Feebeez

Self-Drafted Skirt 2

2011-03-08T13:53:00.001+08:00

Self-Drafted Skirt 2 is quite similar to Skirt 1. It is a bias-cut skirt with an elasticated waist. Compared to Skirt 1, it uses a more fluid, lighter weight 100% polyester fabric with a batik-looking print. I've had the fabric in my stash for a couple of years, and love the fabric so much that it has taken me all of this time to cut into it.

The difference between Skirt 1 and Skirt 2 is the position and width of the flare. I've moved the flare so that it begins at mid-thigh, and have also widened the flare by quite a lot. To create the flare, I took my rectangular shaped pattern piece, and made 5 slashes from hem-line to mid thigh. I then opened the slashes by 4 cm at the hemline (taking care to keep the centre-front straight).

Unlike Skirt 1, Skirt 2 is lined. I cut the lining on the straight-grain, while the outer fabric is cut on the bias. This caused some issues as the outer fabric stretched more than the lining. Consequently when I sewed the lining and outer fabric together at the waist, the outer fabric needed to be eased in a lot. Placing the outer fabric against the feeddogs and holding back the fabric as I stitched helped a lot. It also meant that the skirt is too tight to pull up over my hips. Instead, I need to put it on over my head.

Unlike Skirt 1, Skirt 2 doesn't hug the back of my legs in an unflattering way. I assume the lining fixed up that problem, but I'm not really sure. Perhaps it also has something to do with the different fabric.

I am fairly happy with the result ... and I particularly adore the fabric. For Skirt 3 I will try moving the flare up even higher...

Self-Drafted Skirt 1

2011-03-04T20:34:00.000+08:00

I am making the first skirt from 100% Polyester, purchased recently from Textile Traders at 50% off. (Yay!!) It will be a bias-cut skirt with an elasticated waist and is drafted from a modified rectangle.

I used the following measurements:
- waist circumference
- hip circumference
- distance between waist and hip
- desired skirt length

I started out by drafting a rectangle
(1/4 of hip circumference, plus 1cm) x (skirt length)
I added extra length to the top for the elastic casing (elastic width x 2, plus 1cm)
I also added a horizontal line to show where my hips are. I'll use this reference line later when I add some waist shaping.

The next step was to add some waist shaping, as I don't want a lot of excess fabric between the waist/hips. I narrowed the waist by about 5cm and added a curve between the waist and hip. (This makes the narrowest part of the skirt smaller than my hip measurement, but as I am cutting the skirt on the bias I will still be able to pull it up over my hips. I wouldn't be able to do that if I was cutting the skirt on the straight grain).

Here is the end result.

I feel that the placement of the flare is drawing too much emphasis to my hips. It really looks like the pattern dips in below my hips and then flares out again. (The bias cut makes this worse). For my next skirt, I'll start the flare higher up. I also need to modify the hip curve a bit. You can't see it from the photo, but there is excess fabric above my hip as I've made the hip curve on the pattern too pronounced for my shape.

EEEeeeeeeKKKkkkkkk!!!

I had no idea the back of the skirt was doing that until I took the photos. Not a good look. And to think I've worn this out in public! I wonder if wearing a slip under the skirt would stop this from happening. I'll have to try....

My creative space

2011-03-03T10:11:00.004+08:00

My creative space
has a pile of fabric waiting to be made into skirts for my 7 Skirts project.
(Yes, the project is in full swing ... it is just taking me a while to write them up).

My creative space is also strewn with drafting tools. Here an elasticated skirt is in mid-draft.

7 Skirts in 7 Days

2011-03-01T20:08:00.001+08:00

Ottobre 02/07 #8
Originally uploaded by feebeez.

I feel like drafting and making some skirts .... which has me wondering if I could pump out 7 skirts in 7 days. If I was making them all from a TNT pattern, I'm sure I could, but I do want to draft them all from scratch.

OK ... lets try for 7 Self-Drafted Skirts in 14 Days and see what happens.

More Ballet Skirts

2011-02-28T07:46:00.007+08:00

After making ballet skirts for the girls last week, we discovered more budding ballerinas who also needed skirts....

(And no, I'm not counting these in the "7 Skirts in 14 days" project).

Ballet skirts

2011-02-26T16:21:00.003+08:00

It has been a week of practical sewing. Laura and cousin Norah needed skirts for ballet. The uniform requirements are quite specific ... style xyz skirt in xyz colour from xyz shop. After finding the skirts that they were meant to buy were $36 for a simple chiffon circular skirt (what a rip-off!) I decided to make them myself.

