Sewn; an emotional stitch!

As anyone who frequented these oft neglected parts of the internet will have realised there was not a whole lot of sewing going on over the summer months. There was training and racing and studying and failing and work, oh so much work at times, and a few diy projects about the house. So when I did reach for my sewing machine (back in September) I was tickled to note the circumstances; I needed to calm the fuck down. I had a date and was extraordinarily nervous about it. On top of that we were meeting straight from respective offices so I was looking at my wardrobe in a despairingly hating fashion and worrying that I’d look daggy (a side effect of quitting shopping but not having time to sew & thus update wardrobe is a rather tired looking set of clothing!). After getting delayed in work so that I missed training I unexpectedly had a free evening on my hands, rather than sit and panic and wind myself up even more I got to cutting and pinning and sewing. Like an active meditation, it calmed me down AND I had a new non-daggy skirt to wear on my date the following day!

 

The skirt pattern is a simple self drafted A-line skirt with a yoke. I closed the waist darts and at the same time slashed open the skirt so that the area transplanted by closing the dart became flare. I actually made the pattern itself over a year ago and was really happy with my toile but not so much with my first real linen edition which relaxed during sewing to sit that little bit lower, looser and less structured. It was a glad tidings moment when this version proved the pattern was right and the linen wrong!

The skirt section is cut on the bias and the stripes (mostly) match up for a nice chevron down the side seams, I didn’t get into centre seams to make a further chevron there, going instead with the diagonal created by my bias fold. The yoke is on crossgrain to maintain normal intended waist measurements and the whole lot is lined in slippery habatoi lining left over from this dress. I say habatoi because thats how it was labelled in the shop but I’m not 100% convinced. I’ve never sewn with habatoi other than this one and both times it gave me jip – tension, stitches, threads pulling/puckering and that was with fresh new small needles. Fine now its on and settled but definitely not what I was expecting from it. Hindsight also tells me i should’ve lined the yoke with something less slippy more cottony – sometimes it feels too slinky at the waist, like its going to up and leave of its own accord!

And as an added bonus, this fabric is as non wrinkly as you can get. I think it’s a light wool mixed with lycra or something similar that I picked up during a sale at Murphy Sheehys last March. There’s been no shrinkage, no drop on the bias, I didn’t leave the hem hang like I should, and when it comes out of the washing machine I give its a shake/flap out before hanging on the clothes-horse and its good to go, simple as! The only question remaining is what to make with the rest…

 

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