Pink Skirt
Introduction
Todays entry is an article of clothing I made a wee while ago. This is my pink skirt with fairies and butterflies on it. It is very simple, and not a masterful feat of engineering or anything.
When I made this skirt, everyone was confused. It seems they could not understand the skirt, because it was pink with fairies and butterflies on it. Probably because I hate pink, and also girly things. Onto the explanation then in the "Inspiration" section.
Inspiration and Idea
When shopping for other material in Spotlight, I accidentally noticed this material. I thought it was funny, because I hate pink and girly things. To me that makes perfect sense and it would be clearly highly amusing to wear a skirt made of this material, especially since it was probably designed for 6 year old girls. The intended age limit for the material was further evidenced by the fact that it was only 112cm wide, and material designed to be used exclusively for items for small children are never wider than that, which is a pain and makes it markedly more expensive per metre. The item would have to be a skirt because pink looks bad on me and so I would need the colour away from my face.
Design
The design of this skirt was mainly constrained by the fact that the material was only 112cm wide. When I bought it I didn't really know what I wanted to make, I suspected a skirt, so I bought a skirt-ish amount of material. I then developed an obsession with pleated skirts, and thought a pleated skirt of this material would be absolutely perfect, maybe with the pleats attaching to a yoke, ie. not pleats all the way from the waist but from the hips. However, there wasn't enough material because for pleats you pretty much need 3-times worth of material. I started thinking of the fact that the front of the skirt would be flat which reduced the material needed, but still not enough. So... I went with the idea of the yoke, and the flat front, and the wrap-around-ness and ended up with what we have above.
Pattern
I used my pattern making book that I have mentioned in previous posts with respect to skirt-making. I can't be bothered remembering the name again. Something to do with pattern making. It was easy-peasy to draft the top of the skirt. I left the 4 darts in the back, because although I hate sewing darts, I couldn't be bothered drafting them two-in-one when I had already done them by the book (literally, hee hee). I compensated for this frankly huge number of darts in the back (4 remember, normally I consider 2 to be more trouble then they should be) by not putting any in the front. I didn't think front darts really made sense in a wrap skirt anyway. There is one layer at the back but two at the front you see, so the back can be fitted, but that seems silly at the front. The actual skirt bit below the yoke is just a slight trapezium - initially a rectangle, the sides slant out slightly. It fit pretty much perfectly, at the time. See comments on weight fluctuation in the last section.
Oh yes, without darts at the front, it fits the dress-dummy very badly as there is too much extra material. However, on me it fit well, presumably becuase I have a tummy whereas it does not.
Sewing
Sewing was easy - darts, bottom section sewn onto top section, side seams, hems. I cleverly used the selvedge for the lower edge so I didn't need to finish the edge or double-fold the hem to stop fraying. I think I was going to make the top yoke section or something from poplin I bought to match the pink. But it looked ugly, so instead I used it as a lining. Which was a good idea, because the lined section hardly creases at all, whereas the unlined section does, so at least some of it always looks nice while the rest looks ugly after a short period of sitting. I think this is a useful sewing lesson to remember.
Finishing
Buttons - nice colour. Two on each side of front to hold it closed, buttons sewn to the underneath layer of course, skirt wraps round, top layer has the button holes and fastens over. I say this because for ages, while imagining it, I ws convinced the needed to be buttons on both layers and they would each button onto each other. But that didn't make sense.
It sort of needs somthing a bit lower down, around the horizontal seam, on the open side to help keep it decent in the wind.
Speaking of the skirt and the horizontal seam, it looked kind of ugly and wrong somehow, so I decided it needed something around the seam between skirt and yoke to make it more interesting. I got this pretty cool ribbon and it wasn't even expensive and it worked well and somehow it looked a LOT better with it. Another important sewing lesson, this time with regards to quite unsatisfying looking clothing.
Conclusion
I actually like this skirt now as an article of clothing as well as as an obscure joke. Unfortunately, I seem to have lost a bit of weight recently. I am not sure how, but it is the most inconvenient amount. None of my old clothes from my most thin days fit at all yet. However, all my newly made and bought clothes, which did fit fantastically a few months ago, are now slightly too big and aren't so good anymore. I mean, some of them fit PERFECTLY before. And perfectly fitting clothes on someone who weighs xx kilograms look far better than not-so-great fitting clothes on someone who weighs a few kilograms less than xx. Which is a lesson for those unhappy with their body weight with respects to how they look - get well-fitting clothes (this probably will not solve the problem in extreme cases but may still help).
Very useful online conversion tools
Today I couldn't be bothered converting anything into obscure measurements for those who don't know what metres or kilograms are. Sorry. I don't understand other types of weight measurements at any rate.
If you ever want to convert anything, this is a good site:
OnlineConversion.com
You should bookmark it.
