Having put on some pounds (God, is that all she talks about these days?), but wanting to evolve from my sweats-and-tee-shirt look to something more thoughtful (it's not very nice to not even try to look good and to go out in public looking dumpy).

But I don't have anything that fits.  I thought some circle skirts would be comfortable and nice-looking. ​

And then I was going through a bin of fabric and found a cheap knit I'd bought 10 years ago for a tie-making project that was never completed and I thought it might make a nice cheap and quick skirt for bumming around the house in the summer. This one I made with a narrow waistband and 1.5 x my hip measurement. It's hideous I suppose, but I wear it. In public.

Next I thought I'd try a woven skirt with a flat waistband and zipper closure. I went searching for a tutorial and found a helpful one at Megan Nielsen ("how to make a dirndl skirt"). I had a feeling a dirndl would not look good on me, but you can't sue me for at least trying. I used a remnant of a lovely Robert Kaufman lawn print in my stash.

Okay, so first off I cut out the pieces following the instructions precisely, including the 5"-width waistband, and basted it together. Five inches? Who has a waist that long? Well, I guess the model does because the skirt looks good on her. On me, it was comical. I took it apart and cut the waistband down to 1.5 inches. Then I sewed it all together and put in the zipper. (I used this super helpful tutorial by Angela Wolf.) I put it on and...no. Way too much gathering for me. 

I took it all apart. I cut the diameter down to a bit more than 1.5 my waist measurement. Put it all back together and this is the result. 

Sigh. No, I don't think so.

I made this skirt once before. I wear it a lot. I think it looks good and it is super duper comfortable. The one I made before is lined in the cheapest poly knit that Joann's sells, and it has worked out great.

Since that skirt is a print and it's gets so much use, I knew I would get a lot of wear out of a comfortable black basic skirt along the same lines.  Motivation struck to sew when I realized I had this lovely black poly knit in my stash from when I bought a bunch of fabric from my friend. I didn't have lining fabric, though, and when I went to Joann's they had nothing suitable (super cheap) in black, so I got the closest thing they had, gray, and used it. More than wanting to save money, I wanted to use the same fabric I used for the other one since it works so well—feels great, adds nice body to the garment, and does not cling staticwise.

Sewing both the skirt and the lining means there are 16 panels to cut out and sew.  That is somewhat daunting for someone like myself who finds repetition dull, but the upside is that the margin for error is low since the construction technique required involves just two steps.

I sewed it all on my serger, and I was not so lazy that I did not switch thread colors for the lining and the fashion fabric. I did switch and I am glad I did. No one but me will probably ever know, but sewing my own clothes is all for my pleasure anyway.

I made the elastic waist a little too large. This is a recurring problem for me; I guess I fear a tight waistband so much that I go overboard. In fact, in this picture I have taken out about an inch and a half with a safety pin. I did lose some weight since the time I sewed it, but that's a lot to be overboard with.

I am super happy with the skirt. My husband insists I need to make all my skirts shorter. I am short and he is probably right, but I can't go as short as he thinks so I am still working on finding the proper length: short enough to look good on my figure but decent enough for work and my age (not 20).

Speaking of figures. sigh. I see I need a better brassiere and posture. Neither is really within my power. I can't stand tight, bindy things so the bra will stay what it is. The posture has been a bane to me my whole life. I must have been born with abnormally weak back muscles. I try to improve but it hasn't happened much in 57 years, so I don't expect I will get control over the situation in the time I have left on the Earth.

Yay x a googol! I have finally constructed the perfect concert skirt! After I made the Hot Patterns Bossa Nova skirt in black, it occurred to me that a longer version could be the long-sought perfect concert skirt.

This time I wanted to ensure I made it with a black lining, though, and I did not risk going to Joann's only to find they didn't have what I wanted, so I went online. I also wanted to make sure I used tricot knit, and I'm not sure I have seen this at Joann's. I found it and ordered it.

