I’ve finally something made for Daughter No1! You might recognise the black jersey cowl tee from my last post – it fits perfectly without needing any adjustments at all – Phew! She loves the fit, the drape & the jersey. Needless to say, I’ve now got orders for “more please Mum”. Yeah, it’ll have to join the queue. I really like the way the top fits her so I guess I need to make more, not only for her, but for Daughter No2 too.
She’d like some in plain colours, printed jerseys, etc. Please don’t show her Sew Busy Lizzy’s dress versions….
On to the skirt…
The inspiration for the skirt came from a pin on Pinterest, which came from this style blog. I had some black lace in the stash which I’d swapped Kat from Modern Vintage Cupcakes for last year but never got round to using it up. I knew I’d be using it for Daughter No1, but we didn’t quite know what it wanted to be. Until this summer.
Using her straight skirt block, I altered it to create a box pleat in the centre and added two more pleats to the sides. I did this on the back too and put the zip in the side seam. The waistband is a straight piece with a slight underlap from the back to attach a hook & bar. The skirt measures 70cm from her waist & initially she thought this would be too long, but the toile reassured her that for this sort of skirt it would work.
I cut the lace with the selvedge as the finished edge. Turning up a hem wouldn’t have worked and binding the edge would have made it stiff & ungainly. Luckily for me there was enough lace to do this! I have enough left of the lace to make sleeves for something – thinking a black viscose jersey plantain with lace sleeves. For Daughter No1 – of course 🙂 It’ll look good with black skinny jeans or leggings.
The underskirt was also developed from the skirt block, 50cm long from the waist, all I did was add 5cm to each side seam at the hem, tapering back up to the hip point. The darts were left in, she didn’t want the poly-satin of the underskirt to be pleated & add bulk to the lace. We were after a sleeker look. I ran the skirt up on the overlocker, so it was pretty quick, only needing the sewing machine for darts & the hem. The overlocker was put into service for the lace skirt too, it wasn’t a particularly matchy lace so I wasn’t concerned to line things up and match the patterns. French seams would have made the side seams stiff and the whole idea was to have something floaty & feminine.
There’s an invisible zip in the side seam and black hook & bar attached to the waistband. The texture contrast is great & I love how the light catches on the satin underskirt through the lace to add another dimension. We’re both really happy with it & the whole outfit is having its first outing to a dinner with the boyfriend & his parents tomorrow night, so I guess I did good! 🙂
So I’m patting myself on the back for the positive end of the draped tee saga, but I’m not doing that well on picking the winner of the BHL pattern giveaway.. I know, you’re all watching your email boxes to see if you’re the winner – man your creative reasons were good! Too good!! I feel really bad that I only have one of each pattern to send out. Every time I think I’ve picked to best of each, I have a re-think. But I will pick one, I promise!
THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS 