Fall Capsule Wardrobe - Done!

About a week ago I posted some sketched plans for a fall wardrobe…

…mostly black, white and coral…

…with some possibilities in other colours!

Well, was the last week of vacation, and I sewed up a storm. I’m done, baby! 

I spent yesterday hanging out with my sister, who was kind enough to take pics for me. I got a little giddy taking pictures in someone else’s back yard for once - as you’ll see! 

First up: 

White Renfrew Tank: Leftovers from my first-ever knit project!

Floral Long-Sleeved Renfrew: I can’t wait to wear this in cooler weather! (Yesterday was HOT!) The fabric was a gift from Sally at the Quirky Peach. Thank you, Sally! I love it!

Coral Stretchy Jeans: Hmmm. I love the colour, but I’m not sold on the fit! I added an inch of width to the pattern I always use, since they usually come out pretty skin tight… but now they look and feel a big baggy to me! I’m considering taking them in from the knee down.Also, you can tell in the pocket picture that this thin denim doesn’t hide ANYTHING! I can’t find any denim locally that is as heavy as the stretch denim in my RTW pants. 

Next up: 

Grey Stretchy Jeans: I had FUN on these! I’ve always avoided contrast stitching, but I went for it on these. Had to make them fun and colourful somehow! I used regular thread and a triple stitch in both red and turquoise. Again, they feel a bit baggy. The fabric is a lovely stretch denim from Gorgeous Fabrics, bought with a gift certificate from my sister for my birthday. (Speaking of which, look how she just happened to match my wardrobe! She’s even wearing a me-made Palova knit circle skirt!) 

Black Mission Maxi Tank: I’ve used this pattern for 3 dresses and about 5 tanks this summer - it’s a winner! I made this one from a metre of amazing black bamboo knit that Anne gave my years ago to wear as a scarf/shawl sort of thing. I wish our local shop still sold fabric this nice! 

Stretch Pencil Skirt: I”m wearing this right now, and it’s SO COMFY! It’s a heavy, seriously stretchy twill that I bought from the remnant bins last year. The pattern is based on the Cake Hummingbird skirt, including my adjustment for a big booty. I didn’t want to have panels cutting up the print on the front, so I traced a version with darts instead. As you can see below, I just sewed a piece of wide black elastic on was the waistband. No zip needed! 

Pink Leggings: I wear skirts with leggings a lot, since I sit/crawl/dance/etc in my work day. I had just enough pink spandex cotton blend to make some short leggings. I use the Style Arc Laura Leggings pattern, and it works great! Just a single seam on each leg and some lazily applied elastic at the waist. 

Sharpie Skirt: My favourite! I got the black and white polka dot heavy cotton at Ikea, and used the same Hummingbird hack pattern as above. This one isn’t stretch though, so I may have over compensated with ease! It sits lower than I usually prefer, and is quite loose around the hips. On the other hand, I can sit comfortably and there’s definitely room for heavy fleece tights underneath! 

As planned, I made the plain skirt first then coloured in random circles with Sharpie. I still haven’t washed it, but I’m hopeful that it won’t fade TOO badly! If it does, I’ll just colour it in again! I’m looking forward to wearing it with bright cardigans in the winter. 

And that’s that! 2 skirts, 2 tanks, a tee, and 2 pairs of jeans. I like the combination of basics and graphic prints, and the slight twist on my usual colours. Everything will fit into my wardrobe easily and get worn often.

Even better, the sewing process was totally relaxing and zen, since it was all TNT patterns. That’s my kind of sewing! 

Now that I’ve depleted my stash of stretch denim, can anyone suggest a good place to buy some online? I’m looking for medium-to-heavy stretch denim or twill, preferably in bright colours? Thanks!

p.s. Some people have let me know they they are having trouble leaving comments recently… If that happens, could you contact Discus? They say everything is ok on my end, but clearly something is going on… Thanks!

Hummingbird V3, and a fitting hypothesis!

Yoohoo! Hi! Hello! Down here!

Oh hai! 

That’s more like it! And what’s that, ANOTHER repeat of a Cake pattern??? What a shock! :P 

This one is black stretch denim, with a stretchy waistband and linen piping. I chose the striped linen thinking that it would make it easy to match any colour of tee-shirt, but now that I’m done, and I can’t think what to wear with this skirt! 

But now onto the interesting stuff: My big butt! You see, after my first two Hummingbirds, some people were a bit surprised that I thought it was too short for work. The this is, the length was fine for standing, but got awfully short when I sat. Why was this apparently more of a problem for me than for other people? I came up with a hypothesis: The bigger the butt, the more a skirt will hike up in the back when sitting!

