The Teaching Bag and The Physics Skirt

I made a bag for taking my books and things from my office to the classroom (excessive, maybe, since my office is maximum 30 seconds away from any classroom in the school). That said, I needed to find a use for my Dick and Jane fabric and I thought a bag would be great. Plus I could customize it with pockets! Full disclosure: I only made one pocket. But it's useful!

I decided to use this ribbon with the fabric:

Anyway, I cut it out based on a manila folder I had lying around, then I attached the pocket (shown in the first picture empty, and in the second picture with my phone and cigarettes, exactly what I designed it for!).

I used the straps from this bag (which I hope to recycle into something else)...

And then used the ribbon as a semi-border and bow.

I boxed the bottom so it's quite deep, which is great. I love it, now I can't wait for the internship to start so I can start hauling papers and books from my office!

Now onto the physics skirt... when I was in Season I figured I'd have a look through the patterns and maybe pick one out to make the skirt out of. I looked through the plus sized patterns, figuring there'd be SOMETHING there, but there were only 2 skirts to choose from! Can you imagine? I chose a very easy, circle-skirt-y type thing and went to the counter to ask for it. The woman looked at me (not knowing I had chosen a plus size pattern) and was like "Are you sure about sizing?"

Now there are two problems with the implication of this question. One, she's implying that I don't know how to read sizes (which I do in European, UK and US, thank you very much) and Two, I don't know my own size. You'd think that she'd know that seamstresses, especially seamstresses that MAKE CLOTHES FOR THEMSELVES would have some idea of what they were looking for. When she finally pulled out the pattern I was like, yes, that's right and she looked at me AGAIN until she glanced down and saw the big bold letters spelling "PLUS." Then she decided it was okay to sell it to me. Another problem, I just realized, with her question is that it was assuming that even if I wasn't purchasing PLUS I could've been buying a pattern to make a smaller lady something. I was very annoyed. Then, when I was picking out ribbon and thread, the girl behind the counter wouldn't let me touch any of them or rifle through the Tupperware containers they keep them in. I'm a very tactile-shopper and it's very frustrating for me not to be able to handle the goods. JoAnn Fabrics, I miss you.

Anyway, I'm pleased with the physics skirt, which is lucky because if I wasn't it would've been a waste of 75$. I think I might add belt loops so I can ensure it stays up, but that will have to wait for another day.

I'd post a picture of me in it but I just cannot be bothered to get dressed right now. Too lazy and hot.

sencha complete!

So I went to Season again yesterday and got some fabric to make the final version of the Sencha blouse; I got this lovely purple satin. Here are my problems with the lovely purple satin:

• it is very slippery, which equals difficult to cut
• it's very hot here right now and I kept leaving little sweat trails on the fabric
• I can't wear it any time soon

Other than that I adore it! Once it cools down I think that it'll be fine; I"m not such a sweaty beast when it's not constantly edging towards 40 Celsius. 

Here's the final result:

I usually wear that skirt cinched up higher but I think with the darts of the blouse it actually works quite well. I added the bow too. I think this blouse will look absolutely super with a cardigan as well, but there is no way in hell I'm trying it out right now. Too damned hot. Oh well! 

At Season yesterday I also bought notions for the physics skirt (finally!) and matching ribbon to make bows and flowers; very exciting! I also got an easy pattern from BurdaStyle so I think I might have a new style of skirt in my repertoire. I want to get as much done as possible before the interns arrive; I also want to make this dress; I think I can harvest the elastic from other sources in my wardrobe, and I might use an old sheet or something too. Plus, again, this is a dress that could be paired with a cardigan, assuming it ever cools down here.

Here's another shot of the Sencha!

Sencha Part 1

I've started working on the muslin for view one of this pattern from Colette Patterns:

I'm very excited about it. I thought I might have to do a Full Bust Adjustment/Alteration (FBA) but I wasn't sure because apparently Colette Patterns are made for the curvier lass; we'll see how that turned out further down in the post.

Okay, so, first things first I cut the pattern pieces out.

This is what I'm making the muslin out of, a pink Ikea sheet which was on sale, and which is going to make splended trim for the numbers dress I'll start on once I get through with the Sencha.

Then I ironed the sheet.

