Thai Scalloped Pencil Skirt

 

  Well, my computer decided to die, but fortunately Robin knew a guy who was able to fix it – AND save all our photos (THANK GOD!!!!!), so I’m able to post up my last project. This is the Burda 6889 pencil skirt that I have had highlighted at the side of my blog since I updated the look. I had made up a muslin for this ages ago and decided it was pretty much the perfect basic pencil skirt pattern for me – I didn’t even need to do any alterations at all (yeay!). The fabric is a gorgeous bright pink eyelet that I bought on my trip to Thailand last year. I only had a metre to play with so it’s a lot shorter than the pattern suggests for the length, but I think it’s fine (although, perhaps a little short when I sit down!). The skirt is lined with matching pink lining, which I actually treated as underlining as I thought it would be easier. I hemmed each piece of ‘lining’ before basting with it’s matching eyelet piece and then treated as one. It worked out really well, and together with the lovely serged seams, makes the skirt look really neat and rather professional inside! Still loving my overlocker!

In these photos I’ve paired it with my self-drafted purple cowl top, and I think they work really well together – something I wasn’t planning on, but I’m delighted with the result! Hey guys – I’ve made an outfit! Wooo! lol!

 

I spent a lot of time working out the pattern placement and measuring the scallops to ensure that the hem would match up. I am so delighted with the results:

Even the back seam is a perfect match:

Because the skirt is tapered, the rest of the seam doesn’t match up (plus I discovered that the flipping circle pattern didn’t line up with the grain!!!), but I decided it was more important to make sure the scallop of the hem was perfect.

I really love this skirt, and I’m planning on using the same pattern to make a skirt from the turquoise eyelet fabric that I also bought in Thailand. I’m not, however, 100% about the fit. If you look at the image on the front of the pattern, the waistband doesn’t actually sit right on the waist of the model, and the same goes for my skirt. So for all intents and purposes, it’s correct. But I just have the feeling that this skirt would look better on me if it was sitting at my waist. Which is something I’m really surprised I’m saying, because I have, for most of the fashion-conscious part of my life, always avoided wearing waistbands on my true waist. I have always felt that I have quite a short torso, and thus having the waistbands of things (skirts/trousers) lower, makes it look like my body is more in proportion. However, over the last year or so, I have really felt my opinion of this change and I have found myself reaching for waist-cinching belts, and wearing clothes that really accentuate my waist. Is that down to current fashions trends? Learning to sew and appreciating my body shape? Or perhaps loosing some weight and being happier with my proportions? Probably a bit of all of those options!

Whatever the answer, I think I am going to take in this skirt so that it sits at my waist. It will make it an inch or so shorter, but I think that should be OK. I’ll wear it with a killer pair of shoes for nights out!

OWOP–I’m Joining In!

As I’m sure most have you have heard, Tilly, from Tilly and the Buttons, is hosting a really fun ‘mini’ project at the end of this month, called ‘One Week, One Pattern’ or OWOP! It’s a great idea and one that a lot of people are going to be joining in…including me!

I had mentioned before that I would like to share my drafted pattern for my cowl neck top (which I’m calling the Primrose Cowl Top), and therefore I want to sew up a few versions in different fabrics to make sure it’s suitable and make any final tweaks. This means that I’m going to have quite a few versions of this top…which leaves me in the perfect situation for the OWOP challenge!

The other reason I thought I would use the Primrose top for my challenge is that it can be dressed up or down and so should be ideal for the chosen week of 24th – 30th March as I will be chaperoning 15 Kosovan delegates around Northern Ireland (lol, don’t ask…my job is difficult to explain!) and need to look smart. The top should lend itself well to being paired with pencil skirts and suits. It’s also my Fiancé's birthday on the 31st, so I may just be a rebel and extend my challenge by a day and wear one of the tops out for his celebration (which will also be a combined engagement party too!).

At the moment I have the top made up in two fabrics:

 

And I have plans to make it up in these as well:

And I have pale blue and bright red drapey fabrics that I bought in the sale especially for this top (no photos at the moment, sorry). I just have to work up the courage to actually CUT into the Liberty fabrics!

That should keep me going for a week I think!

So, who else is joining in?

Holy Cowl…I got engaged!

So I've been a bit quiet on the blog recently. I missed the last 2 Tuesdays 'Tutorial Treat' and I haven't posted an 'I made it....and I wore it' photo for a couple of weeks (even though I have actually been keeping to the rules and have been wearing handmade at least once a week...just no photographic evidence!). But that may be because I have been slightly distracted...to say the least!!!

