Pattern Emporium Tiered maxiskirt in Liberty

 I first encountered this skirt when I saw my friend Tessa's version.  I've never been very into skirts.  Like, I own the same few and wear them occasionally but they aren't that comfortable and rarely have pockets so why bother?  The few I have are really great and that's sort of it, right?  

Hm.  Well, I realised a big problem was that my legs rub together.  So this summer I decided to solve the problem with long leg boyshorts with lace hems, so I could wear my skirts.  (More on those later).  And it made skirts suddenly seem like a more viable option (especially if they have pockets.)  

This does not have pockets, but that is easily fixed.  And after thinking for quite awhile I decided I was ready to cut into my number 2 longest stashed fabric: a Liberty Tana Lawn in my Favourite Print Ever Made.  In order to do that I had to do a practice version, because I have never shirred and I was not sure how the shirring would go.  

Spoiler alert: the shirring went Very. Poorly.  

Sorry it was very windy when I took these photos, plus midwinter so rather cold. 

I cut a size 10 and used some very fancy Liberty silk twill that has been sitting around - this is for my friend R and I knew she would love the colours and would not care too much about the shirring.  What is discovered is that although in one spot I read to NOT pull tension when you wind the shirring elastic onto the bobbin, actually you DO need to pull a moderate amount of tension.  All the shirring does not really suck together and just looks like weird loops on the inside of the skirt.  Luckily there's a piece of elastic in the waistband as well so this first version is wearable and the silk twill is delightfully swishy.  I was on a time crunch so I forgot to take notes on things I would change the second time around...

So after waiting far too long and not remembering anything I learned from the first version, I made my Liberty Special.  I think I wanted to shorten the middle tier 1" but I didn't do that.  I did add very large pockets. 

 

I obviously practiced shirring in the meantime and got better at it.  I didn't have any issues making this skirt, it's an easy make.  I like my huge pockets and I like the way it drapes.  

 

Made some more Pleats to Meet You pants

On my last two treks to Nepal, out of the blue, I have wished for a pair of comfortable, loose but just right black lounge pants.  Something to do with always wearing trekking pants...and each time a trek ends, I forget about this desire.  Partly I think because the shape in my head wasn't the same as either Anima or Hudson pants and I don't have any other lounge pant patterns, I just make those two!  I had the full trek to mull over this and finally hit on the Pleats to Meet You pants, which I have made before.  (I wrote about them here.)  I got some jersey at The Fabric Store (heathered dark grey rather than black) and one of my complaints about this pattern was mitigated by figuring out how to see just one page of a pdf at a time on adobe - so I could scroll down and zoom in adequately, rather than the annoying two pages across that I dealt with the first time.  The instructions are still annoying, but I have seen worse. 

I used the same size 10 as before despite thinking it was too big last time. I was too lazy to print out the pattern again!  Maybe I should throw it away so I have to rethink my size next time.

I basted the pleats WAY down, and haven't removed those stitches yet which influence where the pleat drape starts.  The fabric was obnoxious but I sewed these pants quickly to keep it from having time to roll up too much and I used 3/8" seams whenever I felt like instead of being obsessive about keeping to 1/4".  In my rush, I didn't think about interfacing the pocket opening, which you should definitely do to give that edge stability and keep it from drooping.  Mine droop.  I added cuffs by cutting fabric the width of the pant leg (front + back) then randomly removing a bit...and then another bit...until it seemed right.  I didn't shorten the pants. 

In the end these were so droopy and big.  So I just overlocked off a bit from knee through crotch and back down, probably 2" at the crotch and tapering to nothing at the knee.  

And proving that humans do eventually learn, I installed a waist elastic that is nice and loose so it won't tighten up when washed.  

I got new slippers!  They are not pink!  I love them so much!

 

The result is my new favourite lounge and sleep pants.  I have been wearing these for the past two weeks to sleep and lounge about in, with the only break being last night, to wash them.  They are nice and long and very buttery and comfortable and I think the front rise looks like I'm hiding something in there, but I don't care.  If I ever do decide I like this shape and want to make more, I have two choices: use a woven (these are really huge.) or cut a size 6 instead of 10.  Or both?!  

Pattern Emporium Pleats to meet you pants

 My friend Tessa recommended these to me as I wanted to try out some new lounge pants. It took me ages to find the right fabric as in my mind it needed to be very drapey, and the pleats/darts mean it does take up more than a scant meter of yardage.  

Finally found a winner - viscose from The Fabric Box in Auckland.  It's a metre of fabric but just barely wide enough.  Well.  I shortened the legs 1" at the thigh lines in order to have enough space to cut out the waistband.  I figured I'm short, I might as well shorten them.  I've never shortened at the thigh lines before, that I can think of, but knees are always in the wrong place on RTW so it seemed sensible enough.  

Tessa assured me to choose my size by the measurements, so I cut a size 10.  There is a lot of info about final measurements which I did not really pay attention to so it's hard for me to tell whether I could have been forewarned about just how much ease is present.

 

Thank god I did shorten them!  They are a fine length now, though I could shorten a bit more if I wanted.  They are very drapey and, well...VERY drapey.  My first instinct with this pattern was to use a drapey woven and I still think that might be better.  I don't think the fabric has to stretch anywhere at all.  It feels a bit precariously loose on as I don't like droopy crotches in pants I'm going to wear out, but I see it looks pretty great in the pictures.

I was very grumpy while I was making these, which means I had little patience for annoying quirks.  The most annoying of those quirks was: not sewing down the pleats at all, you just sew across the top.  Really everyone: sew down your pleats 2-3 cm.  It will make your life easier and the pleats will look neater.  

The other most annoying feature of this pattern was the layout of the instructions.  Luckily other than a quick glance to check the direction of pleat folding, there's not much instruction needed.  Which is good because the instructions are *IMPOSSIBLE* to read.  They are laid out 2 pages across on a pdf, so you have to enlarge to 200%, scan across, at which point the page gets lost.  I really cannot state how important it is for instructions to be written on single pages in a vertical, not landscape orientation.  Maybe other people use tablets or something to read their instructions??  I would hesitate to buy a pattern from this company that required closely following instructions because my memory of being annoyed is pretty strong.  

Despite that, and despite the careful work needed to maintain 1/4" SA (which I kind of disagree with because I think it takes away an element of safety that a SA of 3/8" provides) - these are lovely pants which exactly match the pictures.  The pockets are just barely deep enough, the pleats create nice shape, the back darts are fantastic.  It took maybe 2 hours to make these.  I'm glad I waited for just the right fabric.