Monday, July 19, 2010

Self drafted pencil skirt – grey stretch suiting

So I showed you where my self drafted pencil skirt toile was up to - now it's time to show the "real" one!

This skirt was made mostly using a stretch suiting remnant that I bought last year from Clegs. It was about 1 metre, so not a lot of room to move but just enough to squeeze out a skirt. Because it has some stretch in it, my teacher suggested using a stretch lining from Lincraft called Luxe stretch or Luxe lining and it's lovely! I chose grey to match the outside of the skirt but because they are different shades of grey it almost looks lilac in the skirt. The colours are look great together!

It has take some time to get this skirt to where it is now and even though it's still not finished - I'm in love with it!! The photos are only ok and they skirt is a bit creased from travelling to my sewing class yesterday but here it is none-the-less!



Here is a close up of the invisible zip. I found it tricky to get the seam line to match across the zip but I found it easiest to:

  • zip up the zipper and mark the zip where the line should be

  • sew over the seam first, with about 1 cm either side of the seam and then zip it up to check that it lines up properly. This way, there is less chance for moving as you sew and if it doesn't line up, there is less to unpick!

  • If it doesn't line up on first go, unpick and try again and if it does then sew the full length of the zip up.






The lining was mostly machine sewn in, except for the last 5 cms at the bottom of the zip that was slip stitched in. I enjoy hand sewing and would like to try doing this all by hand, as I've seen Gertie mention this but don't know what it is (yet!). You can also see that the facing is a contrasting colour. I ran out of fabric in the remnant and went back to clegs to see if they had more of the same or something similar. They had the same fabric but not in grey, so I went with black. I actually love the contrast on this and think it adds something unique to the garment!



As with the toile, I have added a little loop for the hook (and I still don't know what it's called!)



And finally, the unfinished vent. I've decided to go with a standard vent this time.

2 comments:

  1. That looks so professional! I really like your lilac lining.

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  2. Thanks! I really like the lining too - it's something a bit different and it's oh so soft and smooth.

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