When my black tricot arrived, I made the skirt up quickly and just in time—of course—for my December 2016 New Horizons Orchestra concert. Sadly, the skirt was not ready in time for my Medina Symphony concert in November and I wore pants because my other long concert skirt is just too over the top for that group and the short one I made is too short for being in the front row. :-(

This skirt is totally awesome. It is comfortable, falls nicely when I'm sitting, is totally unrestrictive, and looks good (and safely within the hump of the bell curve of convention—so strange to realize that matters to me).

One thing I did different on this skirt from either of the previous versions of it that I sewed is to use a wide nonroll elastic for the waistband. Since it's for more physical use, i.e., sitting and moving around in the chair, I wanted to be sure it would stay planted at my waist. Not too long ago I watched a Craftsy course, Next-Level Knits: Techniques for Structure & Style with Pam W. Howard, and learned about the wider nonroll elastic. (That is another great Craftsy course, and I love Pam Howard. She is another great teacher.)

I think this is from the same skirt block I developed with Karen Day, the super sewing pro I have taken a few classes with. It fits much more nicely than the silk dupioni version I made for Maria's wedding. This one is made out of a corduroy I bought at Joann's. I thought it was soooo cool at the time. I do love corduroy. But I am not so sure the color is that good on me. At any rate, it fits nicely and is super comfortable to wear. I guess the cotton corduroy has more give than the dupioni. I lined it with some lovely gray china silk I had in my stash, which probably adds to the comfort!!

Again, I am not so sure a skirt starting around my actual waistline is a good look on me. I feel a little like Ed Grimley. I must say.

I LOVE MY SHARK SKIRT!!!!!!!!! I wear it ALL THE TIME in the summer.

It is super comfy and I think it is cute. It is fun with the awesome shark pattern. The fabric is cotton jersey. It was from a sheet I got at Goodwill! I made my daughter a pair of PJs pants out of it. Then I made this skirt and later a Jalie racer-back T-shirt (separate blog post) for me. 

My niece liked my shark skirt and asked me to make her one. I was so sad when I came home and saw I did not have enough of the bedsheet left for another skirt. I searched and searched online. Not surprisingly, I could not find the same thing. I did find the same pattern--blue sharks in very much the same pattern--but it was on flannel. I made her a skirt anyway, and one for her little sister, too, hoping it wouldn't be too hot. They seemed pleased!

But the jersey is what takes my skirt over the top! A light knit vs a woven flannel. I wish I could have found that fabric! I probably would have bought bolts of it and made myself a whole camo-shark wardrobe!

I had this cotton voile in this lovely eggshell blue color in my stash for a while. I was waiting to find the right idea; I didn't want to waste it. What the heck, I decided one day to make a light, fun summer circle skirt.

I cut out two rectangles long enough to have very gentle gathering, and then I added a waistband, zipper, and cute little blue button I had in my button stash.

I like it; it's soft, and breezy, and light, and blue. But why did I have to make it so short? so snug? Kinda limits my wearing options. <<Sadness.>>

I had some pink pique cotton left over from a jacket I made. Announcement at work: wear pink on Friday in support of breast cancer awareness! What if I made a skirt to go with my pink pique jacket? I could go decked out in pink—and decked out in things I made.

So I had about 3 days. How hard could a simple circle skirt be? Darn, not enough fabric. So I cut two rectangular bands, one longer and wider than the other, and serged them together, gathering the longer band to the shorter one. Then I folded over the top to create a casing and added elastic--1" I believe.

So simple, and sometimes simple is too simple. I haven't ever worn this skirt in public, and certainly not to work, thank goodness. It doesn't seem so horrible in the pictures but I put it on and it seems too poofy. It's comfy. Maybe I'll try to wear it this summer.

Ha ha. Self-drafted. I took a drafting class with a fabulous pro, Karen Day. She led me through all the steps to come up with a basic skirt block. So not so self; more like Karen+self-drafted.

