A Black Maxi Skirt – super easy to wear, damn hard to photograph
At the beginning of the self-made wardrobe project there were a couple of days when I would make a new piece of clothing in the morning, and then wear it out that afternoon – this skirt was one of those projects, I made it on Day 12.
The projects that I often end up wearing the most are these sorts of straightforward, simple to sew and easy to wear projects – and were often made at the last minute (the graphic silk circle skirt, and the cascading flowers skirt.)
Fun fact about this skirt: If you look closely, you can see a bit of navy thread peeking out at the top of the slit. All of the internal finishing and inside seams are sewn with navy blue thread, because I was almost out of black – the only black thread in the skirt is the stitching on the hem and slit.
MATERIALS:
-An unknown quantity of an unknown fabric. I think it’s a rayon? Maybe?
-Black thread
-Navy thread
-1” wide elastic
PATTERN:
Super straightforward & improvised. It’s a very simple maxi skirt made of three rectangles of fabric and some elastic for the waistband. It has rolled hems, and a mid-thigh high slit to make walking possible.
I sewed the two rectangles together at the side seams for the main body of the skirt (leaving one side mostly open for the slit), attached an elastic waistband and hemmed the bottom hem & sides of the slit with a rolled hem.
WHAT WORKED WELL:
The simplicity of the project. It was fast to make, it’s easy to wear, and these are the types of projects I wear all the time.
WHAT I’D DO DIFFERENTLY:
Remember to buy black thread. Seriously.
Black thread is one of those things I use all the time, and never remember to buy, which is not the best state of affairs – especially for someone who does a lot of last minute and middle of the night sewing.
PS. Fun fact about this post: photographing a matte black skirt in any sort of potentially interesting manner is really damn hard. (Kind of like a boring black sweater.)
What if, my wardrobe and I are grand adventuresses?
I had a thought about wardrobe planning the other day, and since Friday was the birthday of Winnie-the-Pooh,* this (probably kooky) thought seemed pretty appropriate – since adventuring is quite a Pooh Bear thing to do.
*or at least one of the birthdays – February 13, 1924 was when the poem “Teddy Bear,” which featured Pooh, was originally published in Punch magazine. The original Winnie-the-Pooh teddy bear was actually given to A.A. Milne’s son on August 21, 1921.
A small (but rather insistent) part of me has been feeling like I should be better at planning my wardrobe. That I should be sketching & swatching, picking out patterns and matching up fabric. But I have a pretty good record of NOT doing that for my self-made wardrobe – and so far things have (mostly) worked out.
And then I had a thought.
What if, my wardrobe and I are grand adventurers?
Or grand adventuresses?
My wardrobe and I are adventuresses.
On a grand adventure. Together.
And what fun would a grand adventure be if you pre-planned it?!
How would you even go about pre-planing an adventure?! Unexpected things always happen on adventures! That’s kind of the point of adventuring!
Is it a little anthropomorphic? Yes. Is this a kooky idea? Probably.
Does it feel a lot more fun than sitting down, plotting my entire wardrobe out, and sticking to a carefully laid plan? To me – hell yes!
“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.”
―from Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
So, here’s to the rest of a grand adventure!
The First of Many Archers
I’ve been planning on making at least one button up shirt since the very beginning of this self-made wardrobe project. The Archer pattern from Grainline Studios was perfect, and after this one I plan on making at least two more, (one of them in a solid so I don’t need to do any pattern matching).
Materials
– 3.5 yards (45″ wide) of a very lightweight basic plaid cotton that I got at Elegant Fabrics in NYC
– 10 1/2 inch “la petite” buttons with a fake metallic looking finish (they say “not recommended for washing or dry cleaning,” which I didn’t notice when I was buying them – so we’ll see how the hold up in the wash)
– lightweight black fusible interfacing
– basic black thread
Pattern
“Archer” from Grainline Studio – Jen did a great sew a long on the Grainline Studio blog, which I followed for some of the steps, since the instructions included with the pattern are concise
Modifications
I cut a size 4, then added about 5 inches (12.7 cm) of length to the body, because I like my button up shirts long.
I also added 1 inch (2.5 cm) of length to the sleeves, which makes the sleeves a smidge too long when the sleeves are rolled down, but the absolute perfect length when they’re rolled up (which is how I always wear them.)
I made view A, and did an inverted box pleat at the center back.
What Worked Well
Most things.
I love the fabric, I love the pattern, I love the fit, I love the length, and I’ve been wearing it basically nonstop since I finished it (and even before it had buttons). Now that it’s winter, the heat is cranked up, and since I don’t have control over my heat, it makes the perfect light indoor layer.
When it came to attaching the yoke, I used the “rolled up burrito” method that Jen wrote about during the sew-a-long, and loved it. I hadn’t done it before and it’s so much easier than anything else.
What I’d Do Differently
I placed the center of the box pleat at the center back, on one of the white plaid stripes, and I really wish I had centered it on the yellow stripe that’s less than an inch to the left. It’s hard to see in the photos, but feels a little off kilter in person.
There isn’t much I’d actually do differently, I’d just pay much more attention when cutting because there was a fabric and/or pattern piece wibble, which led to the left front being off grain, which means the center front stripes don’t match up.
To be fair, I do my pattern cutting on the floor of my living room, which involves sometimes stepping on my fabric to get to the other side to move pieces around. I’ve been doing this for years without a hiccup, so I was probably long overdue for a mishap.
Lets Talk Pattern Matching
(in sewing pattern matching is where you cut your fabric so that the fabric matches across a seam – kind of like in knitting when you increase/decrease within a stitch pattern, the goal is to create shaping without interrupting the patterning – it can sometimes get a tad crazy making.)
I laid my pieces so that the body of the shirt would match (side seams & center front). I’m not super concerned about the sleeves matching the fronts, or the cuffs matching the sleeves.
I cut the yoke, and the right front button band are cut on the bias, so no stripe matching necessary there.
(for the people who don’t sew: when talking about woven fabric, “on the bias” means” at a 45 degree angle from the warp, vertical threads, and weft, horizontal threads – since, in this fabric, the stripes are made with the warp and weft, cutting on the bias gives you a piece with diagonal stripes – more about warp & weft here.)
So I pattern matched the sides and center fronts, but then something happened to my left front that caused it to slip (probably me stepping on the fabric), this caused the center fronts to no longer line up, and it also means that I cut the left center front off grain (not quite parallel to the warp, vertical threads). Sad panda.
Unfortunately I didn’t notice it until I was attaching the pockets, and didn’t have enough fabric to recut the piece. Super sad panda.
Want to see exactly how far off it is?
And the most annoying part?
Look at how well that side seam matches!!!! You can barely find the damn seam! Grrrr!!!
Ah well. If I wore my button up shirts closed it would be one thing, and I’d figure out how to make the misalignment less noticeable (probably by adding a wide bias button band to the left front to help fool your eye).
However since I never close my button up shirts – unless it’s stupidly cold (in which case I don’t care about much and hopefully wouldn’t be wearing this shirt), or I’m taking photos to show you how far off the stripe matching is, – I decided it’s something I can live with.
At least the not-matching-ness at the center front isn’t noticeable while the shirt is open.
I did however, get a touch of totally unintentional pattern matching on my right sleeve cuff. Maybe it was a consolation prize.
