Saturday 18 June 2011

Shirt to Skirt, a Revamp Adventure! Part 2: Fitting

Hello there readers and a very happy Weekend to you all!

Today I'm going to share with you the next steps of my Shirt to Skirt revamp adventure, with Part 2: Fitting.

First of all (because of my pre-mentioned obsession with perfectly matched plaid) I pinned up both the waist and the hem of the skirt along a line if the plaid so that I would have a lovely line of perfect pattern along these edges. After this I began fitting the skirt to my shape. From my first post you may remember that I sewed each of my pieces of raw shirt material into a single piece for convenience. I actually found it best to create a tube of fabric wide enough to fit over my hips and I then started to fit this tube to my waist. It was fairly simple, I added a pair of darts in the back over the hollows in my back and a matching pair in the front over my hips. You can see the back darts in the picture below, I think they look quite yummy :)

Waist pinned along pattern line, two darts in the back 

Once I had fitted the fabric tube to my waist I cut down the centre front to create the opening for the skirt. Once again I cut down a line on the plaid to make sure that everything would remain matched and pretty.

Skirt cut down the centre front

I will add facing to these edges later so they will no longer be raw. After the cutting I tried the skirt on again to make sure it fits just right, which it does, hurrah! However, the length had started to creep up when perfected the line of the plaid pattern, so I decided to add a contrasting cotton to the hem for decency. Plus I'm really liking the green next to the plaid, what do you think?

Showing the new opening down the centre and the extra length in green cotton

Here's the view from the back so you can see how awesomely the skirt fits there too. How nice to have something that fits one's behind for a change :)

It fits my bum, hurrah! 

I'm also very happy with the seam finishing I have been using on this project. I've been trying out turned and stitched seams, a method that I learnt from Gertie's blog, and I have to say I'm loving this finish. It looks very neat and feels as though it will be hard wearing which is always a plus.

Fancy seam finishing, oooooo!

The main fitting of the skirt has now been done, next up I will need to add the waistband, add facings to the front edges of the skirt, hem it, and add the buttons and buttonholes before finally adding the straps and any other little details I might think of. This feels like it may take a little time, but I'm loving how everything is looking so far! Not bad for someone who's just winging it :)

By the way, I'm thinking of green for the waistband to match the hem, what do you think? I think it looks cute, like a little leprechaun...

I'm thinking green for the waistband, what do you think?

Join me again soon for the next update on this project, Part 3: Fiddly Bits and Pieces.

Happy Weekend everyone!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks great so far! I like the green with the plaid. It adds an extra punch.

Miss Marie said...

Ohhh, this is coming along very nicely. The plain green to add length was a great idea. I think it will look good if the waistband and straps are both green, otherwise maybe just plaid for the waistband? It's a tricky one to choose those!

Unknown said...

Looks lovely, can't wait to see it completed.

Katie said...

mala-14 - Thank you! I'm really liking the green now too, it breaks up the pattern a bit :)

Miss Marie - Thanks for the advice, it is tricky to choose! I've been playing around and I'm definitely going to make the waistband green now. I'm also thinking of making reversible straps, plaid on one side and green on the other, so I can wear them any way I want :)

Hannah - Thank you so much, it should be finished soon now!

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