Here’s my reasoning: When a pear-shape person like me sits, the fabric has a much longer butt circumference to cover. That means that my skirt would get shorter than someone’s with a flat or skinny tush of the same height! 

With that in mind, I made a few changed to the pattern. I lengthened the whole thing by 2”, AND slashed and spread the back centre seam to add an extra 1” on length. That means there is an extra 3” of tush coverage compared to the original pattern. 

And here’s the result! See how much the skirt hikes up in the back? I know this is happening to everyone of any size, but I think my booty might make it more extreme. See where the skirt hem sits, about 1” from the chair seat? Imagine the skirt 3” shorter… that’s basically my lady bits barely covered! Fine when I’m sitting daintily at a party, but not ideal getting up and down all day while working with wee kids. This skirt, on the other hand, gets the thumbs up for work! 

What do you think? Do big butts make skirts ride up more, or am I imagining things? How do you deal with the dilemma of skirts getting short when you sit?

How to insert a stretch waistband!

My love for stretchy waistbands is well documented, from my post about pull-on “mom jeans” last summer to my recently-made collection of pull-on jeans! I really don’t have any pants with a zip and fly anymore… I’m a sucker for comfort! 

With that in mind, here’s how I insert a stretch waistband. It’s really simple, but I thought a mini-tutorial might be helpful! For this example I’m making a pull-on version of the Sewing Cake Hummingbird skirt, but the idea is the same for any garment! The only things that matters is that your fabric has a decent amount of stretch. 

 

Step 1: Cut a rectangle for the waistband. In this case, I used the pattern pice for the Hummingbird skirt!  

 

Step 2: Fold the waistband lenghtwise, and iron. Sew the short ends together to make a loop about 2 inches shorter that your waist measurement. 

Step 3: For a longer lasting waistband, it helps to put in some elastic - but you don’t have too! (A simple folded fabric waistband works just fine if your fabric has good stretch recovery.) Cut the elastic to the same length as the fabric waistband. It’s job is to stop the fabric from stretching out, but it doesn’t need to pull tight or gather the fabric at all! 

I like to zigzag my elastic to the waistband so that it doesn’t roll or twist. Since the zigzagging is only on one side of the folded waistband, you can hide it on the inside of the finished garment and no one will be the wiser! 

Step 4: Pin the folded waistband to the skirt at the sides and centre front/back.

Now, remember how our waistband piece is a bit shorter than the skirt’s measurements? I like to pin the waistband smoothly across the front, and ease the back to fit the shorter waistband. That way it doesn’t pull on my big tummy, and it snugs in above my big butt! 

Step 5: Sew!!! I just serge it, but a purist would probably serge and sew with a stretch stitch. As you sew, gently stretch the skirt to fit the shorter waistband. It’s basically like sewing a folded band on a t-shirt!

Step 6: Iron, and you are done! That’s it! Like I said, it’s really simple.

You can do a wider or narrower waistband depending on the look you want. I’ve done this technique on denim, twill, stretch bengaline and jersey, and they all hold up well to wear. For reference, my waist is 10” smaller than my hips, and I can wiggle into waistbands like these with no problem! 

That’s it from me! There are heaps of other ways to insert a stretchy waistband, like Steph’s tutorial here, or a yoga-style waistband like I did on my lounge pants. On a skirt like this you could always insert a zipper and do a normal waistband… but why??? Avoiding zippers is so sweet, and the finished result is so comfortable! 

How are the waistbands done on your RTW stretch bottoms? Do you have a favourite way to sew stretch waistbands? 

A tale of two Hummingbirds

How many Hummingbirds can I sew? Well, a lot! Meet my second skirt and my second top, which through pure chance just happen to be out of almost identical prints! 

Booyaa! The tee is a slub jersey I bought last week, and the skirt is a linen I bought last year. 

Let’s take a closer look, shall we? 

I guess I really am consistent with what I like!!! I’ll never wear them together, but I’m tickled that the fabrics are so similar. 

Let’s talk shirt first: 

I cut the same size as before, but took in the waist and took 2” off the length. I also made cap sleeves instead! Bonus: I cut it out of only 1m of fabric! :) 

It’s such a drapy knit that it’s still a bit loosey-goosey… I’m going to take a page from Katie’s book and cut the shoulders and bust smaller next time!  I think I’ll make the neckline lower next time too… feels a bit covered up!  

Now for the skirt: 

I was so inspired by Susan’s beautiful piped skirt that I copied her before the day was out! I follwed her tutorial to use flat piping. Mine is just normal bias tape that I ironed to make it a single fold. It was surprisingly easy to use, and really didn’t add much time to the project! 

Oh, and guess what? Using piping was one of my own #Sewingdares!!!

