Me-Made-Skirt

 Hello Readers. I made a skirt. And I made it all up as I went along. There was no pattern just some black fabric and a plan. Let me show you how I did this. 

I am using this black knit material (Similar here.) a nice woman named Tina gave me a couple years ago. (Thanks Tina!) This material was on the thicker side which I thought would be good for making a skirt that was not clingy or sheer. Knit material also stretches and that will make it easier to make this skirt fit.

I started by spreading the fabric out on the floor and checking how much I had. I folded one side over and cut out the basic piece for the skirt. I measured around my hips and added 4 inches for seam allowance and room to move when I was wearing the skirt. You can add a few more inches and make a looser skirt or you can match your measurement closer and make a more fitted skirt. It just depends of what you want. You can always make the skirt smaller later but you can't make it bigger, so measure carefully. 

 

Here is my skirt piece. It is going to be sewn into a tube. There will be one seam that I will put in the center back of the skirt. This piece is much longer than I need but I will worry about length later. 

 

I used my serger to sew the back seam together. I folded the fabric with right sides facing each other and lined up the edges together. I sewed down the fabric and I had a long tube. That was just what I wanted. If you do not have a serger, you can use a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine. Once you have made your tube shape, this is a good time to check the fit. Slip it on and see if you want to make it a bit smaller. If so, cut the seam away and start the sewing process over. 

 

I wanted a simple and comfortable elastic waistband. I used 2 inch wide elastic. 

 

I used a zigzag stitch to connect the ends of the elastic to make my waistband. I basically sewed the elastic into a circle. 
 

I made the circle of elastic for the waistband. I like to cut the elastic about the same as my waist minus 2 inches. That seems to work best for me. (Wrap the elastic around your waist to see how large you want it to be.) I clipped it to the waist of my skirt. I made sure the skirt was evenly "distributed" around my elastic waistband. The skirt was larger but the elastic will stretch to fit while I sew it to the skirt.

 

I sewed the elastic to the edge of my skirt. I gently stretched the elastic as I stitched to make the elastic fit the skirt. The waistband gathers together after so it will fit my waist well. 

 

I flipped the elastic up and into the skirt to hide it. I used green because I had it on hand and it won't show when I am done, you can use a any color elastic you want.  

 

I used my sewing machine to sew the elastic under. I stretched gently as I sewed to make sure it was smooth. I used a small zigzag stitch so the elastic would be able to move and stretch while it was being worn.

 

I cut my skirt shorter. You can choose the length that you like best. I wanted a long skirt but I am pretty short so my measurements will be different than yours. Try it on again to see what length you want.

 

You can see I serged the cut edge at the bottom of the skirt and then used my sewing machine to sew the hem of the skirt in place with a straight stitch. You could also use a zigzag stitch and then turn the edge under for the hem

 

I made a maxi length skirt. I do not remember to make a lot of neutral basics so this basic black skirt will be really handy. It will match so many things. 

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sewing Summer Shorts

 Hello Readers. It is "Me-Made-May". That just means people are wearing and sharing their self made clothes on social media. It has inspired me to sew some new items for myself. I have had this Simplicity Super Saver 8035 pattern for ages. I decided to try the shorts pattern with some blue fabric I had on-hand. Summer is coming and shorts would be handy to have.  

 New shorts for summer.

I cut out the pattern pieces. It seemed simple, there were not many pieces and shorts are not complicated, right?? Spoiler, It wasn't as easy as it should have been. Let me share my experience and ideas. 

I sewed my pockets together first. This was a mistake. I was supposed to sew one piece of the pocket to a front piece of the shorts and one pocket piece to a back piece of the shorts. Then I was supposed to sew the shorts together. At least I think that is what I was supposed to do, I found these directions very vague and the pictures not very helpful either. Even though this project is simple, this pattern might not be the best for a beginner. 

I sewed one piece of pocket to one front piece of shorts, then sewed one back piece of pocket to one piece of shorts. Then I sewed the pocket together. This wasn't quite what the directions told me to do but I was just trying my best at this point. 

 

I ended up with half a pair of shorts. This picture is of one side of my new shorts with the pocket sewed in place. I ironed all the seams with my iron so the seams would be flat and smooth. I did the same process for the second half of the shorts. When I had a complete right half and a complete left half, I could sew them together and I would have a full pair of shorts. 

 

I sewed all the pieces together with my serger because this was linen and linen frays easily. Here is a look at my shorts from the inside. Did I sew my pockets inside out? Yes, but let's just ignore that. No one is going to see that, and no one will ever know. Shh, don't tell. 

 

I turned the top edge down to make the waistband. 

 

I sewed the waistband casing from the outside to make sure my stitches would be very neat. My bobbin stitches can be wonky sometimes. The pattern called for elastic to be put through the finished casing. OK, let's do it. I left a small opening in the casing for the elastic as directed. 

 

When elastic is fished through the waistband, it gathers the waistband together and that will make the shorts fit around my waist. I finished the elastic and connected the ends together as directed by the pattern and closed the opening in the casing. This was easy enough.

   

I turned the bottom edge of the shorts leg under and sewed the hem of each leg. The hems looked nice and neat. That was what I wanted. This pattern was long enough to choose what length of shorts I wanted, if you want long-ish shorts, this pattern would be good for that.

 

 I used matching thread  (Similar here.) to get a nice neat look to my seams. Sometimes contrasting thread looks nice too but I wanted the thread to match and blend in for these shorts. 

 

 These shorts were fun and I was pleased with how they turned out. This was not a great pattern for a first sewing project but it is simple enough for someone who has sewn a little and ha some sewing knowledge already. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.