Monday, May 27, 2013

Maybe You Should Sit Down For This...

Leave it to me: I'm always top banana in the shock department.
~ Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany's)

Are you ready for a shock?  I have sewn!

Yes, all it takes is an extra long weekend and I can finish all my regular chores AND get into the sewing room!  :)

Oh, and a project deadline doesn't hurt either...  ;)

I was able to make Ana's skirt.  The first step was the waistband - here it is with a 1/2 inch wide elastic around the top:  


There are 10 skirt panels.  They are sewn together along all 11 side seams (to form a circle), before the pleats are put in.  The pleats are stitched closed such that they contain the side seams:  


Here you can see one of the pleats being opened up:  


Given that there are 11 pleats, I realized that if I was off by even a small amount on each one, it could add up to a serious mis-match with the waistband.  So, I only sewed 10 of them:  


Then I lined the skirt up with the waistband and used the mis-match to figure out exactly how large to make the 11th (and last) pleat:  


It worked like a charm!  Here's the finished skirt:  


You can see that I left the elastic hanging - Ana can do the last fitting step of pulling it to the length she wants, stitching the ends together, trimming the excess and closing up the small opening in the waistband.  

I sure hope Ana likes it!  :)

It felt so good to sew again!  It looks like I'm probably going to get a long weekend every week, starting mid-July and continuing through to the end of September - thanks to the upcoming federal government furlough.  Maybe I'll have enough time to put a real dent in my queue!  :)

10 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Beverly! It felt so good to sew and I'm happy with how it came out. :)

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  2. Great job on those box pleats! Now that you have an extra day a week, I wonder if you'll dedicate that day to something you really want to do.

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    1. I'm going to try! The last thing I want to do is let that time slip through my fingers and be filled up with trivia...

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  3. Just beautiful! I love the fabric choice. Did you make your own pattern? Leaving that last pleat unfinished for easy adjustments was really smart.

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    1. Thanks, Anna! :)
      I was kind of happy with my idea to use the last pleat for fitting - although, to be fair, I learned that lesson the hard way! ;)
      There is a link to the pattern I used in this post:
      http://gwenstriptych.blogspot.mx/2013/05/i-just-cant-say-no-or-can-i.html

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  4. Don't you just love it when a good idea works out? :) The skirt is looking good, and you have a very positive outlook on the upcoming furlough!

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    1. Thanks, Becky!
      Regarding the furlough, my only other choice is to be miserable, and that is certainly not going to change or help anything...

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  5. Gracias Gwen!
    si me encanto la falda y la tela con mariposas también, gracias por tu paciencia para hacerla en un fin de semana.
    gracias a Dios y al gobierno que te dan permiso de faltar en el trabajo.

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    Replies
    1. Fue maravilloso ir a verte y tú eres hermoso en su nueva falda!

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