long as I didn't worry about pattern matching.

Blue Plaid Mini

 After finishing the blue plaid moto jacket, I had a sizable chunk of fabric left.  And since I had managed to squeeze a skirt out of the fabric left over from the previous wool jacket, I thought I'd try it again.

I wasn't optimistic, since it would not only be attempting to get maximum length out of minimum yardage, but it would also need pattern matching at the side seams.  I procrastinated a few days before laying things out to check, whereupon I was nicely surprised, and now I have a skirt.

And a Skirt Revisited

 Years ago, I thrifted a super cheap wool skirt only to later realize that it had many moth holes.

My remedy was to connect the holes--and many more points--with satin stitches and make a spiderweb skirt

I liked the skirt a lot!  And it's one of the things I reluctantly let go when I gained weight.

Well.

After I finished the last project, I had enough of that boiled wool blend left to just barely eke out a miniskirt.

And I knew a black miniskirt was something I had actually wanted for my wardrobe.

And I knew it would be easy to make.

But I didn't wanna.

However, dawdling so long gave me enough time to realize: oh!  I can sew a satin stitch spiderweb on this skirt!  And before sewing it together, so it'll be easier!

 

 And it was! (as far as I can remember)