Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Sew by You Skirt, after tissuy fitting




Happy with this!Sew U Skirt

Pattern Description:
A-line skirt with lots of variations.

side view

Pattern Sizing:
I cut a 14 for my hips (or rather, I cut one size larger than exists in the pattern) and tapered to a ten for my waist.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
yes. It's an easy A-line skirt, what can I say?
- However, Wendy suggests to omit the facings when lining the skirt. With this very thin soft wool blend, I think it might have been wiser (this is after the deed), to use the facings and the lining.
Also, she never mentions interfacing nor staystitching in the instructions for the skirt, while she mentions it elsewhere in her book.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like the many ideas for variations, it is very encouraging, and makes it all seem very simple.
I dislike that more detailed techniques like stay-stitching are mentioned somewhere in the book, but are not part of the instructions page.

Fabric Used:
I used a wool blend suiting, in dark grey with light grey stripes. This is the second garment I make from the fabric, after a pair of pants. Unfortunately, the fabric wrinkles really badly, and stretches a lot during wear, at least in the pants. I hope the skirt will hold up better.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
I am a proud new owner of Fit for Real People from Palmer/Pletsch, so I set to work to tissue-fit. And discovered, that even for such a simple pattern, tissue-fitting is not without pitfalls.
I noticed after the fact, that I had adjusted for the edge of the pattern piece in the back, but as the pattern includes seam allowances, that's not the center back. (so, note to self: mark center front and center back on pattern pieces before tissue-fitting).
Anyway, tissue-fitting:
I eliminated front and back darts. I pulled the center back up a lot, and the center front a bit, and pinned the side seams to my form (even more tapered). Then marked the new waistline at the bottom of the elastic. (chopping off a good 3-6 cm on top of the pattern). I then lengthened the skirt at the bottom.
And the pin-fitting in fabric resulted in the waist being taken in a bit more on both side seams, however, I was very happy with the waistline and the length as found after tissue-fitting.

Construction-wise:
I interfaced the skirt top (as deep as the facings would have been), and stay-stitched only the fashion fabric, not the lining. I also understitched the lining to the seam allowance after stitching lining and skirt tops together.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes, I am certain to sew it again -- Simple A-line skirt, can be quickly made, and in so many variations. I absolutely need at least one more skirt for fall/winter.

Conclusion:
Easy pattern, lots of variations. Love.
Also love the tissue-fitting.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like it very much, it looks like a perfect fit on yo - not to mention great fabric choice. And, I've never tried tissue-fitting - thanks for the idea, I'll have to give it a go now.