Skirt

Oooh scary - my first attempt at making a garment for myself.

I was looking through my new book - The Great British Sewing Bee - at all of the patterns hoping to have a go at making something for myself. As a first attempt, again, I wanted something that wasn't too complicated or fitted in case it would need any adjustments to the pattern or anything.

So although there are a couple of things in the book that have taken my fancy, this box pleat skirt to me looked the most straight forward and was able to be made using cotton fabric. A lot of the other patterns seem to require specialised fabric depending on what they are and if nothing else, I had no idea what some of the other fabrics were let alone where to get anything else from.

I didn't have too much of a look around for fabrics although I did remember from the last time that I had visited Hobbycraft that most of their fabrics seem to be more oriented towards patch working. They are either sold in rather small pieces or are too patterned for me to be able to get away with wearing especially being that I am not really the most flowery person in the world, I don't think these elaborate patterns would suit me.

I was racking my brains and looking online but to be honest I found that almost impossible to imagine what the fabrics would look like in real life, let alone how they would feel and how the small samples shown on the websites would translate and look when they were expanded to the size of a full skirt.

So, as always, it was hubby to the rescue - he gave me the idea of looking at other things that were pre-made but using big pieces of material. We had a trip out that same day and went to Asda of all places to take a look at their home section. After looking around for a while we settled on this duvet cover - checks on one side and stripes on the other. Weirdly I think the most difficult thing about choosing from the home wear section was that all of the colours that seem to be used for home decorations are very different from the colours that are commonly found in clothing.

What I found was sort of the best of a bad bunch as the others, were either too bright or really dull brown-y colours. The other problems were that the patterns on some of the items we really large so as soon as the full item was cut down to a size that could be used the pattern would be completely lost.

There was a stripy side to the material as well as a checked side - I hadn't decided until I got home which side would be best to use. The biggest problem I found was that neither of the patterns were symmetrical. This I found the biggest challenge when it came to making my garment as one of the major criteria is really is both sides are even.

For this reason I chose the checked side as I hoped that the full-ness of the pattern in this material would mask the un-symmetrical-ness the best.

I don't have any photos of the pieces of the skirt being cut out unfortunately (sometimes this can be the most exciting part!) but there had to be some photos at crucial points.

Lining up the pleats front and back to ensure that the pattern matched - or as well as it could with the un-symmetrical pattern. This involved using the lines drawn on from the pattern and linking them together. I then pinned each one in place and as per the recommendation from the pattern, tacked these into place to be sewn into the waistband later.

Each one would need to be lined up separately and the pattern matched the best that I could. I chose the largest green line to use down the middle of both the front and back pieces of the skirt as I thought that this was the most dominant design feature and would therefore look the best at the centre of the design.

As well as lining each fold up to ensure that they met in the middle, I also did my best to ensure that the horizontal lines were are the same level and therefore carried in lines throughout the skirt.

Once everything was matched up and tacked the sewing could begin. First down the side seams of the skirt. I used my mannequin (Rosie) to test out the size and fit of the skirt once the pieces were attached and the pleats secured.

I am not sure if you have met Rosie before but she was a little treat from my husband around my Birthday time when I decided to give sewing and in particular, dressmaking a go. As with most things in my life, she definitely had to have a name so welcome to the family Rosie! I think that she is pretty accurate in size and proportions to me and has been incredibly useful. It is sooo much easier to keep dressing and undressing her throughout this process than it would have been to do the same with myself (and less spiky with the pins too!)

 Looks like this is going to be a fairly good fit I think. Now for the zip - decisions, decisions… I went with the cream one in the end as this seemed to match the best so that it was least obvious.

 I had been told how difficult the whole invisible zip thing was but I am not too sure how much I believed anyone - it is definitely more difficult than it looks! I tacked in in place first, as suggested in the pattern and I was really pleased I did as it is zoo tiny and fiddly.

 And this is the outcome. Not completely invisible - I think I needed to overlap more of my fabric over the zip on each side to get it to be completely hidden but not too bad for a first attempt I don't think.

And finally, with the waistband attached I finally plucked up the courage to try it on again and even to wear my first creation out in public today. This was my work outfit from earlier on. I know that this is by no means perfect but I really am quite proud of myself for how this came out. I have very little experience (this is only the third thing that I have ever sewn in my life) and with no real instruction other than what I have seen on TV, in the book that I bought and a little bit of internet browsing, I really am quite pleased with the way it came out.

My first garment and it is even suitable to wear in public.