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The story of the Mashup Skirt

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Many many moons ago, somewhere in 2013, I pinned a picture of a skirt on Pinterest. I loved it so much that I made it the front picture of my ‘Skirts Board’. Also many moons ago, in March 2014, I bought two pieces of fabric to recreate this skirt. And then this project got buried in my sewing queue…. until two weeks ago.
Then Me-Made-May 2019 came along and I created three wardrobe capsules. With my third wardrobe capsule, I gave myself a bonus: “I could replace any of the selected garments with a freshly sewed garment.” And boom! Out came the idea of sewing this Mashup Skirt out of the depths of my sewing queue!

Mashup Skirt

The Mashup Skirt pattern

Although the example skirt is an A-line I decided to make a flared skirt because I  love flared skirts just a tiny bit more. I used one of my oldest flare skirt patterns that I sewed already a zillion times!

The original skirt that inspired me.

The only adjustments I had to do to the pattern was to divide the front and back pattern piece in two to be able to get it out of the limited fabric I had. Only 0,5 m of each colour!!

The divided pattern pieces of the front and the back.

I cut the pieces out the two fabrics to achieve an even coloured left and right side.Mashup Skirt

A scallop button placket

The one thing I had to draw myself—and alas drawing is not my strongest feature—was the scallop button placket. How did I do it?  I drew a template of one scallop and used this to compose a string of scallops on tracing paper. I included an 0,75 cm (presser foot width) seam allowance. Then I had a scallop button placket pattern!

Mashup Skirt
The model of the scallop button placket on tracing paper.
mashup skirt
Positioning the button placket on the front piece.

 

The Mashup Skirt fabric

Like I said hereabove I bought this midweight linen at the Stoff Schnäppchenmarkt in Cologne in March 2014! So this project definitely counts as a stash buster project! I bought two pieces of the same quality in two different colours. I think this helped with the success of this project. But what was I thinking when I bought only 0,5m of each colour!?!

Mashup Skirt
The wrinkles in the fabric after a 2-hour flight and a 2-hour drive. I find this one of the charms of working with linen.

For the button placket and waistband, I used a leftover from the curtain fabric of my Seamwork Brooklyn skirt. For the back of the button placket, I took some black lining. This reduced the thickness.

mashup skirt

The Sewing Process

Sewing a flared skirt is rather easy. The new thing and the feature to focus on here is the scalloped button placket.
I cut out two plackets: one in fabric and one in black lining. I stitched them together using my presser foot as a guide.
scallop button placket

scallop button placket

Before turning the scallops I clipped and notched the curves. Then I placed the button placket between the two centre front seams. So you stitch through 4 layers of fabric. Here you experience the advantage of using lining for the back of the placket. At the inside, I graded the seams and pressed them open (two seams at each side).

The buttons have a vintage vibe but I bought them new at my local haberdashery shop. I sewed them on with my machine after stabilizing them with wonder tape at the placket.

mashup skirt

Some sewing hickups

When you’re sewing not everything always goes as planned. Sometimes it’s the sewing gods that let you down. Sometimes you just make stupid mistakes. Both happened during sewing this rather simple skirt.

After perfectly putting in the new blind zipper it broke when I closed it for the first time!! This never happened to me before. The only thing you can do then is rip it out and put a new one in!

When I serged the hem the last scallop got to the wrong side. Totally my own fault! Not enough focus.

mashup skirt

At first, I hemmed the skirt as narrow as I could. Remember the small pieces of fabric I had. Then, when I saw the pictures I found it a bit ridiculous to hem through half a scallop. So I cut off about 3 cm and rehemmed the skirt. This gave a much better look.

Mashup Skirt
Do you spot the difference?
Conclusion

I’m SEW  happy with my Mashup Skirt! I’m a little proud of myself f I or realising a design today that I had in my mind since 2014! And it came out just as I imagined. It’s been two weeks now since I finished the skirt and I already wore it a lot. It’s a pleasure wearing it and it’s suitable for many occasions.
Will I make another one? Maybe? I don’t know if I want a second or more Mashup Skirts in my wardrobe.

***  We were able to shoot some great pictures at the Pieve di San Giovanni in Campiglia Marittima.  ***

mashup skirt

mashup skirt

mashup skirt

mashup skirt mashup skirt

The faux wrap skirt from Knipmode

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There are 1000 reasons to start sewing a new garment, aren’t there? Well, the sewing of this skirt started with an email of Knipmode. They offered me a discount on their patterns because they missed me. (It had been a while that I bought one of their patterns! Actually, the last time was in December 2016.) I know that this kind of emails is pure advertising but once in a while, I’m sensitive for this sort of stuff. So I visited the website and this skirt got my attention. It looks like a wrap skirt but it isn’t. It is a fitted skirt with an asymmetrical front flap fixed to the skirt with a loop.