At any rate, I'm not so happy with this skirt, I'm sad to say. The fabric is a beautiful, beautiful, shiny, colorful, easy-to-sew silk dupioni I picked up at the Cleveland Sewing Expo in March 2015 from one of the booths. A big fabric discounter but the name escapes me now. I also picked up some china silk in a matching magenta. I bought enough for a lining and a shirt.

My friend was getting married in May. She is a sweetheart and gorgeous and I can't believe she was not snapped up long before. But finally she had met her man. I wanted to wear something nice to her wedding. Surely I could make a simple pencil skirt and a blouse to go along with it out of my new silk fabrics by May! I barely got the skirt done--classic. I was freaking out--what would I wear with this skirt!!??!! Then I realized I had the magenta button down shirt in my closet--in the exact same color and fabric as the lining material I had purchased. 

So what don't I like? It fits a wee bit too snugly, and it creeps up as I'm wearing it. I probably did not leave enough ease and went a little overboard with the fitting. I also think, seeing these pictures, that I should never, never, never wear a patterned skirt that goes all the way to my waist. There is way too much bottom half going on here. My torso looks bizzare.

I got to be part of a three-way solo in my orchestra last year! I was third violin solo in Bugler's Holiday by Leroy Anderson. (You can hear it hear it here, at about minute 8:00) We had two really good violinists that year and one, Stephanie, was the first "trumpet," and the other, Veronica, was the second "trumpet." I was the third. I'm not sure why I was chosen to be the third. I swear I am not the third-best violinist. I might be one of the most eager to improve. Maybe the conductor thought I was up for the challenge. Honestly, I was up for it, but I was not at all confident about it.  I practiced a lot. In the end, all I wanted to do was get through it without falling apart. And I did. That was a big accomplishment for me.

I suppose in a sense this skirt is analogous. I am trying to learn to sew well. I wanted to make a beautiful, elegant, slightly showy skirt to help make the performance something special.  I wanted to look the part of a soloist--but one befitting my station. In the end, I was just happy to get a wearable garment. I finished it--as per usual--very near curtain time. I didn't like how poofy it turned out, but there was no time to rectify the situation Perhaps I could pretend that the poof made it special.

It is made out of a wool suiting. It's a very nice fabric and was very easy to work with. I made the gathered version of this skirt. The long,  less gathered version on this pattern envelope is hideous and I could not envision making that option. Plus, I like room in my skirt when I'm playing. Coverage and room to move. Ergo, gathered version.

I think that would have been fine, but then I decided to gather the lining, which was a polyester, I think; at any rate, it was a bit stiffer than say a china silk. It added too much bulk really at the waistline. Not so good.

I am wearing it with my silk jersey performance top. Blogged separately.

I made the short version, no embellishments or split seams. The first time I made it, it was in this orange and white seersucker that was on super sale at Joann's. I discovered it was too tight when I first tried it on, and I never bothered to hem it. A blessing in disguise, because I really don't know what I was thinking with that fabric! It is hideous. I count my lucky stars whenever I spy it in the discard pile that I did not do any further work with it.

But I knew I needed to make a larger size when I wanted to make it again. And I did want to make it again one day after my husband and I went to dinner. The waitresses were wearing cute little kilt-like skirts. My husband said, "now there's a skirt you ought to make! It would look great on you." So the next day I went to Joann's looking for fabric. It had to be red plaid. Well I found what I was looking for--color and patternwise--in the homespun section. Homespun. Sounds so quaint. Homespun. Must be nice, right? So I bought it and sewed it up. Yuck! It was very easy to sew but it hangs like a stiff curtain, which is probably what it is designed for. The skirt is also a wee bit too big. My husband loves it. But this one is going to get slipped into the discard pile.

It doesn't look so hideous with a shirt hanging over it--does it?

But, ugh. Really, it's too stiff.

and the sad thing is, this pattern was slight challenge for me and before I put it on I thought I had made a leap in my skills. Alas.