Saturday, May 14, 2011

Crescent Skirt Sewalong: WADDER

Ok, so in keeping with my aims to improve my skill and learn more about 'fitting' I embarked on the Sewaholic Crescent Sewalong. I chose this particular sewalong for several reasons:

1) I am a classic pear-shape and Tasia designs for the pear. Sweet.
2) I am breast-feeding so dresses are kind of no-go in terms of access and also my boobs will shrink in the next 6 months.
3)Tasia knows what she's doing so I KNEW I would learn stuff.

Now, I tried to follow everything to the letter. I tried to not take any short-cuts despite my time-poorness. I made a muslin of the yoke and sewed VERY CAREFULLY. Ok, confession. I didn't sew a muslin of the whole skirt or insert the zipper which I probably should have, but the size 14 fit me to perfection. I think my waist measurement was about 1/2" larger than the measurement on the pattern but I am using a stretch denim so I thought firmer was better. I fitted the yoke firmly, taking in a full seam allowance where the zipper should be. The fit was firm but not pulling and the side seams were bang on my hips.

I pre-washed my fabric, I pressed and tried not to pull as I 'ironed'. I carefully measured the exact seam allowance and had a sticky marker to make sure I kept to it. When I did the French seams I measure again to make sure I was doing 1/4" (not that that effected the yoke at all.)

Today I skipped ahead a little and sewed in the zipper. When I tried the skirt on (I haven't clipped the seam of the yoke and facing or hemmed it) it was TOO BIG. Not a little bit but about 2 inches too big. WHAT DID I DO WRONG.

After cursing a lot, I remeasured my waist and it appears I have lost 2 inches off my waist in one month. Ok, so either I really did or I mismeasured. I should have made a whole size down.

What can I do to rescue my WADDER?!?




5 comments:

  1. first time for commenting!! Hi Jane, first question. Why use a french seam on stretch denim? I would only use it on sheer fabric or very fine fabric as it is a lot of work. I think you will have to un pick the seams and go back to the beginning. Re-fit the yoke and go from there, you might have to take a little off the side seams as well otherwise you will have more gathers and a more stick out skirt(bigger hips) This is looking like a nice project and worth going on with,good luck

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  2. I french seamed because it is neat and the white threads in the denim were really shaggy so I like having the raw edge encased -- it didn't take any longer than zig-zagging the edge and definitely faster than bias binding.

    Yes, I have concluded I need to do a lot of unpicking to take me back to the yoke and take in the side seams. Hopefully I don't ruin the look of the yoke because I took a lot of care in top stitching it! You can't really see in the photos the nice shaping of the yoke.

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  3. I have had another thought on this re-make. you could undo the top stitching (because it is hard to start back in invisibly) Just undo 5-10cm at each side seam on the yoke and try taking it in there each side it might give you enogh room and you wont have to undo all your work. I think thats what I'd do for an alteration. I was worried that french seams on denim would add bulk to the side seams especially at seam junctions.

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  4. Yes you're right about the bulk on the French seams -- that did occur to me. In fact my choice of fabric isn't the best for this but I had it in my stash...Anyway. I think it will work out and then I definitely want to make the skirt again in a fabric with more drape. It's a really lovely pattern for Poor Patty Pear that I am.

    Hopefully I will have some results very soon. :)

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  5. Hi Jane Elise! Like others have said, I'd suggest unpicking the sideseams and taking it in as much as you can through there. You can also take in through centre back where the zipper is, but you'd have to take out the zipper. It sounds like you've lost weight, and the fabric may have stretched!

    One other thought - do you have enough leftover fabric to recut just the yoke pieces? It might be faster than unpicking and reshaping the skirt.

    Also, if you make all these changes and end up slightly too big still, you can always ease a little bit in when we sew on the twill tape around the waistline. You can probably ease in half an inch to an inch all the way around, by cutting the twill tape slightly smaller than your waistline and easing it in.

    Good luck and I hope you can save it!

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