faux wrap skirt

The Knipmode skirt pattern

The pdf-patterns from Knipmode have no A0-format so I printed and glued together 27 pages. The different lines and assembly notches are very clear thus that wasn’t a hard job!
The pattern consists of 7 pieces which are all on the printed pages.  You don’t have to draft some pieces yourself. I like that.  To save paper the extra front flap is drawn in two pieces.  You have to tape them together. Here also the assembly line is very clear.
Be aware that these pattern pieces come without seam allowances.

knipmode skirt

Based on the measurements on the size chart, I cut out a 50. I took the size of the waist as my guideline as the skirt is fitted. I lessened the curve of the hips with 2 cm and lengthened the hem by 5 cm.  This all turned out perfect when I fitted the skirt.

knipmode skirt

The fabric

I bought this beautiful Italian wool in February 2016 at the market in Castel Del Piano. It’s dark blue (very difficult to photograph) with a subtle light blue woven check.

Italian wool

I immediately thought about this fabric because the model of the skirt is in plaid. The only problem with these fabric pieces from the market in Castel del Piano is that they are remnants so you have to take the piece as they come. I had 1,28m on 1,50m and the instructions asked for 1,60m on 1,40m. You need even more if you want to use a print! But I managed. I could even cut out the front flap on the bias.

The sewing process

Knipmode gives the sewing of this skirt a difficulty level of 2,5 (on 4). In my opinion, this is a correct rating.
The instructions are compact and without illustrations. But luckily for me in Dutch, my native language. I didn’t have a lot of trouble to put the skirt together. The only point where I  had to read the instructions a few times is when you make the loop on the front piece.  Looking at the photo now it seems obvious.
knipmode skirt

knipmode skirt

knipmode skirt

Conclusion

I am very happy with my new Knipmode skirt. I love that it is a fitted skirt with this twist at the front. Although I sewed the skirt on the last day of Summer I think I can wear it easily with tights in Autumn.
Will I sew another one? I guess I will. In fact, I’m looking forward to it!

knipmode skirt

How to make a-made-in-a-blink festive skirt

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Plissé Skirt

Two days before Christmas it looked like I wouldn’t have a new garment for the annual family Christmas dinner. That’s nothing new because last year I didn’t sew one either. Then I went to ‘De Stoffenkamer’ to buy some fabric for presents when this lovely black plissé caught my eye. Immediately, the image of a new skirt—a plissé skirt— popped up in my mind. More, this was going to be a very easy sew, so I bought the fabric right away.

A plissé skirt: how did I do it?

A panel of plissé fabric

Lotte Martens Fabric

The black plissé panel is from Lotte Martens, a Belgian fabric designer. In fact, it is a semi-plissé, which means the pleats aren’t as deep as in a regular plissé. The panel is hand printed with a Bremen gold design. This is Lotte Martens’ trademark. She hand prints all of her fabrics and you know that I love hand printing. Since long I yearned to sew something with a Lotte Martens fabric.

This plissé fabric also reminded me of my visit to the Fortuny Palace in Venice for the Biennale 2015. There I learned that the plissé was invented by Mariano Fortuny, a Spanish fashion designer who lived in Venice. He opened a couture house in 1906 and continued until his death in 1946. Fortuny rebelled against the fashionable styles that were popular during his time. Together with his wife, Henriette Negrin, who was an experienced dressmaker, he created the Delphos gown in 1907. The Delphos gown is a shift dress made of finely pleated silk weighed down by glass beads that held its shape and flowed on the body. The pleating was all done by hand and the process was kept secret. Today these dresses are seen as works of art and many survive, still pleated, in museums and personal collections. (Source: Wikipedia)

Delphos gown
On the left: Clarisse Coudert, who married Condé Nast, wearing a Fortuny tea gown. ca. 1909 – On the right: (Isadora) Duncans three adopted daughters (Lisa, Anna, and Margot) in Delphos dresses c.1920
One side-seam

The panel is 70 cm with a 150 cm fabric width. For this type of skirt, you don’t need a pattern. Double the fabric, right sides together, pin and stitch.

The elastic waistband

Measure a piece of broad elastic around your waist. Sew the ends together to create a circular form.

Divide the waistband and the skirt into four even parts and mark them with chalk and/or pins. Now pin the waistband to the skirt. I placed the side of the waistband with the mini ruffles atop the top of the skirt. This makes the stitching of the elastic easier.

The whole sewing process took me about 20 minutes.

Conclusion

We had to leave for the family party at twelve and I finished it at 11 o’clock! I love wearing it and I got a lot of compliments. Who doesn’t like that?!

Will I make more plissé skirts? When I find the right plissé fabric I probably will. Or maybe another type of garment like the Fortuny tea gown. Who knows?

The A-line skirt that brought my sewing mojo back!

