red skirt - made from a swatch, a scrap, and santa trousers

Kathy's swatches are never far from my mind............well they are in plain sight all the time in the workroom, and I wanted to try a skirt with the embroidered linen pieces ( as in February's skort, which did not turn out as well as I had hoped due to the differing fabric weights and is most probably heading to become a cushion if I ever get started on the domestic sewing.) The embroidered swatch has a lot of weight and stiffness in it.  

The polyester crepe trousers are not really santa trousers, but as I got them in the charity shop on a euro rail a week before Christmas, all I could think when I saw them was Santa pants.  The fit of them and cut is lovely, but I think the colour as trousers could be a challenge for some, me included.  The weight of the fabric is good and seems to fall well so I figured it should work with the linen.  The trousers had a strong crease, and I ironed/pressed it flat using a 50:50 vinegar water spitz.

The ever versatile vogue pattern 7776 was brought out again - the back panels were cut from the back of trousers (pattern placed 'up side down' so side flare of skirt was going towards the crotch.  I had to make an educated guess on the grain as the crepe was not going to rip correctly, so I chalked a line and laid the centre back line on this.

I sewed the front panels together before cutting the front as I wanted the front darts to be in the crepe, not the linen piece.  The front darts panel was cut from trouser end piece, and cut on the 'cross grain'. I thought the crepe and linen mix was a bit flat, so I had a scrap of embroidered raw silk I put at the end.  I had toyed with including it on the back skirt but didn't,  I pinned some across, and it seemed to be the same difference whether I did or not, so I used it to face the hem on the back of the skirt instead.  I put the skirt together to make sure it hung correctly, and then I top stitched, added zip, hemmed, and then made the facing and lining attached.    The lining is from another skirt.  Whenever I take pieces apart, the linings are put into a bag and I can take them as I need them, and the left over reds..... they will make a handy addition to the planned patchwork!

Overall, the skirt has turned out perfect, the back hem is basted and I will let it hang for a few days.  The weather here is still very cold so it will not get out for a few weeks yet!

a month of swatches - skirt and skort

So the month has come to an end, and as its march next, so making way for some green makes!

This week I finished a skirt and nearly finished the skort  I had to launder both skirt swatches before I used them and thankfully neither shrank, so it was off to a good start.

The skirt was made using the vogue pattern 7776, and a pair of black trousers, pretty straightforward as this pattern uses petersham instead of a waistband (big plus, easy and comfortable), and I reused the zipper from the trousers.  I joined black fabric to the swatch in straight edge strips and then cut out the skirt front.  Its a nice skirt and worn a bit (constantly) last week!  

The skirt put me in a very optimistic mood and this as well as some fine spring weather, had me making the skort.  I was cycling a few days ago and the weather was so sunny (not warm just sunny) which put me to thinking of making the skort in the same pattern.  I used a linen/viscose skirt for skort back and shorts front, and had to make the short backs from another piece of linen from a pair of trousers (same shade and weight and as they would not be seen I felt 'safe' enough)t , and the swatch made up the front flap.

I am a bit / lot / seriously unsure on the skort.  The heavier weight of the swatch by comparison to the linen may or may not work, I put some interfacing on the pieces around to work better with the panel  The instructions were a bit fiddly and I am unsure if I did the hems the correct way. so I have basted hems for now.  Its not summer for a long time yet so plenty of time to figure final details.  The front of shorts, back of skirt were made from a skirt, and the back of shorts were made from a similar shade and weight of linen (linen trousers).  

The closure will probably be a button at the waistband as I think putting buttons on the lighter fabric could pull on it.  I will wear it about the house when the weather warms up and figure it then.    I am still undecided on the front section, as I don't know if it looks too much like patchwork? However, as its a summer skort and a lot less revealing than my tennis skort - so perhaps a lot more practical. 



I have still plenty of swatch books! and and will probably be dipping in here and there for the next while - the black bag contains potential projects................. which means the mannequin will no longer be covered 24/7 in clothes and swatches trying to get colour matches