So here's me again on my sewing nonsense.
Absolute ages ago I bought this fabric from Minerva Crafts that I thought was *great*. It was navy poly with a linen texture that I got for Β£4 a meter. Cheap fabric that looks like expensive fabric? Winner winner.
I bought it to make Deer and Doe Fumeterre skirt which is lovely all round.
I cut a 42 at the time because it was before my Covid weight gain and I got about 3/4 through, but I decided to flat fell the seams, and the fabric would Not Have That. It would not press. I had horrible time. And I ran out of matching thread. Bad times all round.
I put it on the UFO pile.
And the week before last I went Fuck This.
Three things made my mind up:
* would I have bought this fabric if I was buying now?
* would I have cut this size today?
* is this project more a burden than joy?
No, no, burden. I chucked the whole shebang, save the button and the zipper. Into the bin. We're starting over.
I'm very happy with that decision! Sometimes dumping a project is the best thing you can do, and just gives you freedom to do something else. Or just NOT. I loved the binning moment.
Here's the thing tho, I still want the skirt.
So I ask myself three different questions:
* will this pattern fit a changing body?
* do I know what fabric to use?
* would it make me feel cool?
Yes, yes, oh so cool. Fumeterre skirt has elasticated back! It has eight panels and wide seam allowances allowing for a lot of adjustments. I also have this amazing light gray Oxford cotton I bought last year. And yeah, long denim-style skirts with a zip fly? So cool.
I'm about halfway through the project. I ignored half of the instructions, especially the order of execution. In the last (n) years since my first attempt I have learnt better.
* did the zip fly first
* overlocked most seam allowances before construction
* avoided fancy finishes
Sometimes doing the difficult thing first is easier. "Cheaper" finishes may be easier to adjust and alter. And you may want to wear what you're planning in the (checks notes) same decade π¬π₯Ή
I was so totally gonna finish this skirt today. I did the rest of the panels during the week, interfaced and assembled the waistband pieces. All I had left was to attach the waistband, insert elastic, and do the hem facings.
I attached the waistband. It was a doddle. The markings make it so easy to match seams! But then I spent an absolute age - 45 mins - just grading and pressing it.
Good pressing is essential to get a neat waistband but I hated, hated, hated! Every. Goddamn. Minute.
I hand-baste the inner waistband to make sure it gets caught by edge-stitching.
I sit down to stitch.
Use my seam jumper to get everything even.
Stitch.
Backstitch...
Ka-clink!!
The needle goes NOPE! I WILL NOT WORK IN THESE CONDITIONS π€
and fucking broke
Into THREE pieces
One remained in the shaft, one threaded but the third one? Went FLYING. It hit something on the way with a metallic *plink* and disappeared, never to be seen again.
I shan't be taking off my slippers now π¬
Undeterred I reached for another, higher gauge needle, and angrily edge-stitched the fakakta waistband. It looks great despite the Incident.
But my dear Federati. The hemming. The hemming can fuck off for another day.
π£π₯
I trotted out the Dyson and I heard The Fragment go up. Crisis situation over! π
In all fairness tho, it's been a real long time since I broke a needle. Maybe it's a warning that I'm overdue with my tithe to the fae π¬
I have been negligent with my updates but that's how things are with me; most of the time I make only small amounts of progress, half an hour here and there, before or after work, or on weekends.
I found time on Saturday to insert the elastic. I have thoughts about this I should really write down.
The gist of it is that the pattern tells you to use 2.5 cm elastic, and if you measure the waistband and take away seam allowances - bam! - 2.5 cm remains. Sounds perfect, right?
Wrong.
In a perfect world where you're a perfect sewist and cut everything perfectly and your your seam allowances are magically sub-millimetre accurate you still won't be able to fit a 2.5 cm elastic into a casing that's exactly 2.5 cm on a PDF.
The fabric has thickness. You will have seam allowances on the inside; you need to accommodate four layers of the fabric. The elastic has thickness. When you edge-stitch the waistband, as instructed, you also take away another 2-3mm from the "total".
If you try to insert an elastic that's too tall into a waistband it will stretch the waistband vertically, if fabric allows for it, and the extra has to come from *somewhere*. It comes from fabric stretch, or for wovens, from the horizontal width. It will fuck up your fit.
