It's less than a month till Christmas now so I feel entirely justified in talking about it and starting my festive makes. Ok, so I haven't really bought any Christmas presents yet and I haven't even started planning my festive baking but I have made a fun and very silly skirt covered in Santa heads. As my friend put it, "Yay! You've made another item of beard clothing."
The skirt's shape is roughly based on an old H&M skirt of mine. Between that and my old pattern drafting book I managed to draft a curved yoke waistband to sit on my lower waist/upper hip. I definitely find curved waistbands more flattering for my hourglass shape, but annoyingly they're not always easy to come by in shops. Take that retailers, I'll make my own!
My old H&M skirt has box pleats but I felt these santas were crying out for some fun and flirty gathers. I think they worked a treat. Just to ramp up the silliness further I added a red ric rac border. You have no idea how long I've been wanting to add ric rac to an item of clothing, but felt the opportunity hadn't really presented itself until now. It was definitely the finishing touch here. Now I have to stop myself from adding ric rac to everything.
I was really impressed that I managed to squeak this skirt out of 1.5m of fabric. Go me! Sadly not enough to (attempt to) pattern match at side seams but I wasn't too bothered as the gathers obscure it anyway. At least I managed to position the santa heads nicely on the waistband and the top of the gathers.
Like everything else I've sewn this year I added a lining as I cannot stand the thought of my skirts/dresses clinging to my tights; it would drive me completely bonkers. I also know that I can't be bothered with slips so I just suck it up and add linings. It adds time to projects and lining fabrics can be arsey to handle but it's definitely worth it for cotton garments. Look how pretty it makes the insides too!
Speaking of insides, this was the first project where I used my new overlocker. Look at those neat seam allowances, mmmm. I know it's entirely do-able to make clothes without ever owning an overlocker, but the perfectionist in me seriously loves the tidy, professional finish it adds. It appears to only have one speed setting though - FAST - so I view it in equal measures of awe and terror.
Sadly, half way through this project my sewing machine started making a very strange, crackling, buzzing noise. It continued to get louder to the point that I swapped to my mum's sewing machine. Good job she bought it when we got my overlocker! So poor Singer Sally (obviously my machine has a name) is at the sewing machine doctor. I know she's 10 years old but I really hope whatever is wrong is fixable. It's the first problem I've ever encountered with her.
I can't leave this post on a downer, so here's an outtake of me swooshing about in my skirt. Those Santas are ready to boogie at Edinburgh's Christmas markets this weekend.
Has anybody else got Christmas plans in the pipeline - dressmaking, baking or otherwise? Do tell!