Pants!

Well in truth there was nothing pants about my day on Saturday.  Loads of lovely sewing bloggers, beautiful Bath, yummy food and a great knicker-making workshop, all organised by the lovely Scruffy Badger!

photo courtesy of Scruffy Badger

 

Winnie and several more of the other lovely ladies have already posted about the day, but in case you're interested here are my knickers:

I'm really glad to have (kinda) mastered sewing elastic onto cotton, it is fairly easy but needs to be done with care.  My stitching was pretty wonky but I don't really mind.

The day was awesome, and it was really nice to meet some more Bloggers.  Thanks Winnie for inviting me!

I'm back, and I've made stuff

Yay,

After a few months not blogging, I have now finally settled in a bit into my new life in Bristol.  Although  have been sewing, I just haven't had the mindset to get blogging again, but now I'm energised and ready to go!

I have managed to make two skirts since moving to Bristol.

I had planned back in February to make a few skirts of different styles (a-line, gathered, pleated) to see which suited me best.  However I have realised by doing some "research" in a few shops (basically just trying a lot of things on in changing rooms) that gathered skirts and my posterior are not friends, so should never go together!  Instead I'm having a go at a few pleated skirts.  Firstly a Simplicity Cynthia Rowley pattern 2215.

I made it from a nice cotton drill so it's more of an autumn-winter skirt, but can work for summer.  I've never used a Simplicity pattern before, and despite checking my sizing on the envelope and measuring the waistband pattern piece before cutting out, it came out way too big, so I had to take the waist in by at least an inch.  I love the a-symmetrical pleats on this, which is handy if you aren't the neatest sewer in the world (I'm not).

 I also added some secret fabric to the pockets, it's some cute animal print that I used for friend's baby blanket way back when I first started this blog.

Although I like this skirt, it is still quite big and flouncy, and doesn't exactly slim down my lower half, so I am not certain that I would make it again.

So next up was a Simplicity Project Runway skirt 2698, which I think is now out of print.  I made View J with yoke B.

This skirt is more a wearable muslin than an actual finished piece, and I haven't hemmed it yet.  Mainly because I'm not sure the back pleats work.

 

I went down a size with Simplicity this time, and that seemed to work a lot better.  However I am definitely not sure about the back pleats.  I want to make this skirt again from some olive cotton sateen I have, as I love the look of the front pleats, but I'm not sure what to do about the back.  Can I get the pleats to lie flatter, if so how?  Should I move them closer to the centre back?  Could I eliminate them somehow by adjusting the pattern (slash and spread or something??).

What do you think?

My next make is going to be a chambray Kelly skirt, by Megan Nielsen.  I have been lusting after a button-down skirt for a while, and now after several versions of this have been popping up in Blogland I want one even more.  But again the back pleats are causing me concern.