I self-drafted the pattern and did everything excluding the waistband on the overlocker. The chiffon isn't an exact match to the colour that they were meant to have....but it is fairly close. The materials ended up costing about $3.50/skirt and I spent a couple of evenings sewing them.

As you can see, the girls are happy with the result. (Norah is on the left and Laura on the right).

A wallet for loyalty cards and coupons

2011-02-15T16:11:00.004+08:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by feebeez.

I don't think I've mentioned that I'm involved in another swap. This one is for items for the kitchen. The Grapevine Table Runner, which I posted about earlier is for that swap, as is this wallet.

The wallet is constructed from calico and batik. The idea came from a tutorial on A Spoonful of Sugar blog, but I have modified it to include a coupon pocket.

I've got one more item to make before I post off the package ...

Purple Redondo

2011-02-13T19:36:00.002+08:00

I've just completed my third Redondo skirt (pattern is from Studio Tantrum). This one is for a birthday present for a 7th birthday. I'm really happy with how it has turned out.

Laura modelled it for me and later had to be persuaded to take it off. (I think I'll be making another one tonight).

It definitely meets the swirl test. But to make sure Laura had to do this many many times!

... and the one disaster (because there always has to be one, doesn't there?) ... When I was working out how much fabric to purchase I used the wrong end of my ruler. Instead of buying 40 cm of each fabric I purchased 35cm - which was about 1cm too small for the pattern pieces, so I had to go and buy the fabric all over again. I think the leftover 35 cm strips will become a peasant style skirt for one of my girls.

Grapevines

2011-02-02T22:36:00.002+08:00

I had this idea .... it began as a sketch of a grapevine. I then tried various ways to use the design on fabric....

I wasn't that happy with the machine thread-sketching. The image was too flat.

Applique has potential, with the right fabric. (I was using scraps and the dark green fabric with light green thread is definitely not the way to go!!)

This wholecloth was my favorite ... but the design vanished too much, so I decided to colour the design in with fabric crayons...

...and then quilt the background in a McTavishing style.

I quite like the result! Now I just need to find some suitable fabric for binding.

The unveiling...

2011-01-21T17:07:00.002+08:00

And here is Ruby modelling the skirt that she made on my sewing machine.

Photos were delayed yesterday by the missing battery charger ... it had been stashed in an incredibly safe place. No idea who could have done that ;)

The skirt is a simple rectangle. It is constructed from two layers of fabric, with the white layer a little longer so it pokes out from underneath the purple layer. The white eyelet fabric has a scalloped edge. Ruby did 3 seams ... sideseam, seam at waist to join fabrics together, and stitching to enclose elastic. I did all the cutting out, pinning, and overlocking. (She was going to do the cutting out, but became distracted by her siblings). I left extra room in the elastic casing in case her stitching wobbled ... but it didn't, and the elastic casing is a bit puffy due to the extra fabric.

The one large error was made by me! I didn't plan the order of stitching very well. The first seam joined the two fabrics together at the waist. We then did the sideseam and then the elastic casing. Unfortunately this resulted in the inner skirt layer to have the wrong side out (so the seams are visible from the outside of the garment). I should have sewn the side seams of the two fabrics first, and then stitched the two together (for the waist seam). I was going to fix it, but then when she was wearing the skirt yesterday the eyelet fabric was ripped and I had to do a darning job on the skirt ... and after that I thought it wasn't worth unpicking the bottom layer.

Sewing lessons for a 7 year-old

2011-01-19T20:27:00.001+08:00

Ruby turned 7 last week, and I was feeling very brave today so I drew some straight lines on some fabric, put the foot pedal of my Bernina up on a stool, and taught her how to sew a straight line.

I was concerned that she would have trouble keeping the machine at a slow speed. (There isn't a magic switch to reduce the maximum speed of the machine). Amazingly this wasn't a problem at all. She went at a snail pace and didn't accidentally race off.

The most difficult task was moving the fabric to keep the centre line of the presser foot aligned with the fabric. When she tried to correct, she would move the fabric in the wrong direction. She also wanted to position her hands behind the presser foot, which makes it very difficult to steer the fabric. We seem to have both of those things sorted out now.

At the end of the lesson she sewed her very first seam in a garment. She is going to do all of the straight stitching and I'll do all overlocking. I am confident that she will finish it tomorrow and I am bound to get a photo of her modelling it with a VERY big grin. I can't wait!!

Completed Star Quilt

2011-01-14T15:48:00.001+08:00

Here is Ruby's star quilt all finished! I was still working on it on the day of her birthday, but completed it that evening and put it on her bed before midnight! She was a very happy and excited girl when she woke up the following morning. I don't have a closeup of the quilting, however I stippled it all over, with a couple of love hearts and the words "I love you" hidden in with the stippling. She has been having fun searching for the hearts and loves the writing.

