My library had a copy of Shape Shape which I took home to peruse. I've been on a mission to make a poufy double or triple layer silk skirt and I recently acquired three colours of silk. I was initially going to do a gathered skirt in three layers, but this caught my fancy instead.
I prepped a size small despite being worried that it will be too narrow in the hips. The measurement is only off by 1" from my measurements, but I thought Japanese patterns tend to be really tiny. I expect to make an M in Japanese patterns, not a small.
Ugh adding seam allowances. But the pattern is only two pieces so I guess I shouldn't fuss too much. It uses 2 separate rows of narrow elastic instead of a single wider elastic, which I thought was interesting. Basically in the end you have 4 separate pieces of elastic around your waist. (Good? Bad? I'm actually thinking not very good.)
I used two of my three silks: silk organza in a very light gold colour, and brown crinkled silk, heavier than chiffon weight. Because both are relatively transparent I did french seams on the sides and on the bottom where the two fabrics connect.
This turned into an exercise in imprecision. The crinkle silk was crinkled when I cut it, but obviously stretched when sewn. I ended up with this:
I cut off that edge!
I overlocked the waistband before folding it over, and because of my french seams I then did the two waistbands separately, folding the waist over enough to hold both, but sewing down the top one, inserting the elastic, and then sewing down the second one. The organza could have done with a tighter fit - the elastic slips around in the casing and it does rotate. Since there are 4 elastics which are all slipping and twisting separately, the waistband isn't that comfortable.
End result: The waistbands bother me a little, but the concept of the skirt is still pretty fun. I can wear it in four ways - I think twisted looks more interesting than straight, and time will tell if the waistbands shift around a lot with movement/life/walking.
It's hard to tell if my fabrics make the skirt large, but it's definitely big enough. The small was fine. The crinkle silk obviously stretches a LOT, and I will admit I cut out the organza without many pins (which is still more than usual!) ...so it might have shifted.
This would be fun to make in voile, and I think fabric that doesn't need french seams is better - you can use the technique in the instructions for the waist elastic, which will lead to it being tighter and not twisting as much.
I prepped a size small despite being worried that it will be too narrow in the hips. The measurement is only off by 1" from my measurements, but I thought Japanese patterns tend to be really tiny. I expect to make an M in Japanese patterns, not a small.
Ugh adding seam allowances. But the pattern is only two pieces so I guess I shouldn't fuss too much. It uses 2 separate rows of narrow elastic instead of a single wider elastic, which I thought was interesting. Basically in the end you have 4 separate pieces of elastic around your waist. (Good? Bad? I'm actually thinking not very good.)
I used two of my three silks: silk organza in a very light gold colour, and brown crinkled silk, heavier than chiffon weight. Because both are relatively transparent I did french seams on the sides and on the bottom where the two fabrics connect.
This turned into an exercise in imprecision. The crinkle silk was crinkled when I cut it, but obviously stretched when sewn. I ended up with this:
I cut off that edge!
I overlocked the waistband before folding it over, and because of my french seams I then did the two waistbands separately, folding the waist over enough to hold both, but sewing down the top one, inserting the elastic, and then sewing down the second one. The organza could have done with a tighter fit - the elastic slips around in the casing and it does rotate. Since there are 4 elastics which are all slipping and twisting separately, the waistband isn't that comfortable.
End result: The waistbands bother me a little, but the concept of the skirt is still pretty fun. I can wear it in four ways - I think twisted looks more interesting than straight, and time will tell if the waistbands shift around a lot with movement/life/walking.
It's hard to tell if my fabrics make the skirt large, but it's definitely big enough. The small was fine. The crinkle silk obviously stretches a LOT, and I will admit I cut out the organza without many pins (which is still more than usual!) ...so it might have shifted.
This would be fun to make in voile, and I think fabric that doesn't need french seams is better - you can use the technique in the instructions for the waist elastic, which will lead to it being tighter and not twisting as much.