Anyway, before I spill the beans (which I think you are all quite aware of due to the title of the post!) I thought I'd share with you my latest make. Another cowl top based on the pattern I drafted. This one is made out of floaty/drapey chiffon. Definitely harder to control, but not quite as difficult as I thought it would be.

Due to the very drapy nature of the chiffon it is really a bit too low in the neck - hence I have a cami underneath. But I did discover that you could tuck the cowl neck into the cami and create a cute pleated look that you actually see in some tops/dresses as a design feature:

Oh sorry, what's that? Did you notice something sparkly on my finger that didn't used to be there?!!!



Yep - I got engaged! My Fiancé (woooo!) and I were away at the Slieve Donard Hotel celebrating 3 years together (on the 25th Feb) and after acting very shifty (due to the nerves) he proposed to me on the beach....this was our backdrop:

 The Mourne Mountains, from Newcastle beach

It was just so gorgeous, and I was in complete shock! He used a 'stunt ring' to seal the deal and I then had to wait a whole WEEK until before we could go ring shopping (that was a looooong week!). After trailing around pretty much all the jewellers in Belfast I finally found 'the one':

It's from the 1950's and has the most beautiful metal work on the side (which I tried to capture in the second photo, but it doesn't really do it justice). I really wanted a unique antique ring, partly because older rings tend to have very narrow shafts/bands, which just feel daintier on my finger. I'm just so so over the moon!

No plans for the wedding yet, apart from a rough date of Summer 2013 (to fit in with school holidays - Robin is a teacher!). But if you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed a sharp increase in the number of 'wedding' related pins that have been cropping up!

Anyway, I was busy cutting out a shift dress last night so hopefully normal blogging will be back soon!!!

Holy Cowl - I made a top!

Well I am so excited to be able to share my latest make with you all today. I gave you a sneak-peak on Sunday, but the photos didn’t really show the top off very well – so here it now is, in all it’s glory!

OK, so why am I so excited about sharing this top with you? It’s just a simple cowl neck top right? Well yes, but did I mention that I drafted the pattern for this MYSELF?!!! Yes-siree, I started with no pattern and ended with a top that I just totally love! Well actually, to be completely honest, I started with a RTW top that I really loved, and after a fair bit of head-scratching and a few slightly squew-if muslin attempts I had a eureka moment last Wednesday night and cracked it,

I whipped this top up (including making up a muslin version, copying that onto a neat paper pattern and then making up the purple version) in a few hours on Wednesday night, so it really is a quick and simple make. It’s super neat inside, with french seams and pale lilac bias binding on the arm holes and back neck. Oh, and the edge of the cowl neck is done with a neat baby hem (one of my techniques to tick-off for my 12 in 2012). The neatest bit though is that the shoulder seams are completely enclosed because of the cowl neck. I don’t have photos of it to show you today (doh!), but I’ll take some and show you another time (there will be a lot more of these tops to come!).

The fabric is a really buttery-soft voile which I got on sale from M is for Make last year. They didn’t have a full meter of the fabric left, so amazingly you can squeeze this top out of less than a meter! The RTW top that I copied was made from some sort of slinky poly so the cowl is a lot less prominent and drapes better, but I took a chance with the voile and I’m happy with how it turned out. It was also very easy to work with (while a slippery fabric would not be!) so that was an added bonus. As you can see from the photos above, the front piece is cut on the bias while the back isn’t. It does mean that the pattern doesn’t in any way, shape or form match up, but to be honest I don’t think it matters. Having the front on the bias obviously aids with the drape of the cowl, while having the back on the straight of grain gives stability to the shoulders and keeps the tops structure. You may also notice from the photos above, that the front of the top has a curved hem, while the back is straight. The original top has a straight hem front and back, but the curve was born out of necessity, due to lack of fabric! Turns out I rather like the curved hem – and I am tempted to turn the back hem into a curve as well. Or I might not be bothered on this occasion – I plan to wear the top mainly tucked in so it doesn’t really matter.

I had bought this fabric to make a Sorbetto out of, but I’m afraid that the Sorbetto just doesn’t really suit me (oh oh, I fear severe backlash from the huge Sorbetto fan club for saying that! I didn’t say I didn’t like the pattern – just that it didn’t suit me!!), so I’m really pleased with how I ended up using the fabric. I have a few more fabrics in my stash which I am hoping to turn into cowl tops (including a certain Liberty Silk I might have picked up recently).

And the other reason why I’m super excited to share this make with you is that, once I figure out how to actually do it, I’m hoping to share the pattern on the blog!! Yeay for free patterns!