Super Simple Skirt Tutorial

Hello November. It is very very cold here and Dan and I have been busy working on our house. We have had lots more plastering done and the kitchen has tiles at last! I've spent most of last week cleaning up dust and trying not to get in the way. On Wednesday I decided I needed a new skirt (it being Halloween and all) and decided to try to photograph the process. Please excuse the inconsistent photography. I had to switch between the bedroom and studio and there is no light anywhere right now. Anyway, anyone wanting to make a basic skirt might find this useful. 

Information that may be important... I'm 5'2" and my hips measure 36". I can make a skirt out of 1 width of 44" quilting cotton, but if your hips are more than 40" you would need to piece your fabric (or use something wider). I feel obliged to advise pre-washing your garment fabrics, because I always do, but it might work out fine without pre-washing. I'm just too scared to risk it. If you have pre-washed your exact cuts of fabric they will be a bit smaller, just trim them straight and carry on. Your skirt will be a bit shorter but nothing disastrous. I bought yard cuts of both prints and pre-washed before cutting. For a skirt exactly like mine you will need approx 1/2yrd main fabric, 1/4yrd hem band fabric and your waist measurement in 1" non-roll elastic. 

 Step 1: 

Cut your fabric! I'm using the Nightshade potion bottles as my main fabric and the storm clouds as my hem band. Main fabric measures 18" x wof (width of fabric) and hem band measures 8" x wof. 

Step 2: 

Fold your hem band in half along its length matching the edges as neatly as possible and press well.

 Step 3:
Partially unfold the hem band. With right sides facing, pin the front of the hem band to the bottom of the main skirt piece.

 Make sure that your hem band piece is facing the right way up!

Step 4: 

Sew this seam with a 1/2" seam allowance. (I like to use masking tape on my needle plate to keep my 1/2" seam straight.)

Step 5: 

Press seam allowance towards hem band.

Step 6: 

Fold skirt in half with right sides facing, matching up the selvedge edges. This will be the back seam. Match the hem bands carefully. Your selvedge might be a bit wonky in places but it will be fine. We will be taking the smallest seam allowance possible without any of the selvedge edge holes showing on the finished skirt. I drew a line about 1" from the edge, keeping the line straight and ignoring the selvedge wobbles. This will be our sewing line. (I actually drew two lines in the above photo, ignore the inner line please, the outer is our seam line.) Pin, sew along line and press seam open. You should have a tube!

Step 7: 

Make sure the hem band fold is still crisply pressed. Re-press if necessary. Fold back into place, matching back seam on main skirt and hem band.

Step 8: 

Pin and top stitch 1/4" from hem edge.

Step 9: 

Fold inside top edge of hem band so that it meets the original seam line. Press and pin as you go. Top stitch approx 1/8" from top of hem band.

Step 10: 

To make elastic casing at waistband, I first drew a line 1" from top. Then I drew a second line 3" from top.

The lower line is not right here! I'm easily confused, sorry! Fold the top raw edge to meet the first line and press (You have a 1/2" pressed hem). Then fold again so that the folded edge meets the second line and press (you hopefully have a 1 1/2" casing). 

Step 11: Top stitch 1/8" from the folded edge to secure the casing, leaving a 2" opening around the back seam to insert your elastic! Backstitch at the beginning and end. 

Step 12: Measure your "waist" (the area you would like the skirt to sit) and cut a piece of elastic to this measurement. Use a safety pin to thread elastic through the casing, being careful not to twist it. Pin elastic ends together and try on your skirt. Adjust elastic if necessary. I usually tighten mine up a bit. You should have approx 1" overlap at the ends of elastic. Zig-zag ends together securely (I like to sew a little square) and pop elastic back into casing. Stitch opening closed as neatly as possible.

Ta-da! A blurry skirt photo :) It was Halloween, and I was in a hurry to go see the new Silent Hill movie.

Hope this might be helpful to somebody wanting to wear their fabric stash but not sure where to start :) It should be easy to adjust length or adapt to different elastic widths. For my Mendocino Skirt I cut 4" pieces for the hem band and the elastic casing to make 1 1/2" finished hem band and waist casing. The contrast elastic casing was sewn in exactly the same way as hem band, remembering to leave an opening for elastic. Don't top stitch along the folded edge of waistband casing.

A Mermaid Skirt for Me

 Things have been bus around here lately. I have been sewing, lots. With seemingly little to show for it. Not many finishes at the moment. It's all about process, slow and consistent, with lots of lesson learning long the way. I am currently working on two Holiday quilts, both of which I would love to have finished for upcoming C-day. (That day which I should not be referring to or even hinting at, no Sir.) I may or may not have a few handmade gifts in progress too.

But today I wanted a mermaid skirt. Yesterday I had a revelation. I am fairly small, therefore I can actually make a wearable skirt with only 1/2 yard of quilting cotton. I'd always assumed I would need two widths, but apparently not. So I worked out a plan for a stupidly simple skirt last night. I would love to make a tutorial, both to remind myself of the process and to help anyone else who wants a really easy pattern free skirt. Hopefully I will find decent light in the next few days and be able to photograph the process.

My skirt is made from a Spoonflower Heather Ross print on Kona Cotton. I'm not entirely sure that its the same as the version on the HR Prints CD, I printed mine a few months before the book came out. The kelp stripe is original Mendocino. I had a bit of trouble with the top-stitching on the hem and waistband. Not sure why but my Pfaff doesn't take well to top stitching. I'll try to figure out why for my next skirt.