Sewing keeps me sane,

After going on holiday, I think my sewing mojo went on a holiday as well. I don’t know how it happened but I didn’t touch my sewing machine for more than a month. I just couldn’t bring myself to sew. Then I remembered how long it had been that I sewed a skirt for myself. Although I have several WIP’s gazing at me I went for a new A-line skirt and it gave me back my sewing joy!
A-line skirt

The A-line skirt pattern

When I was wearing the Laneway Dress from Jennifer Lauden I noticed how nice the design and the fit of the skirt felt. I love the A-line and it has pockets. The decision to use this pattern for the skirt was quickly made.
The pattern didn’t need any modifications. For the dress, I had lengthened the skirt with 5 cm but I took it back to the original length. The fit was good so I let it fall on my natural waist.

The fabric

A few months ago I got a bag with fabrics from my sister-in-law; all from unknown origin and unknown composition. This small piece is probably upholstery fabric. It is medium weight and both sides are useable. I opted for the side with the dark background and blue-ish flowers. I love that it has some art nouveau vibe. The fabric feels a little rough that’s why I lined the skirt with some green lining that I had left from sewing my husband’s jacket.

I had only 1,10 m of this fabric so I could not place the front and the back piece in the same direction.

Luckily the line of the drawing is not that strong so you have to look really closely to notice that the front and the back are not in the same direction.

The sewing process

Sewing this skirt was easy and quick. Having sewed already more than 20 skirts the last years I had no difficulties putting this one together. However, for the pockets, I followed Jennifer Lauren’s method and it proved again to give very neat ones.

For the waistband, I used preformatted interfacing band, a handy prop. This band has three punched lines to make it easy to sew it on and fold it over.

A-line skirt
Lining, waistband, skirt and neat pocket. Also, that’s not a tuck between the lining and the waistband but a loose thread!

Conclusion

I love this A-line skirt. Not only for making me happy when I’m wearing it but also for bringing back my sewing mojo. Give me more of these kinds of skirts!

A-line skirt

A little cheating for Project SewMyStyle: a pocket skirt

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When I saw that the May entry for Project SewMyStyle was a gathered pocket skirt I decided not to buy the pattern from Callie Faye Collection but draft it myself. Why? Because since last September I am following pattern drafting lessons and the scope this year is skirts. I learned to draft a  pattern block for a straight skirt and use this pattern block as a base for all kind of skirt designs. Furthermore, my fabulous teacher stimulates me to draft a skirt pattern myself whenever I see a model that I like.  So I dared myself to do it!

Pocket Skirt

The pocket skirt pattern

Drafting a pattern for a gathered skirt turns out to be rather easy. First I measured the hem of the gathered skirt of a dress that I liked. In this case, my Sureau dress.  To gain the same width I  added 5 cm at the center front and the center back of my pattern blocks. I calculated the proportions of the pockets on the picture. Although they are big enough they tend to look smaller than the ones on the original design. Probably because I lengthened the skirt until the hem was on my knees. So I ended with three pattern pieces: the front, the back and a pocket.

pocket skirt

 

The sewing process

I used a soft printed cotton chambray from Dress Fabrics. I bought it last September. This fabric worked like a dream.
Because I didn’t buy the pattern I didn’t have instructions for sewing the skirt. So I studied the pictures on the website, relied on my know-how of skirt sewing and made my own instructions!

 

1. Pockets

Put on the pockets first as they are also slightly gathered. To accentuate the pockets I used the wrong side of the fabric as the right side.

Iron the seam allowances of the pockets and stitch the three seams at 1 cm.

Pin the pockets on the skirt and stitch 2mm from the sides.

Pocket Skirt
The pockets are gathered together with the skirt.

 

2. Gathers

Make the gathers by stitching two lines in the seam allowance. I use a different thread colour for the front and back to make it easy to pull at the thread.

Mark the center front with a pin and divide the gathers proportional between the two sides.

Stitch with a short stitch length between the two lines to fix the gathers.

 

3. Waistband

For the waistband I used preformatted interfacing for waistbands. I cut out the length of my waist and here I made an error. The original pattern asks for an elastic in the back waist. So you have to provide the same extra width for the back waist. This I forgot. So I also gathered the back. In hindsight, this made the further construction even easier.

Before sewing on the waistband close the left side seams of the skirt.

Pocket Skirt
View from a strange angle: the back gathers.

4. Blind zipper

Put in a blind zipper. After sewing in one side of the zipper, I close it. Then I make little notches on both sides of the tape at the waistband. This helps to pin the second side of the zipper at the right place.

Pocket Skirt
A perfectly matched waistband

4. Finish

Sew the side seam under the zipper. Finish the waistband and hem the skirt.

Pocket Skirt
Conclusion

I am happy with my pocket skirt. I wore it a lot already. Drafting the pattern myself gave me a lot of satisfaction. It means that I learned something in the pattern drafting lessons. Although I did not buy the pattern suggested by the Project SewMyStyle I sewed the skirt. More, I enjoyed the whole process. That is what SewMyStyle is all about, isn’t it?

Pocket Skirt