Monday 3 February 2014

My Home Sewn Week - Monday



Happy Monday! (Or whatever day it may be that you're reading this...)

This week, I'm undertaking a double challenge which was set by my sister; 1. wear something I've made, everyday of the week, and 2. blog about it. I have to admit, thanks to my obsession with making new things, the former was less of a challenge, the latter however, seems quite a bit more daunting, but I'm going to give it a whirl! 

Now, I've tried this once before, but forgot to photograph the evidence and it then felt a little dishonest to reenact the week in front of my mirror, plus, changing hairstyles 7 times in a row to disguise the dishonesty is somewhat tedious and hurts the arms! 

Anyway, here was my homesewn outfit on Monday 3rd February 2014:


The homesewn part of this outfit is the skirt, which was super fun to make, as it was a total experiment with no pattern to contain you, sometimes, starting with just pretty fabric and imagination (and Pinterest for inspiration) is really liberating!

A few months ago I subscribed to CLOTH magazine (which I am still pining over) and received some gorgeous fat quarter squares that I had been waiting to use for the perfect project. I don't know if anyone else does this, but I find that I tend to cling on to fabric, rather than use it, because I'm worried that the garment I make won't do it justice! Yesterday afternoon though, whilst indulging in some pie and a lemsip, I laid out the squares like tiles to see what I had, and decided that I just loved how the blue and green shades worked together. I've wanted to try making something using a mashup of prints  before, and think that a skirt was a really good way to experiment. 



You can see from this picture that the waistband, front panel and side panels are made from different prints, all joined with the common colour theme. 

       



I don't imagine you'll be surprised to learn, that like  most of the things I make, this was a really simple project, with lots of room for mistakes that can easily be worked out (believe me!) 

I didn't use a pattern for this, but instead, just worked with the fat quarters, letting them be my pattern. I laid the piece I wanted to make up the front of the skirt in the middle, then built up either side of this square. I halved the piece of cloth that I wanted to use for the side panels and stitched these to the left and right side seams (I actually ended up reducing the width of the side panels later, but that's a perfect example of there being room for error!) then halved the square I was using for the back of the skirt and stitched these to either end of the side panels, so at this point, the skirt was basically a long rectangle made from an assortment of fabrics! 

     


I wanted to join the skirt at the back with an exposed zip, and fortunately, I had one in the perfect shade of green! At this point, I must confess that I had an 'incident' with the zip involving twisting and teeth facing the wrong way (zips can be confusing!) but we shan't dwell! 

To make the waistband, I cut 4 identical strips of the final contrast material, stitching them at the side seams and encasing the raw edge along the top of the skirt, added a green button and a quick bit of hemming and there you have it! 

                              

Having only made this skirt yesterday, I gave myself no time to back out of wearing it, so threw it on with a cream blouse and blue boyfriend fit blazer and hey presto! A new outfit for the wardrobe and a project I will definitely be creating again.

                              


See you tomorrow!
Em 






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