Pario Pannus Swap - sent

2011-01-05T20:36:00.002+08:00

For the last couple of months I've been in the Pario Pannus Swap. We have been swapping table runners. Now that Frances has received the table runner that I made for her, I can show it to you!

Quilt front, before binding

The quilt is based on the Fibonacci Series, which is a pattern where

the current value is calculated as the sum of the previous 2 values
(ie it progresses as 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 etc etc).

It was then quilted by tracing the outline of a dinner plate towards
the middle of the 'rainbow'. I then used a walking foot to ripple
that line both outwards and inwards. The quilting did distort the
quilt quite a bit, causing it to bow in the middle but about 3/4". It
was very hard to then square up the quilt for binding!

I can't take credit for the idea as I saw a similar quilt in Flickr
www.flickr.com/photos/13777424@N04/2449104792/ and thought it
was both beautiful and would appeal to Frances on a number
of levels.

Closeup of quilting on the front

Closeup of quilting on the back

Swap 'Til You Drop (STUD)

2010-12-29T21:08:00.001+08:00

I made this mini quilt for the Swap 'Til You Drop (STUD) swap on Flickr. As my partner Leona has (finally) received it, I can tell you a bit about it.

It is a small quilt, measuring around 8" x 15" (tiny tiny triangles!) and was paper pieced using the Chasing Geese pattern from Forest Quilting. I tried a new method of paper piecing, which I *love* and highly recommend. It involves using Reynolds Freezer Paper, and folding the paper out of the way before you stitch the seams. This means you don't have to pull paper out of your stitching. Here is the tutorial that I followed. At first I was at a bit of a loss as to how to quilt it. Initially I quilted in the ditch around the borders and then bound the quilt ... but it wasn't quite right, so then I stitched the 1/4" lines in the borders and added some stitch-in-the-ditch around the geese. It is the first time I've quilted this way ... normally I do stippling.

I'm delighted with the completed quilt. I might have to make myself one in a different colour scheme.

Layout headache

2010-12-20T21:57:00.001+08:00

My project manager and I have been trying to work out how to position the stars.

Ahhhrhhh!

Suggestions most welcome. I think a couple of the blocks are 'sore thumbs' in the sea of stars. Maybe this is good and they add interest. Perhaps it is too extreme and I should turn them into cushions or piece them into the back of the quilt, and then make some more blocks for the quilt front. (I won't mention which ones I'm thinking of .... I'll let you make up your own mind)

More Purple Star Blocks

2010-12-20T15:46:00.001+08:00

Ruby's 7th birthday is looming, and so is my deadline for her single bed quilt! Her quilt is inspired by "Seeing Stars" quilt. The majority of the star blocks were made by the various participants in the Virtually Bequilted quilting bee. I have needed to make a few extra stars.

(The above block is actually square ... it is just how it was hanging on my display wall).

I really like the purple fabric in this one, however, it may not end up in the quilt as it is a bit too dark against the other blocks.

The above two block designs came from Amanda Jean's Seeing Stars quilt-along.

I need to make another 1 or 2 star blocks in pink. They will keep me busy for the next couple of nights.

A productive year!

2010-12-15T16:23:00.000+08:00

Just a few of the things that I've made this year. It feels great to look at them all together. It is also interesting to see how my interests have changed. The only dressmaking I did was at the start of the year, then my Knitting obsession kicked in, and after that I fell behind with my Virtual Quilting blocks, so spent a lot of time quilting to catch up! It will be interesting to see what 2011 has install for me craft-wise. I am having strong urges to do dressmaking at the moment, plus I have Ruby's quilt to finish.

Pario Pannus dilemma

2010-12-06T20:36:00.004+08:00

I miscalculated the width of the table runner that I am making for the Pario Pannus swap and have ended up with a quilt top of around 17" x 33", which is a great dimension for a wall hanging, and not so good for a table runner!

I considered trimming the design down to create the following, (around 12" x 33") however the flow of the colours isn't what I was wanting.

I spent a whole day debating how to approach the problem... how to find out what my partner would prefer without spoiling the surprise of the quilt! In the ended I decided to post photos into the Flickr group as I'd prefer to give my partner something that works for them! None of the participants know who I am making the table runner for, so that will still be a surprise, and the finished quilt will look quite different once it has been quilted.

My Creative Space

2010-12-02T07:34:00.003+08:00

Yesterday I posted my completed 'Swap Til You Drop' quilt to Oneygirl. I can only show you a sneak peek. When Oneygirl has received the quilt I'll post a complete photo.