Two Little Quilts

I have spent much of last month making and quilting small quilts. At this point I am not sure I will ever be entirely comfortable with quilting big quilts myself, but I have enjoyed completing these smaller projects and have many more planned for the next few months. I'm still trying to scale myself up to the point where I can balance a lap sized quilt without problems. Not quite there yet.

My first baby sized quilt finish was this little patchwork blanket in Aneela Hoey's ' Cherry Christmas' line. I added a few co-ordinating fabrics, all in a cherry red, pistachio green, turquoise blue, grey and white palette. It is definitely Christmassy, but hopefully not too much so. I would happily have these fabrics in service all through the wintery months anyway. I still need to figure out how to finish off my own Cherry Christmas Quilt. I used all of the fabrics from my quilt in this mini version. The back is a print from 'Little Apples' on white, which I'l be using on my big quilt too. I quilted along the seam lines with a grey-ish blue thread and used Kona Caribbean to bind.

My second small finish is the Battenburg Squares quilt. This time I tried quilting slightly wonky horizontal lines, with a few hand quilted lines here and there to add interest. I actually love the back of this quilt even more than the front. I didn't have enough of the Amy Butler wavy stripe fabric I had planned on using, so I use some leftover blocks from the font an improvised to fill the space. I really really enjoyed this part and love how it turned out! I used Moda Bella Solid Citrine for most of the front. Prints are a selection from my stash in pink and apricot tones and I used Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Raspberry Pink to bind.

Both quilts are listed in my etsy store now :)

Stitching Today

As I may have mentioned here and there, I have recently acquired a much bigger and better sewing machine. I am now the proud owner of a Pfaff Expression 2.0 and so far we are getting on rather fantastically. The main improvement is that I now have the necessary resources to give machine quilting a proper chance. Last week I pieced and quilted a simple crib sized quilt. I'm still waiting for the perfect binding fabric to arrive, then I'll be getting that one finished. In the meantime, the logical thing to do was to piece another small quilt. I'm planning to gradually work my way up to quilting grown up sized quilts.

This little top is almost finished. Inspired by my rather excessive stash of pink and peachy toned fabrics, and a huge piece of Moda Bella Solids Citrine which seems to be ever-lasting. There are still at least 2 yards left! Which is fine as it is my very favourite solid. I'm just happy to be feeling confident enough to jump into a sewing project without over-planning ever detail.

Back to the machine for me. Really determined to get the top done today!

Today is my birthday...

...and, as a convenient result, I have a new camera :) Thank you parents! Which means I can begin photographing the backlog of things that I have been making these last few weeks. I'm slowly getting to grips with the new camera. It's a wee bit more complicated than the old one, but I think we will be fine.

I have updated my etsy store just now with a few pairs of Blythe Long Johns. I intend to make them available to custom order in different stripe combinations soon too, I just need to round up and photograph all my suitable yarn colours. For now, the finished Long Johns can be found here. I really hope people will like them, because I am rather proud of them, and I love to make them. I only wish I had a Jane sized pair for myself, as it is getting chilly here.

Late Summer Check In

I've been neglecting the blog this month. I'm mostly busy sewing, and also spending as much time outdoors as possible. Enjoying the warm weather and nice long walks. I've been a lot healthier since I stopped eating gluten earlier this year and it feels fantastic to have the energy to exercise again. 

With all the sunshine and sewing, I've only been online briefly these past few weeks. Mostly to stock up on fabric. This years Autumn collections seem particularly packed with must have fabrics. I love Violet Craft's Madrona Road. I've just received my FQ stack of the whole collection and have 1 yard cuts of both text prints to come. I'm now waiting for Anna Maria Horner's Field Study. So far I've ordered the Patina colourway but I'll hopefully be able to get the other two bundles in the not too distant future. I really really want some Tula Pink The Birds and the Bees, as well as some of the Liberty Lifestyle cottons. 

I bought some of Heather Ross' FFA III collection this week too. I had been trying to resist, but I'm really glad I finally have some. Those long-johns on the washing line! The fabric is a lovely soft linen/cotton blend.

My sewing this week mostly involves this stack of fabrics with a Christmas theme. I started with a red, green and aqua stack, added all of Aneela Hoey's Cherry Christmas, aswell as some Little Apples. I hope to have a finished quilt top in the next week or so :) Then hopefully a finished quilt in time for Christmas.

Giant Star Quilt

I'm back :) With a quilt to share. I made this quilt top back in January using Jeni's fantasic giant star quilt tutorial. The best thing about this pattern is that it actually makes enough HST blocks for two star quilts, so this quilt has a twin. The twin top is still in the WIP pile and will probably be staying with me, but this Star is a present for my sister. She's currently living in a tiny mouldy flat in Rathmines, Dublin, so the quilt is still living with it's buddies in my quilt pile. But she finally got to meet the finished quilt this weekend. (She is the black booted pair of quilt legs in the pictures!)

I hand quilted my Giant Star using both perle cotton and Aurifil 12wt (which I prefer to the perle cotton, though they look very similar and can happily be combined in any hand stitched project). I marked lines echoing in from the edges of the star at half inch intervals and stitched them in rainbow colours. The background space was filled in with baptist fans in turquoise thread.

The quilt back is a red cotton Ikea sheet which shows off the rainbow quilting nicely. The individual colours don't show up very well here but the yellow bands look particularly well with the bright yellow binding.

I've been labelling all my new quilts with the Spoonflower labels my brother designed. Makes them feel properly finished. I also have smaller labels for pillows and other smaller things.