Simplicity 2451 - I made a skirt!

In all its wrinkly glory

In the spirit of having some actual sewing on my blog before going to the Birmingham sewists' meet-up next weekend, here is my Simplicity 2451. I first mentioned it way back in October, and it's been almost done for quite a while. Since getting my sewing machine I've zig-zagged some seam allowances, and today I finally took some photos.
Please excuse the wrinkles - it had been through a whole day at work. And of course this is just an accurate representation of the fabric...

I made view D, the short one, and it really is short. I made the biggest size as I was worried about making it too small but this wasn't the right thing to do - what should be the waistband sits on my hips. At least this means it hits just above the knees rather than being a crotch-grazing super-mini... If it had turned out like that I don't think it would have got half the wear it has, so it's not all bad.
Since this was intended to be a wearable muslin I made it out of a remnant of bottle green sheeting from John Lewis and used a scrap of amazing tropical fabric inherited from my Grandma for the pocket and back waistband facings. Sadly I didn't have enough for the front waistband facing too.

I'm not sure what you call this type of pocket but I like it. Also in this photo you can (not) see where I've stitched-in-the-ditch. I was a) apprehensive about doing this b) had a lot of spare car journey time and c) couldn't be bothered to change the thread in my Mum's sewing machine, so I did this bit by hand. It looks somewhat rough on the inside, but that's only for me to look at so it's ok. In future versions I'll conquer machine ditch-stitching - now I know how simple my machine is to thread I'm more likely to bother doing it :)

Changing feet was also beyond me (and I'm not sure Mum has a zip foot - her machine is a lovely old 70s Bernina so it probably wouldn't be cheap). I think I did a pretty good job for my first lapped zip. It's slightly wonky at the waistband but it's good enough for me!

The inside is definitely not glorious. I didn't really put much thought into seam finishing 'til I was mostly done. Then I naively thought zig-zagging with my new machine would be a good way to neaten things. Ha. Wobbling and puckers everywhere - my flatmate was quite alarmed at the outbursts this caused. I might go back and apply the pinking shears one day, if I can face it.
I think future versions will feature lining to hide the insides and prevent sticking when wearing tights (i.e. always).

There's that awesome back facing and the somewhat fudged waistband finish. You can also see here that I used white for the majority of the stitching (see laziness, above) which means that you can see the darts stretching out. Not attractive.

The main fabric cost £2.57, and the zip maybe a couple of pounds. Everything else came from my stash or Mum's.Having made this once and found it pretty straight forward I'm sure there will be future versions. I'd like to try to move the zip to a side seam, add a lining, use a thicker fabric, and make things generally a bit straighter and neater.
I'm fighting my perfectionist instincts but I know that for a first skirt I've done a pretty reasonable job :)

Snoods, Strawberries & Skirts

Big softie by name, big softie by nature

I've been crocheting a Christmas present for my younger sister K - it's snood.
Since she asked for a snood instead of a blanket (like I've made for other people) I thought I'd go to town with the yarn.
Sirdar Big Softie is sort of thing you see snoods made out of in shops. It's very soft (51% wool, 49% acrylic) and, as it says, super chunky. I ordered my yarn from Derramores in the end as they had 20% off and carry the full range of colours. Annoyingly this colour, 324 - Fripp, turned out to be much pinker than it looked online. I'd been aiming for purple & should have picked 323 - Damson. However my other sister & I agreed that this colour will look really nice on K so on I went.
I improvised the design and it seems to be going ok thus far. It's a big loop formed by joining the ends of the foundation chain into a sort of giant magic ring. Mindful of a previous loopy crochet attempt that had been horribly twisted, I carefully flattened out the chain before joining it. It didn't work. The snood is a mobius loop. Oops.

15mm crochet hook hehe

I don't feel totally at home working with this sort of yarn instead of my usual 100% acrylic bargain basement DK. I feel a bit like I might ruin it with dirty/sweaty hands or if I have to rip back any stitches. I also don't know if loose stitches will be obvious, my tension isn't really consistent and I have a feeling that big yarn and big stitches won't give me anywhere to hide... Hmm.

Rag market strawberries

In other news the next thing in my sewing queue is probably a proper Sorbetto made of this strawberry fabric from the rag market in Birmingham. I'm still undecided on whether to use plain white bias binding, red with white polka dots, or attempt to make my own out of leftover fabric. I think perhaps I'll cut out my pieces and see how much fabric I have left!

Simplicity 2451, green cotton sheeting and a matching zip!

I'm quite excited to have a go at making Simplicity 2451. I've seen loads of great versions around, especially by So Zo, House of Pinheiro, and  Bernie & I.

Cotton sheeting probably isn't the right thing to be making it from but this will do as a muslin. I've got very little chance of getting everything right first time, especially as I've not inserted a zip or interfaced anything before.

This looks like the stuff, no?

Speaking of interfacing, my mum said I could use some of her stash before she went away. The only problem has been finding & identifying it! I think I've got the right stuff here, guidance would be much appreciated.
Does the "light" in the name have any significance? Will it affect the floppitude of my waistband much? I'm guessing the side with the dots & shiny is the gluey side...