Todays entry is an article of clothing I made a wee while ago. This is my pink skirt with fairies and butterflies on it. It is very simple, and not a masterful feat of engineering or anything.
When I made this skirt, everyone was confused. It seems they could not understand the skirt, because it was pink with fairies and butterflies on it. Probably because I hate pink, and also girly things. Onto the explanation then in the "Inspiration" section.Inspiration and Idea
When shopping for other material in Spotlight, I accidentally noticed this material. I thought it was funny, because I hate pink and girly things. To me that makes perfect sense and it would be clearly highly amusing to wear a skirt made of this material, especially since it was probably designed for 6 year old girls. The intended age limit for the material was further evidenced by the fact that it was only 112cm wide, and material designed to be used exclusively for items for small children are never wider than that, which is a pain and makes it markedly more expensive per metre. The item would have to be a skirt because pink looks bad on me and so I would need the colour away from my face.
Design
The design of this skirt was mainly constrained by the fact that the material was only 112cm wide. When I bought it I didn't really know what I wanted to make, I suspected a skirt, so I bought a skirt-ish amount of material. I then developed an obsession with pleated skirts, and thought a pleated skirt of this material would be absolutely perfect, maybe with the pleats attaching to a yoke, ie. not pleats all the way from the waist but from the hips. However, there wasn't enough material because for pleats you pretty much need 3-times worth of material. I started thinking of the fact that the front of the skirt would be flat which reduced the material needed, but still not enough. So... I went with the idea of the yoke, and the flat front, and the wrap-around-ness and ended up with what we have above.
Pattern
I used my pattern making book that I have mentioned in previous posts with respect to skirt-making. I can't be bothered remembering the name again. Something to do with pattern making. It was easy-peasy to draft the top of the skirt. I left the 4 darts in the back, because although I hate sewing darts, I couldn't be bothered drafting them two-in-one when I had already done them by the book (literally, hee hee). I compensated for this frankly huge number of darts in the back (4 remember, normally I consider 2 to be more trouble then they should be) by not putting any in the front. I didn't think front darts really made sense in a wrap skirt anyway. There is one layer at the back but two at the front you see, so the back can be fitted, but that seems silly at the front. The actual skirt bit below the yoke is just a slight trapezium - initially a rectangle, the sides slant out slightly. It fit pretty much perfectly, at the time. See comments on weight fluctuation in the last section.
Oh yes, without darts at the front, it fits the dress-dummy very badly as there is too much extra material. However, on me it fit well, presumably becuase I have a tummy whereas it does not.
Sewing
Sewing was easy - darts, bottom section sewn onto top section, side seams, hems. I cleverly used the selvedge for the lower edge so I didn't need to finish the edge or double-fold the hem to stop fraying. I think I was going to make the top yoke section or something from poplin I bought to match the pink. But it looked ugly, so instead I used it as a lining. Which was a good idea, because the lined section hardly creases at all, whereas the unlined section does, so at least some of it always looks nice while the rest looks ugly after a short period of sitting. I think this is a useful sewing lesson to remember.
Finishing
Buttons - nice colour. Two on each side of front to hold it closed, buttons sewn to the underneath layer of course, skirt wraps round, top layer has the button holes and fastens over. I say this because for ages, while imagining it, I ws convinced the needed to be buttons on both layers and they would each button onto each other. But that didn't make sense.
It sort of needs somthing a bit lower down, around the horizontal seam, on the open side to help keep it decent in the wind.Speaking of the skirt and the horizontal seam, it looked kind of ugly and wrong somehow, so I decided it needed something around the seam between skirt and yoke to make it more interesting. I got this pretty cool ribbon and it wasn't even expensive and it worked well and somehow it looked a LOT better with it. Another important sewing lesson, this time with regards to quite unsatisfying looking clothing.
ConclusionI actually like this skirt now as an article of clothing as well as as an obscure joke. Unfortunately, I seem to have lost a bit of weight recently. I am not sure how, but it is the most inconvenient amount. None of my old clothes from my most thin days fit at all yet. However, all my newly made and bought clothes, which did fit fantastically a few months ago, are now slightly too big and aren't so good anymore. I mean, some of them fit PERFECTLY before. And perfectly fitting clothes on someone who weighs xx kilograms look far better than not-so-great fitting clothes on someone who weighs a few kilograms less than xx. Which is a lesson for those unhappy with their body weight with respects to how they look - get well-fitting clothes (this probably will not solve the problem in extreme cases but may still help).
Very useful online conversion tools
Today I couldn't be bothered converting anything into obscure measurements for those who don't know what metres or kilograms are. Sorry. I don't understand other types of weight measurements at any rate.
If you ever want to convert anything, this is a good site:
OnlineConversion.com
You should bookmark it.
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