Stretch suede Colette Mabel Miniskirt & the #sewfrosting challenge

This was a project that I thought up last year while I was binge-making these miniskirts.  I had one  stretch suede skin, in this dark wine red, and I tried really hard to get all the skirt pieces to fit onto it.  I cut each piece flat, I jigsawed like mad, but I couldn't magic my pieces to fit onto one skin.  I was stumped, because the colour and texture of the skin meant nothing quite matched.

The idea languished, until I discovered a blue stretch suede skin at The Fabric Store.  I had to brainstorm how they would match up, and came up with the idea of triangles.  I finally got working on it in October but immediately lost hope yet again when I saw that my triangles were too wide - one of them fit on each skin, but I needed two per skin.

It took the #sewfrosting challenge for me to realise something sort of obvious: if you can cut a piece in half once, you can cut it in half again.  I cut each triangle of the back skirt in half, making two triangles of each colour, and remembering to add my seam allowances.  I sewed these together right away so I wouldn't mix up which piece was supposed to line up where.  And I top stitched everything in its own colour.

Two triangles of the back skirt sewn together

Entire skirt!

This project was really hard only because of my terrible sewing machine.  It was frustrating to accept skipped stitches as the status quo and to let go of the idea of perfect topstitching, but I just don't have the equipment to do better (and honestly it's not like this miniskirt is going to be worn out too fast...) I had to switch to a new extra sharp needle after every 15 inches of sewing or it would skip too much.

I also forgot a lesson that I had learnt early during my miniskirt marathon, which is that the entire waistband has to be overlocked.  I stitched it on the machine and then understitched the waistband lining and then had to undo all that.  At least it meant I got to overlock at the end and enjoy one machine that worked well!

Once I got started actually sewing this was a relatively fast project, though I took a lot of breaks due to sewing machine frustration.  

I added the pocket by eyeing where I wanted it and marking the spot with chalk.  I also measured the size of my pocket by what I'd need to fit a wallet and phone.  (truth!) Luckily I had enough fabric for that - I chose to do the blue waistband so I could do a red pocket.

in my imagination this was going to come down to a perfect point.  Hm, pretty close though!

My miniskirt is great!  It is so stretchy!  Interestingly, I get horizontal lines above the hips which remind me of trying to fit the very classic and well loved Vogue 1247 skirt (here's mine) - just like I had to shorten the Persephone pants across the pelvis, maybe I have to shorten everything on "high waisted patterns" (ie ending at the belly button) between the waist and hips.  I've never measured my rise - I think I've just gravitated towards pants that fit without making any adjustments because of being a lower rise - except for the Persephone pants which have been worth the effort. 

Colette Mabel miniskirt x 2 and a bonus tank top comparison

I went to work one nightshift, and in the middle of the shift realised the thing missing in my life was a miniskirt.  The Mabel Colette miniskirt.  Because, like everyone before me, though I know I could draft my own or muddle my way through, the interests of a well fitting miniskirt in 1 hour flat trumped any interest I had in the self-drafting learning process.

So two days later I had two miniskirts!

First of all I took that pattern home and decided to sew the size S, based on my hips.  I shortened the version B by a few inches - making it 19" long.  The version A is supposed to be 17" long.  I removed the kick pleat.  This is a lovely purple stretchy merino with a funny texture that almost looks felted, which I have had around for a long time and really adore.  I'm happy to finally be using it.  The skirt turned out way too big though, hanging on my hips pretty loosely.  I also used a zig zag that was pretty loose and so my stitches came undone rapidly.

Version two is view A, size XS, and in a funny merino that is smooth faced with a terry like interior that is scratchy.  It is a blend with some poly and retains its shape well.  It is the perfect miniskirt, and I'm hoping the scratchiness will go away with time.  Despite that I have worn it a lot!  I've worn the other one too even though it was big, but I plan to take off the waistband and take it in when I can get to the overlocker.

The pictures of Skirt 2 are with a bonus Deer & Doe Givre tank top.  It's a size 36 at the bust sloping to a 38, and other than needing a little scoop out of the armscye it fits great.  I was comparing it to the Patterns for Pirates Essential tank, though I know they have quite different shapes I was curious how they would compare.

The P4P top is a size XS.  I shortened it by 2 inches but kept the shape of the hem.  I made these two tops too fast, and so the hems are not done very well.  That bothers me a lot.  The shape of this tank top is otherwise really nice and I like the racerback.  Probably it's good to have both some racerback tops and some plain tops in my wardrobe.  I also find the Mission Maxi tanktop to be a perennial favourite (that's what the jungle plant top is, above). 
 

Me Made May, week 2

Well hello again.
This week of Me-Made-May included the following, a lot of which is unblogged!  Posts of those unblogged items will follow once I have gotten some suitable pictures.

Thurlow Jeans
Many of the same things from last week
New Mabel miniskirt x 2 (I wore both of them, a lot)
Ondee top
Persephone pants
Briar in yellow (unblogged and likely to remain that way.  I have nothing new to say about this top)
Cocoon cardigan
silk Penny top
mystery swimsuit no. 2

I am happily at work in my pants-binge.  I have to say that the amazing new pants patterns coming out are overwhelming me with the quality of their instructions, the quality of my results, and I'm really excited to see the final 2 pairs (of 4 planned) as they become real,wearable things!  I've avoided making pants for awhile because I have so many awesome pants from op-shops/consignment shops that I don't really NEED to make pants.  But a girl can only make so many tshirts before she has to expand the me-made wardrobe a bit...

