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Here’s a pic of my new circle skirt, a pretty, swirly victory yanked from the jaws of defeat, courtesy of Ken’s sewing skills and perseverance:
We set out to make a dress. Ken had pre-shrunk the material on Friday, so we could start right in Saturday morning with pattern layout and cutting. It soon became clear that we would need to size the pattern up a bit, but we were confident we could work that out. However, when we got to the point of actually laying the pattern pieces out on the fabric, it was obvious I’d under-estimated how much we’d need. By about a yard.
“Well,” I said, trying not to sound too disappointed, “I’ve been wanting a red chemise to wear under my black bodice.” “Or, we could make you a skirt,” Ken countered. “There’s enough to make a full circle, if you want.” That sounded promising, so out came the graph paper, measurements were double-checked, and soon we were measuring, cutting and sewing. We even found a sufficient length of elastic on hand to finish the waist without a return visit to the fabric store.
That was the easy part. The hard part was circling the square: turning all those flat-bottomed panels into a smooth circle. Ken called for a supper-and-thinking break, at the end of which he’d had another genius inspiration: a laser-level, so he could use both hands to mark the hemline. This involved a laser pointer mounted in a mic stand, and me up on the coffee table, making teeny turns as Ken marked the line traced by the laser with pins. We trimmed accordingly, and then it was my turn to suffer for fashion, as I double-turned, ironed, and pinned up the hem. One last whirr through the machine, and I had a fantastic new skirt!
I think it’s actually a bit more than a full circle. There’s four yards of fabric in this thing, less the minor amount of scrap we cut away while rounding the hem. It swirls dreamily and strongly suggests the New Look shape I love; it would be even better with a nice ruffled petticoat under it””and guess what I just happen to have an easy no-pattern “˜recipe’ for? Oh yes, the sewing machine will be humming at our house!
Tagged:Crafts, Fashion, Geekery. | 3 Comments »
April 27th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Wow! You look great! Not being in the sewing club, etc, it was pure genious using a laser level to help you guys out…
Can’t wait to see you in June…
April 28th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Thanks, P! Looking forward to seeing you, too!
May 11th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Love that handbag, by-the-way! “I’m too sexy for my bag, too sexy for my bag, oh baby, cool bag”.