Champagne Clobber on a lemonade budget
I was looking through my wardrobe Saturday (23/03/13) and saw an old suede jacket that I got for Christmas when I was 12, (I'm now 21) that I had never worn, and I was pretty sure it was a hand-me-down and also a male jacket.
I also noticed a faux leather jacket from Primark I hadn't worn in ages and then I decided I was gonna cut them both up and make something different out of them. I needed a skirt because I hadn't bought myself a nice skirt in ages, and I wanted something more than just high street in my wardrobe, a little Kewteepye special made just by me, for me.
My sewing knowledge is more than the average, I don't sew very often, and as my granddad had recently loaned my sewing machine to make some curtains, my sewing machine was down at my nanan's and grandad's getting the much love it deserved.
My sewing knowledge expands to; basic pattern cutting, sewing straight lines, placing and refitting zips, shortening garments (shortie here) and the tiniest bit of pattern drafting. With all this in my sewing tool belt, I had only made two items, a skirt for my college pattern cutting assignment and a bag for my GCSE textiles assignment. Surprisingly I had never worn these garments.
So here is what I did:
I decided what type of skirt I wanted (pleated)
My hips are ten inch bigger and as I want the skirt to "move" while walking it will need to be a-line, therefore I need the skirt to have the pleats to fold over a wider section, such as one inch pleat then two inch fold over pleat.
To get myself acquainted with every bit of knowledge possible I watched every YouTube video I could find on how to make a pleated skirt. I watched these and soaked up all the pattern cutting formula I could find.
Then I got to unpicking
After this I started to make my pattern, I wanted it to be two toned pleat like this one:
I want a knife pleat so its similar to a school girl skirt, but still two toned.
What I did next was draw up my pattern, and this is kinda complicated, as it has tones of maths in it to make it work, if you get your measurements wrong you could end up making a skirt too big, small or oddly shaped.
I also noticed a faux leather jacket from Primark I hadn't worn in ages and then I decided I was gonna cut them both up and make something different out of them. I needed a skirt because I hadn't bought myself a nice skirt in ages, and I wanted something more than just high street in my wardrobe, a little Kewteepye special made just by me, for me.
My sewing knowledge is more than the average, I don't sew very often, and as my granddad had recently loaned my sewing machine to make some curtains, my sewing machine was down at my nanan's and grandad's getting the much love it deserved.
My sewing knowledge expands to; basic pattern cutting, sewing straight lines, placing and refitting zips, shortening garments (shortie here) and the tiniest bit of pattern drafting. With all this in my sewing tool belt, I had only made two items, a skirt for my college pattern cutting assignment and a bag for my GCSE textiles assignment. Surprisingly I had never worn these garments.
So here is what I did:
I decided what type of skirt I wanted (pleated)
My hips are ten inch bigger and as I want the skirt to "move" while walking it will need to be a-line, therefore I need the skirt to have the pleats to fold over a wider section, such as one inch pleat then two inch fold over pleat.
To get myself acquainted with every bit of knowledge possible I watched every YouTube video I could find on how to make a pleated skirt. I watched these and soaked up all the pattern cutting formula I could find.
Then I got to unpicking
After this I started to make my pattern, I wanted it to be two toned pleat like this one:
 |
| Two-toned box pleat. |
What I did next was draw up my pattern, and this is kinda complicated, as it has tones of maths in it to make it work, if you get your measurements wrong you could end up making a skirt too big, small or oddly shaped.
- I measured my waist- it came to 28- to give myself room I added 2 inches, but then realised I couldn't make an even number if I divided it by four so added an extra 2 inches, which made it 32.
- I then divided it by 2, so I had my front part of my waist, and back part of my waist.
- I want my pleat to be 2inches wide because it makes for easier cutting, so I need 16 pieces of 2inch pleat panels.
- The hidden pleats need to be bigger so it holds well.
- I marked this out on newspaper to make sure it fit.
Tips:
Press, press, press, press everything down and flat once you have sewn it.
Do all your pattern cutting before you start to sew.
If you don't have a sewing machine, mark your seem! It makes for straighter stitches.
I would love it if you took inspiration from this and did something similar, sewing makes me much more fulfilled when I've made something. I'm gonna make another post with this skirt on, when I've styled it.
Like This.... Love these
Hahah 'its like a B&Q advert' love it! Looks fab, well done xx
ReplyDeleteThankyou, when I have the binding and zips in, I'm totally gonna wear it out on the tiles :) x
DeleteBah, now I want to go and tear up my closet and make skirts for me and the kid. I love skirts and have far too few, and with spring here that is unacceptable. Lovely tutorial here, I'll send a pic after I've torn up some clothes to make one of these. :)
ReplyDeleteHahaha, have I given you the Sewing Bug, please don't cut up anything you have worn in the last 3 years!
DeleteThats my "do I really need to keep this" indicator, times of wear within the last three years.
xx
Great tutorial! :)
ReplyDeleteCheers Darling
Deletex