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I'm crafting some more!
I mentioned a small age ago that I'm teaching myself to make a skirt. I finally have progress I'm ready to share! The buttons are just sitting on there, and it needs a waistband, but it's nearly ready!
That's awesome! I love the color and style of the skirt. How do you feel about the skill level it took? Like was it easier or harder than you thought?
Thank you! It has been so hard actually! I’ve re-drafted the pattern at least half a dozen times, and made 4 practice skirts! Then, there’s getting and learning how to use the right tools. I found a printable hip curve ruler, and used it a few times before realizing I needed to use both rulers from the printout to make it double-sided, because it matters how you align it for each side! And I had to learn how to do things like zig-zag stitching, make buttonholes without a button hole machine (I have one, but the settings aren’t big enough for the buttons for this project), change the throat plate and needle foot thing, and replace the needle—all of which I’m pleased to say was easier than I anticipated.
As I mentioned, in some places the directions I’m following are wrong. In others, things aren’t explained well, so I had to go find other sources I could understand.
The hardest things really, though, have been conquering my apprehension, and making time to work on it. I was feeling ambitious when I bought the fabric (I think back in December or January), so I got the green, and a plaid fabric (and zipper and hook-and eye closures) for another, different skirt pattern. I never would have guessed that in July I’m still finishing the first one! And all of this started because I wanted to make a pair of pants, but found (what I thought to be) good, free instructions for skirts, which I figured I’d use to learn enough to be able to translate it into pants!
Woah! Lots of redrafts and process stuff! I feel like this is definitely one of those food learning experiences, you're definitely getting a lot out of it even if it might be taking longer than you think!
It's very cool to hear about your process and how you got to this point! It makes me want to get back to my sewing projects haha. I also feel a lot of apprehension as I slowly work on my own stuff. I think of how the end product is supposed to look, and how sewing patterns and terminology aren't a language I'm well familiar with yet. It'll be very cool to de the final!
I’m so looking forward to being able to finish it! Thanks for the support 😊
It has pockets! How hard were those to do? I made a pair of pajama bottoms and am wishing I had the guts to try to put pockets in them. I've been thinking about ripping the seams and adding some but don't want to ruin what I already did.
The pockets were really hard to figure out, actually! The book I’m learning from explains some things wrong. In the case of pockets, it directs you to draw the pocket opening by following the inner dart leg, then extending down and around. I found the problem with this to be that the dart is then exposed on the pocket backing (above the pocket opening), and the pocket opening ends up too deep, so it puffs out around my hips. I ended up drawing the pocket opening an inch from the outer dart leg (towards the side seam) so that the skirt front could hide the dart. It mostly worked—a bit of dart is visible still, but 🤷♀️.
I measured the distance from the waistband to the pocket opening on a pair of pants I like to figure out how far down to draw the opening. Sewing it was the easiest part! Once it’s all measured, and cut, and you clip into the seam on the curves, it comes together, and lies flat, and feels like sweet success!
In contrast, opening a seam and adding a pocket bag sounds much less complicated, but it’s pretty scary to seam rip something that came together right! I do look forward to trying it out to add pockets to things that need them (which is everything, amiright? 😉)!
I'm fairly convinced that sewing is one of those skills that are really low-level; you won't get it until you start doing it yourself, and you'll often learn faster only by having someone help you in person. And the reason why I think that is because books about sewing are all universally terrible. In contrast, look at a Micarah Tewers video; she measures absolutely nothing and only holds things up together to see if they're a loose match in size.
I’m sad to hear books are universally terrible 😕
My skills are humble thus far, but I feel accomplished to have done this much.
I can’t imagine not measuring (😱) but I’ll definitely look into your recommendation out of curiosity, if nothing else.
Very nice! I haven't done any sewing in many years. I lack the patience to do it properly, especially if it involved needlepoint. Always great to see creative expression!
Thank you 😊
For me, the sewing itself is a breeze. It’s getting to the point where needle goes in fabric that takes so long!