If your fabric is firm and won't allow for extra height, the elastic will buckle in half. It will be "crescent" shaped from the side. It's the first step to it twisting and deforming with wear and wash.
If I only had 2.5cm elastic I would have had added about 4-5 mm to the waistband height, or sewn narrower seam allowances between inner and outer waistband at the very top. But! I have a whole spool of 2cm elastic I bought years ago.
It was bang on perfect.
For the sewists among us who are considering making this skirt, a small tip: the instructions recommend you top-stich the elastic in place and just trim away the excess, leaving the rest as is.
If you're careful tho, you can stitch in the ditch, with the casing opening carefully kept away from the stitching line, and then tuck the "free" bit of the elastic into the front waistband side, and slip-stitch the opening. Very tidy results!
To further prevent twisting and buckling, because the elastic I'm using is not very firm, I also top-stitched it at the center back.
I tried it on during and after and the fit is amazing. I can sit down and stand up and the waistband just stays put π₯Ή Loving it.
π Tah-dah!
The skirt is now finished, but I'm very very tired so no more photos today. Even the button and buttonhole is done, though it was difficult and terrifying to open.
I seriously considered hemming this skirt by hand using an invisible stitch. But you know what's an inevitable property of a big swishy skirt?
The hem goes on forever.
I measured! It's 2.8m. Meters! 280 cm.
It still took me a long time to hem. If I did it by hand it'd be nicer, but I would be still at it. π₯Ή
I went outside today! It was the quizz night a the local pub and the skirt made it's first public appearance. I was trying to make a good, serious, fashun face, but failed miserably at that, giggling at the swishies, and himself being an uncomfortable photo man.
@markdennehy knowing my luck a piece this small would go straight into an artery and kill me
I don't want to be this kind of a hedgehog. I only wanna go fast and have all the gold rings!
(it's an 80/12 gauge and only about 4mm long)
@markdennehy it went ballistic. I'll be hoovering the whole place instead of hemming the skirt
But whiskey
whiskey first.
@jjcelery They do make magnet pickups suitable for carpets instead of the magnet-on-a-stick one that I use in the shed for when something falls down behind something annoying.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toolwiz-Magnetic-Sweeper-Telescoping-Construction/dp/B0CRNLKK5W
https://www.amazon.co.uk/12-inch-Telescoping-Magnetic-Strength-Extendable/dp/B0B87N5F7D
@josephholsten I'm literally teared up a bit π₯Ή I put the appropriate hashtags on all these toots so that people can filter these at will, but I deeply appreciate when they don't.
Thank you so very much β€οΈ
@jjcelery Butting in to second what @josephholsten said.
Iβm not into sewing (beyond a bit of mending), but I love reading threads from people who are. Watching people create stuff they love is amazing.
And that skirt youβre working on is also amazing. I love how neat the pockets are.
@shezza_t @josephholsten thank you! I also like watching people create things, but it somehow doesn't translate in my head to "other people want to watch things I make" π
But I'll try anyway π
OMG I FEEL VALIDATED! am working with a cotton lawn-almost-voile and am in the middle of hand-sewing the seam allowances first to stop the fabric from unraveling. it is very beautiful and delicate and am making a simple tunic with it; but felt a bit of a schmuck after i undid the machine sewing and started over. it just looked bad. with a whipstitch, you canβt even tell the edge is sewn. working on the finish first makes sense with this fabric. LISTEN TO THE FABRIC is my new mantra
@blogdiva I'm so delighted to hear that! I really wasn't gonna post this β nobody wants to post about their failures β but then I thought how much I would prefer to feel the kinship in my low point rather than keep it quiet and wait for "instagrammable" result... someday.
I'd love to see what you make! But if my long turnaround on projects doesn't indicate enough, no rush π
JJ Celery
Agnieszka R. TurczyΕska
itgrrl 
kasicak
I'm very pleased how it's turning out. I tried it on last night and it swishes!
Mark Dennehy
TriploidTree
: j@fabrica:~/src; 
@shezza_t
your auntifa liza π΅π· π¦ π¦¦
jan commandante ullrich