I am currently working on my Parrio Pannus swap table runner. Once again, I can't give too much away with photos. However, here is a photo of my sketch in greyscale (which really doesn't do justice to the design ... )

If you'd like to see more creative spaces, then head over to the Kootoyoo blog.

Finished: Sanshi Table Runner

2010-11-25T13:20:00.004+08:00

Last night I completed my Sanshi table runner (which will probably live on our piano). I am delighted with how it has turned out. It has quite an organic 'feel' and still needs to be washed, so it should crinkle up a bit more.

Today in My Creative Space I am getting ready to start sewing something for the STUD (Swap 'Till You Drop) Swap and the Pario Pannus Swap. I have both projects planned out and fabric purchased. For other creative spaces, visit Kootoyoo.

Sanshi table runner

2010-11-20T13:17:00.001+08:00

About two years ago I purchased ten 7" squares of Japanese fabric from the Sanshi stall at the Quilt & Craft expo. The fabric has been sitting in my stash since then for the right inspiration to strike.

I decided that it wanted to be a table runner, to live on the top of our piano, or possibly on our kitchen table. Each square was chopped into 4 smaller squares and a lot of shuffling and rearranging took place to work out the fabric placement.

At first I thought this placement was going to be the one ... but I continued to shuffle things around as I sewed.

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch around the Japanese squares, then did straight stitching on the central panel, with each row being around 1/4" apart. I deliberately varied the width between the stitching, and from a distance you can see quite a nice symmetrical effect. Unfortunately up close it looks a bit more like a mistake!

Excuse the poor photos. I still need to do the binding, then I will take decent photos of the end product.

R.I.P Dell Desktop

2010-11-09T13:12:00.003+08:00

The last few weeks have been fairly frantic. My inlaws arrived from the UK. This is their second attempt to visit us this year. The first attempt was thwarted by the Icelandic volcano. The day after they arrived, our computer decided it was past its used-by-date and bit the dust. I had been regularly backing up ... but the backup had been giving error messages for about a month and I kept thinking "Ill do that tomorrow when I have more time". Silly silly me! I lost some sleep over that error of judgement, I can tell you! Thankfully Mr Computer Guru was able to retrieve all of our data. Phew!!!!

We had a 'bursting at the seams' house over the weekend as, in addition to my lovely in-laws, my parents arrived in their new-to-them caravan. During the weekend we went to the Castledare minature railway, which was heaps of fun. I really don't know why we haven't been before. I must say, the kids had a fantastic time in the 'van, and I very much enjoyed having a couple of very quiet breakfasts in the house while the kids ate in the van. B.L.I.S.S.

Our busy life continues tomorrow with Kid2 having Strabismus surgery tomorrow to correct his squint. Poor thing. He has to fast from 8am and we need to arrive at the hospital at 1:30pm. Not looking forward to the fasting at all. It is going to be tough!

As to the sewing/quilting side of things, a few weeks ago I was asking if anyone wanted to do a quilting swap. This has lead to the creation of the Pario Pannus Swap, and for November/December we are making and swapping a table runner. (Pario Pannus is latin, meaning to make or create cloth or rag). I have also joined another swap over at STUD. With our influx of guests, I haven't done any sewing/quilting, but I have many ideas, so watch this space!

My creative space

2010-10-28T08:22:00.002+08:00

A lovely star block received from Jen for the Virtually Bequilted bee.

For a quilt for a newborn baby boy, brother of Gracie.

A baby jumper and scarf, both requiring the ends to be sewn in, and the jumper needs buttons to be added.

For other creative spaces, visit Kootooyo

I am hopping mad!!!!!!!

2010-10-26T10:13:00.000+08:00

I am so hopping mad I can barely type.

My vacuum cleaner stopped working a few weeks ago. I just picked it up from the repair shop. They found a blockage ... a large blockage ... this sodding great long piece of wooden dowel was lodged in the handle. (The knife is in the photo for a size comparison).

I am 99.9% sure it was the cleaner and not the kids who did it. A while ago I had to pull a full-sized cotton bandanna out of the vacuum cleaner bag, which I was sure the cleaner had sucked up. I'd fire them right now if I didn't have house guests for the next 3 weeks. We are certainly going to have a serious discussion about what gets sucked up.

I am completely gobsmacked.

Setting Blocks completed

2010-10-25T15:00:00.000+08:00

I've finished the Setting Blocks for Ruby's star quilt. Here a preview of how the stars will look with the setting blocks. The position of the stars will change. I'll decide where they go once I receive the remaining blocks from the Virtually Bequilted bee, and have made a couple of stars myself.