One of the things I finished was a t-shirt that I didn’t like a lot and ended up not really wearing. Well, I had a tiny little scrap left over from that fabric, so I decided to make PJ pants so I’d have a set. These were the last bits of fabric so that’s why it looks a bit odd with the super wide waistband (I sewed the elastic in a smaller casing inside the waistband) and the strange pattern matching. But it’s PJs and I tend to sleep with my eyes closed anyway. It’s comfortable.
Then, a simple skirt. This fabric came from the €1 leftover bin at a fabric store. It was about a yard and I still have the other half left. This was just a matter of folding it in half, sewing the back seam, stitching the casing for the elastic waistband and hemming. The other half will be a pinafore tunic style top that I’ll wear with flared jeans so I can pretend it’s the early 00s again.
Then this one, a skirt! I originally wanted to make a 1930s style dress from a pattern, but the whole top was just absolutely awful and there was no way to make it look good. So I decided to salvage the skirt.
Honestly, the reason I never posted any of these is because I felt pretty meh about them all. I like the middle skirt best but I really got the fabric for the top, the skirt was just an afterthought to use up the leftover fabric. I’m glad I managed to salvage the pineapple fabric but I think it’s a quite pineappl-y and in hindsight, this skirt consists of four pattern pieces, so it has a seam right in the middle of the pattern, and isn’t great for patterned fabrics.
Actually, making clothes is not that hard! Especially if you use a knit fabric and don’t expect it to be perfect the first time. It’s much easier than quilting, for example. If you can sew a basic straight line, you can finish a simple skirt in about an hour.
I can sew nicer things than this, but it takes so extremely long. I finish maybe one “real” garment a year, and with that I mean a pattern that I draft from scratch and buy nice fabric for and can wear to the office. Most other things I sew are basic garments like this - things that are comfortable but not really nic enough to wear outside of the house.
It’s clear that I still love prints at an age where my mum tries to tell me it’s no longer appropriate I bought both fruity fabrics in early lockdown because I was so tired of all the sadness - I lost a close relative to Covid and two were very ill at the time, but recovered. I just really wanted bright and happy prints.
Both skirts were hemmed with the serger (my friend’s, as I don’t have one) for the pineapple skirt, I chose a very narrow rolled hem, for the brown skirt I used a regular overlock stitch.
What? When does liking what you like become inappropriate?
Those all look great, functional and well constructed. I like the serger for a narrow rolled hem, takes a lot of thread but looks terrific.
Well, according to my mother around the age of 12 or so? And having long hair becomes inappropriate at some point in your 20s. She only brings it up a few times a year now, she has mostly accepted that I’m pretty stubborn. I wear boring grownup stuff to work but our house will probably always look like a rainbow exploded inside.
I will give it a try when I get home! How cool is that, to just do it, at that age?? I like the artwork.
Mine used to be a hippie but hasn’t been able to let go of some of the traditional expectations for women. Funny thing is it’s very selective - she’s really annoyed by grown up women with long hair or fun dresses, she doesn’t like my glasses either, but she’d never mention make-up or weight or body hair. I did learn a lot from her, so I usually just ignore the rest.
I bought both fruity fabrics in early lockdown because I was so tired of all the sadness - I lost a close relative to Covid and two were very ill at the time, but recovered. I just really wanted bright and happy prints.