Month: April 2019

adult's clothing, children's clothing, kids clothing, sewing, teen, tween

Love a bit of colour

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – sometimes you just need a instant gratification sew, and a circle skirt is the way to do it.

Circle skirt in Spotlight scuba

Clare loves a circle skirt, and she loves scuba. This brightly printed highly polyester fabric came from Spotlight. Digital prints really are a gift!

Circle skirt in Spotlight scuba

I used one of the myriad of circle skirt calculators that are available to figure out what radius to use. This is really easy – I fold the fabric in half, then in half the opposite way so that I have a square with folds along two edges. Try it with a piece of paper and you’ll know what I mean. Then measure the radius curve from the corner with all the folds.  Then measure the length that you want – Clare requested 17 inches. Cut – and tada! One doughnut. All you need now is to add the waistband, and when it’s just wide elastic, that’s super easy.

Circle skirt in Spotlight scuba

Sew the elastic into a circle (matching thread helps), overlock it to the right side of the skirt, then flip it so that the overlocking is on the inside. And you’re done. No hemming required with scuba fabrics.

Circle skirt in Spotlight scuba

As it turns out, Clare would have preferred the elastic to be covered by the same fabric as the rest of the skirt, but I wasn’t inspired to change it. I have done that before though and it’s also straightforward. The joy of stretch fabrics!

Circle skirt in Spotlight scuba

If you need better instructions than my hastily typed efforts, take a look at these circle skirt calculators:

There are a myriad of others – Google and YouTube are your friends.

adult's clothing, sewing

Style Arc Quinn woven top and skirt

I sit on some fabrics for ages, even when I love them.  I’m never quite sure whether it is because I am waiting for the perfect pattern, or whether it’s because I am enjoying imagining the myriad of items it could become, and actually sewing it up would eliminate the opportunity for further imagination.

Style Arc Quinn woven skirt and top in Thai yarn dyed striped linen

This yarn-dyed striped linen was purchased in Chiang Mai on my first trip to Thailand (that must be about five years ago now). When I bought it I wasn’t even sure if it was destined to be something for me or for someone else in the family. Now we know – it’s for me!

Style Arc Quinn woven skirt and top in Thai yarn dyed striped linen

There are so many great colours in that stripe – and really, the Style Arc Quinn patterns are the perfect choices.

quinn-top

From the Style Arc website: This is a great boxy shaped top. Use your creative skills with this style and mix textures, stripes or colours. Why not team it with the Quinn skirt for the perfect outfit? FABRIC SUGGESTION: Linen, crepe, cotton and silk.

Style Arc Quinn woven skirt and top in Thai yarn dyed striped linen

I sewed size 12 (my usual Style Arc size) and it’s just a fraction more snug through the bust and belly than I’d like. My middle-aged spread is definitely spreading, and I need to keep that in mind when choosing size, although the 12 is still best for my shoulders, neck and upper chest.

Style Arc Quinn woven skirt and top in Thai yarn dyed striped linen

I really like the bias strip inserts in this top – they work so well with the stripes! And as you can tell, I also made the skirt.

Style Arc Quinn woven skirt and top in Thai yarn dyed striped linen T

he skirt was more tricky, for a couple of reasons. I’d actually avoided this pattern for a while because it had a fitted waist with a zipper and facing. My waist is about three sizes larger than my hips, so I generally avoid those patterns. Elastic is my friend! So after some consideration, I decided to convert the pattern to an elastic waist. I did this the easy way – I didn’t sew the waist darts at all, didn’t include a zip, and used wide elastic a bit like a facing. I can wriggle it over my hips without much fuss, and the elastic keeps it in place.

Style Arc Quinn woven skirt and top in Thai yarn dyed striped linen

You can see the the photo above how the elastic is attached – overlocked to the top of the skirt, then turned to the inside.  I stitched in the ditch along the skirt seamlines to try to keep the elastic where it should be, and it does sit nice and flat during wear.

Style Arc Quinn woven skirt and top in Thai yarn dyed striped linen

Because the skirt is linen there is just enough fabric give for wiggling in to it.  This would be difficult if your hip to waist ratio was greater than mine – eliminating the zip makes it that bit harder to put on.  But it works for me.

Style Arc Quinn woven skirt and top in Thai yarn dyed striped linen

From the Style Arc website: Be creative with this stylish panelled skirt. Mix textures and contrast bindings or simply make it in a single coloured fabric, the choice is yours. The Quinn Woven Skirt pairs perfectly with the Quinn Woven Top. FABRIC SUGGESTION: Linen, crepe, cotton or silk.

quinn-skirt

The other tricky bit was getting the front to meet up nicely where the angled hemline panels meet.  To be honest, it’s a little while since I sewed this and I can’t remember exactly how I worked it out, but I did find that the diagrams, pattern illustration and my common sense together gave me a satisfactory result, rather than relying on written instructions.  If I sewed this in stripes again I would switch the direction of the lower front panel that comes to a point, so that those stripes ran around instead of down. Otherwise, in my opinion this outfit has turned out very nicely!

Style Arc Quinn woven skirt and top in Thai yarn dyed striped linen