Colette Rooibos dress in aboriginal kangaroos

Colette patterns and I almost never get along at first sight.  I look at the twee pattern envelopes and I just see too many ruffles, too many ridiculous details, and I don't look further.  Only later after I see the versions people have made do I realise that something streamlined can be achieved with a bit of tinkering.

This pattern went like that.  I was buying something else online anyway and I suddenly realised that ridiculous fold over collar could be just hacked off.  Plus what nice design lines!  And pockets!  I dove in.

First the good: This is an easy make.  I went from a size 2 at the top to 4 at the waist (unnecessary actually, as it seems to have a lot of ease. I could have made a 2 all the way.)  The pockets are cute and although I think the grey waist panel kind of interrupts the dress, there are lots of nice options for mixing and matching.

The bad: Ridiculous facings. WTF?  It would be totally JUST AS EASY to fully line the bodice, including the waist panel.  The insides are terrible.  The instructions don't even suggest ways to finish the dress, which, well, I can figure it out if I want to but when I was a beginner, I couldn't.  That makes me think this is not really a beginner friendly pattern despite being quite simple.  I'm contrasting this to the True Bias Sutton which I've just made, where the instructions force you to make a beautiful finish.

Also I see Colette has a weird fondness for these humped waist panels that cup the breasts.  See the Chantilly pattern...
I think it's kind of stupid looking at the intersection of the bodice and the waist panel, or at least badly aligned.  The upper bodice seems too short, and the waist panel is quite loose AND is not really below my breasts.  The result is to both make my chest look smaller and my waist look bigger.  It would be better suited to someone with bigger boobs so that the actual difference between the chest and the empire waist is more obvious.  Colette does draft for a C cup and I've noticed on other patterns that the boobs are usually too big on me.

I am happy enough with this as a muslin but I would make some changes if I seriously planned to repeat it: straight size 2.  Lined bodice and lined waist, or even a full lining.  I do quite like the neckline without the foldover collar, but I would have to lower that front waist piece somehow.  I don't see myself repeating this any time soon.

Colette Chantilly & Liberty silk chiffon

The seed of this project was some Anna Sui chiffon plus bemberg lining.  6 meters of all this stuff, collected while I was in New Zealand.  I was rightfully scared of the project.  Which led to me dithering over it, and thus moving all six meters of fabric with me to the States...to Switzerland...and finally slowly collecting supplies, like extra fine silk pins (which are amazing.  Now I have nice pins, but still own no pincushion.  Ah, the vagrant life.) 

I just did not know whether I would like this dress.  But what I did finally admit is that I hated the chiffon.  So I got rid of it on some terrible muslins and thought I would mix and match using this super expensive Liberty chiffon (georgette?)  which, don't laugh, is my favourite Liberty of all time but I bought the wrong silk because I didn't know better when I was in New Zealand and now I can't think of anything else I would ever do with such light silk, plus a matching striped Liberty lawn for the skirt.

But then you know, I was playing on the floor and realised I had enough chiffon to make the whole thing.  It's very crinkly and doesn't look like enough, but it was.  So then on with the hesitating, the gelatining, and after much procrastination, the cutting.  And more procrastination.

An aside: the mauve silk twill (silk twill is my favourite fabric of all time seriously.) has been a favourite in my pile - I got it in Frankfurt last September and was planning to make the Vogue 1395 with it, which would have been stunning, but anyway I was worried about whether I would mess up the Vogue too much so I didn't use it.  

Change of scenery: I had already given my ironing board back to the hospital so I had to make due with a different corner of my flat.  Which actually provoked me to heights of creativity usually not seen in front of the camera. 

I completed the lining dress in one day and realised a discrepancy.  When you are using sheer chiffon, you need the lining outside to also be the outside (I mean you aren't putting wrong sides together, in this case wrong faces right.)  What that means is that you end up with a bunch of gathering on the inside of the dress, hanging out bothering you, plus there is a set of gathering in between the two layers which is annoying.  I really got irritated by this fact.  I wondered if I should have sewn the two layers together instead of keeping the lining and dress separate.  This discrepancy was also present around the zipper.  I guess it ends up not mattering because I zigzagged and topstitched the lining innards into submission, and between the two layers not much is actually visible even though the silk is transparent.

In the meantime, I carried on. I made a size 4 and I french seamed everything that I could.  The final dress construction was like the holy grail of moving: I started cutting this project out in August...and it is the last thing I sewed prior to dusting off and boxing up the borrowed Singer.  Yes indeed, I started it on the Pfaff and thought very seriously that I ought to finish it there too, but I ran out of time and had to see how the cheap machine would gobble up my silk.  The truth?  I don't think it did any worse.  I pinned a bit more but the slippiness of the machine was made up for by other little things that I HATED about the Pfaff like how it would slide off the side of zippers or how it was always gobbling up the starts and finishes of things. 

And after so very much tribulation, I have a wearable dress.  A bit silly in the chest area (looking down at it is worse than in photos) but I could reasonably wear it to like, picnics, weddings, the like.  The chiffon actually makes it feel sumptuous despite what I consider rather imprecise sewing.  After all this suffering I certainly WILL wear it to such events.  Let's not even talk about the zipper side and how it's not matched up by 2 inches because the first half of the zipper was accidentally put in a bit too high.  Let's just skip that bit.  It's in my armpit anyway, no one cares.