Clover sewalong

For the eagle eyed among you, you will have noticed a new button on the right of the homepage screen. I am taking part in my first sewalong!

I decided to take part in this before I decided to set myself the Pillowcase Dress Challenge, so I am already massively behind in the sewalong. Think I’m just going to have to do it at my own pace.

The sewalong is done by Colette Patterns (can you tell how much I like their patterns yet?!), and talks you through in detail how to make their Clover trousers. So far I have managed to get the pattern and some fabric. The sewalong is already at fitting stages so I have a bit of catching up to do!

The fabric for these trousers needs to have some stretch in it to be comfortable when the knees bends and for general movement. It should have 1 – 3% lycra / spandex in it – this is what gives it it’s stretch. You don’t want more than 5% lycra otherwise the trousers will look like leggings!

The drape of the fabric should also be slightly stiff. Drape is the way fabric hangs. In my research to try and explain to you what drape is, I found it done much better on the Colette Patterns blog.

There is also a handy diagram about different types of fabric and their drapeyness (pretty sure I just made that word up) – I’m putting this in for my benefit more than anything!

I bought the fabric below to make the trial ones where you work out any alterations to make to the pattern. It is cotton drill, made from 97% cotton and 3% spandex. The cotton was quite expensive though, so am wondering whether to make the real things out of this – what do you think? Too bright for trousers?!

Patterns for Fuller Skirts

In my Pattern Making class last week, we moved on from the straight skirt patterns and learnt how to make a pattern for a fuller, or more flared, skirt using the same block.

You can do this in two ways. The first is by using pivot points, the second is called ‘slashing’.

I will try and explain slashing first!

I started by drawing round the front piece of the straight skirt block that I made in a previous lesson. Here you can see I have transferred the dart details, the hip notches, and then drawn a straight line down from the point of the dart.

I then cut along the line I had drawn, and along the left side of the dart. This created two parts of the pattern.

Placing the left part of the pattern on top of the right, match the points of the dart together. This is the pivot point. From this point you pivot the top piece of the pattern so that the two dart lines are now on top of each other.

By doing this you close the dart and open out the bottom of the skirt, making it fuller.

By adding another piece of paper underneath to fill that gap, joining the hem line together again, and marking on the grainline, you have the front of a fuller skirt pattern (without seam allowance etc marked on).

You must increase the back part of the pattern the same amount as the front, using the same process. This is how the front looks full scale.
Pivoting is another way of creating a fuller skirt pattern.

I began by drawing round half of the skirt block, from the right hand edge of the dart to directly under the point of the dart. The dart point is also marked on.

With the block back in place, use the point of the dart as the pivot point and turn the block outwards so that the dart closes.

By then drawing round the left edge of the block, and joining the hem line, you create the new, fuller skirt pattern (again, without seam allowance etc).

You can create pivot, or flare, points in different places, as long as they are exactly the same on the front and the back. Using the hip line and the dart point I have created new pivot points at 2cm and 4cm. This will ensure that the skirt opens the same amount on both the front and back if you use the corresponding pivot point.

By drawing lines down from the dart points, you create flare lines, and it is from these that the skirt will open out.An additional hip dart can also be added. This is solely to create extra hem flare. (you use lots of maths and stuff to get it in the right place, but I won’t bore you with that!)
We also learnt a bit about grainline, but I might save that for another day too!

!!!PILLOWCASE DRESS UPDATE!!!

Dress no. 7 done! This is the first one I have made from a donated pillowcase, so thank you – keep them coming!

You can see this dress and the others in the Pillowcase Dress Gallery, or have a look at my Pillowcase Dress Challenge page to find out how you can get involved!

It’s all about the (mini) pencil skirt

According to my fashion sources, the pencil skirt is this seasons must-have.

Which is great as we have been creating slim skirt patterns in my Pattern Cutting classes! I am so On Trend.

Last week I explained how we created our blocks, and from these blocks we can create different skirt patterns. So that is what we did!

The block (yellow template in picture below) is made to half scale. Placing it on the pattern paper, we drew round it. Using the notch marks on the block we transferred all the information such as dart points, dart folding points and hip lines.

By folding the dart you can see where to put the correct cutting line on the pattern.

After adding a 0.5cm seam allowance and a 2cm hem allowance, we cut the pattern out and remarked all of the important information with the pattern notcher.

Repeating this for the back and waistband of the skirt, we had a complete pattern! Using this pattern I then cut it out of fabric to create a toile, this is used to check a pattern is correct or if any changes need to be made.

A few quick stitches later I had created the cutest toile I ever saw (although it should be said here that I have never actually seen one before). Because the block was half scale, the toile was mini-sized as well. I debated putting it on Peggy to show you, but thought that might border on animal cruelty…

Dart detail, and waistband overlap for fastening

!!!PILLOWCASE DRESS UPDATE!!!

Have you ever wondered what 20 metres of elastic looks like? No, me neither. But in case you are now wondering what 20 metres of elastic does look like, here is a picture:

My first package of supplies arrived from Sewbox yesterday! Thank you!

I have also made dress number 2:

While I wait for my next little package from Sewbox, I am raiding my sewing stores for things to use instead. Here I have used ribbon instead of bias binding for the shoulder ties, and found the cute little buttons hiding in a box of beads!

Find out more about my Pillowcase Dress Challenge, or have a look at the dresses made so far in the Gallery!