I’ve still got a few more to go, but I’m pleased to knock one dare off the list! :) 

Now, my first version of this pattern was stretch, but this one is not. I’d altered the pattern to reflect my adjustments, but I probably should have included a bit of extra ease for a plain woven! It’s not tight, but it’s snug!  Luckily the linen has some natural give in it (from pre-shrinking it in the wash, I think!) 

One of the pleasant surprises while making the skirt was that it was easy to match the large print across the centre panels because all the pieces are cut out next to each other. As a result, the print flows really nicely! 

What (not) to wear: 

While I was planning the skirt, I really wanted a striped shirt to wear with it. I pulled out my brand new Mission Maxi pattern, traced it, widened the straps, and boom, make a new tank top!

I even trimmed it with leftovers from my first Hummingbird top! 

I love it as a stand alone, but I’m not convinced it’s right with the skirt. Check it out: 

I love the piping so much that it seems a shame to cover it… and the tank tucked in looks kinda boxy to me. The thing is, I’d love to wear this skirt to a family reunion this weekend - so I need to make a top to wear with it!

What should I make? 

1. a black tank (maybe with some ruffles at the neckline or something to make it a little more dressy?)

2. a black kimono tee

3. a Hummingbird of some variety?

4. a _____???

Thanks for your ideas!!!

Another Hummingbird!

This weekend was sewing heaven. I ended up with SEVEN finished items! Woohoo! I’m back in the game, baby! 

Up first: My first crack at the Sewing Cake Hummingbird Skirt. 

I love it! I was a very satisfying make - more pieces than I’m used to, but   everything fit together nicely. 

I did have to fiddle a bit with the fit at the top, which of course is part of Steph’s expectation for the pattern. However, to get the side seam to go in a nice, straight vertical line, I had to remove more from the back than from the front. I also made the darts a little bigger, and took a wee triangle out of the centre back seam so that it fit my booty. 

Since I used a stretch twill, I skipped the zipper and just serged on a folded waistband. I can pull it on easily! (Yay stretchy clothes! Now that i’m used to being totally comfortable all the time, I have the hardest time wearing non-stretch clothing!)

May I present my first ever handstitched hem? I wasn’t sure how to hem it without losing the stretch, so I asked the Sewcialists on Twitter for advice. Katie suggested hand stitching, so I gave it a shot! I”m curious to see how it holds up!

The t-shirt is new, too! It’s a Maria Denmark Kimono tee, which is my new favourite pattern. Perfect for a quick and failproof make. 

And that’s it: A new outfit! 

The question is, will I wear the skirt? It’s too short to wear at school… and, well, I”ll be honest - like most women over size whatever, my thighs rub together in the summer and it drives me nuts! The Hummingbird is tight enough and short enough that it’s a little harder to hide bike shorts underneath! I did buy a shorter slip today that I can layer underneath…

Do you wear short skirts? What’s your favourite length for day-to-day dressing? 

Thank heavens, I finally sewed something!

Oh hai! Apparently MMM really knocked me on my ass, because I’ve taken a surprise 3 weeks break from blogging AND sewing! It’s report-card season for us teachers, plus the end of the year exhaustion and getting sick… blah blah blah! Enough of that. Bring on the sewing! 

My first Hummingbird! I’m a total Sewing Cake fangirl, so of course I’m joining in on the sewalong for the new skirt and top. 

I used a nice, drapey cotton or rayon knit for my wearable muslin, figuring that I could mess up the fit and the print would hide all my sewing sins! Added bonus - it’s the kind of knit that doesn’t need hemming! (Seriously, I have no intention of ever hemming a peplum like this! So much easier to choose a fabric that won’t roll or unravel!)

Speaking of fitting sins… I second-guessed my measurements, and ended up with a loose waistband. I’m going to wash it once to see if that affects anything, then I’ll probably take in the side seams. I just don’t want to mess with my peplum if I don’t have to! :) 

As is, it’s super comfy, but has none of the hourglassy properties that a peplum should offer! 

All in all, I’m quite pleased! Here are the alterations I made/will make next time: 

• Used a 40 front and a 35 back.


• Used the 30 peplum with about 1cm of length added.


• Did Steph’s neckline binding strategy, where one shoulder if left open. I thought I’d hate it, but it worked nicely!


• Used 18” length, but then had to take out 1” off. 


• Added 1cm to the sleeves so I could do a simple fold-over and stitch… but I think they are a bit long, so I may make the next one into more of a cap sleeve.


• Leila from Three Dresses Project has convinced me that I need a forward shoulder adjustment, so I’ll try that on my next version!

This weekend I’m hoping for lots of sewing time - including another Hummingbird top and a crack at the skirt! I’ve also got some rather amazing presents lately from Sewcialists, which I can’t wait to blog about now that I’m back in the game! 

Happy sewing, everyone!