After that I pinned the first pattern piece (appropriately, "A") to the sheet; in the instructions it's recommended that you use pattern weights but 1) I don't have a large enough surface and 2) I don't have pattern weights. Every time I considered buying some while I was in America all I could think was "How is it logical to buy something with the word 'weight' in it to take in your luggage?" 

I traced around it in tailor's chalk and then removed the pattern piece. Then I cut it out. Voila!

I repeated those steps with part "B," and transfered the tuck marks and button holes to the muslin.

  

Then I pinned it all up to get a feel for the fit of it. 

As I read in a couple reviews, the neck's a bit weird... really quite small. Also the shoulders tugged a little but I think that will be solved after I do an FBA. Yeah, I decided I probably should. Granted, the idea I got of what it looked like on is a bit skewed because I'm such a genius I didn't wear a bra (added bonus: I'm also not wearing pants!) but I feel like, with an FBA and a bra some of the stress will come off of the shoulders. 

  

The back fits like a dream, though, which is good. Anyway, now I have to teach myself how to do an FBA. I'm kind of excited about it though because, as a DDD girl, I'm sure I'll have to do them often in my making-things-from-patterns life. I'm taking a break from it for now though because it is so hot in my flat I was actually dripping sweat on to the muslin. Gross.

Productive Weekend

Project: make a skirt
Goal: I need a white skirt to match the sweater I made last weekend

So I couldn't wear the sweater I made last weekend last week because it doesn't match any skirts I already have, which was a bit of a surprise since I have a ton of skirts. So I decided to make a white skirt out of the remaining fabric from the sheet I used in previous projects.

I wanted to use one of the patterns in my Burda magazine (to practice with patterns) but I don't have a perforating wheel-cutter so I couldn't. Instead I followed the same basic ideas as the flamingo skirt (this time from memory). I ran into the same problem as last time: the waistband is too big. I just can't figure out how to make it fit better. Luckily I have tons of belts to cinch the skirt up but still.

Also, since the sheet was not the newest of sheets it had some problems (slight staining and some rips) but I think I worked around them alright. I'm particularly proud of the button and zipper, and I did a very careful job on the hem. If only I could get the waistband right I'd be superhappy.

I also decided yesterday morning to turn this purple dress I bought from Kohl's a few years ago into a skirt; the problem I had with the dress was the bodice part never fit right and the dress was quite short. I didn't want the skirt to have the same problems (surprise, surprise, though; it did, in terms of length).

I took the elastic I had used to make the Morsbag and stitched it into a pouch at the top of the skirt. I like the way this turned out, even though, for silhouette- and modesty's-sake I'll have to wear it layered under a longer top. And it was superfast. Plus I elasticized something, so that's another skill I've learned. So here are the two finished pieces:

Not bad for a weekend's work, I don't think.

The Flamingo Skirt

Project: The Flamingo Skirt

Goals: make a skirt from a pattern I found on the internet

After Googling skirt patterns I found this one, which is adorable and amazing and I thought it would be a good match for this duvet cover I got from Ikea.

I cut the pieces as prescribed from the pattern. I don't have a craft table or a yard stick, which did make it a bit more difficult, I think. I also got craaaaaazy body conscious and added a couple centimeters to the waist measurements because I was terrified of making it too small.

Then I zig-zag stitched the ends, which turns out to be one of the more clever things I did; I'm not the straightest cutter so the zig-zagged bits helped me later to line the thing up.

Next I pinned the zipper in. Looking gooooooood. The zipper is one of the things I'm most proud of about the final project.

After I pinned the rest of the back panel, I sewed it all together.

Then I pressed the fabric for the waist band. Here's where my "add a few centimeters" idea didn't pay off... it's way too big but oh well, better too big than too small.

I stitched the band together.

Then I sewed a long stitch in the top of the front and back panels...

... and gathered the fabric along it.

Then I stitched the top and bottom panels together. It's starting to look like a skirt! At this stage I was terrified that the gathers would come loose.

I turned the skirt inside out and pinned the band to the top...

...and stitched it in.

Then I folded the band over and stitched it from the inside.

I added a button to close the band and voila it's finished!

As mentioned above it's a bit big so I'm going to fold and stitch the band to take some length off of it, then split the side seams to reclose them. I also think at this point I'll add pockets to it, because then it would be perfect.