ABBA Glitter Bell Bottoms

I am lucky enough to be going to the ABBA "concert" in London this summer! ABBA is pretty much my favourite band in the world. Even though they were in the charts before my time, I love almost all their songs and their vibe of sparkly, upbeat, lyrical pop is my thing. 

Of course, their visual imagery is so strong too, and if I'm going to their show, I want to dress up! When I was in my 20s, my mum made my sister and I matching bell bottoms, in turquoise sequins. We wore them to a 70s fancy dress party and I remember how much fun they were to wear, we spent the whole night dancing. Probably to a lot of ABBA!

I couldn't find any turquoise sequins at Fabricana, but I did get this silver-rainbow-shimmer-glitter-stretch fabric. They call it Liquid Lame. I got 2.5 yards, and used it all. I love how it has a holographic rainbow effect, especially in artificial lighting. It is silver, but shows a lot of blue, green, pink and yellow too. It is not sheer, in that you can't see through it, but it is very sheer in that it shows all the lumps and bumps under, it really is like liquid. I might have to wear sports leggings underneath, just for a bit of modesty. (Plus, I wouldn't have to wear them on the London Underground, just pop them on and off at the show!)

For my pattern, I looked through my trousers patterns, and settled on New Look 6057. Considering I have never sewn an actual garment, as designed, from this pattern, it has been one of the most useful patterns I own! That wide, low, scooped waistband is ideal for me and I've used it four times now.

I cut a size 10, even though that does not correspond with my measurements. The fabric is stretch and I wasn't sure I wanted negative ease, but I knew I had room to play with. I cut the pattern to the lengthen/shorten lines at the knee and then, for the bell bottom, flared out to the remaining width of the fabric that I had. I also left the leg hem long so that I could decide after trying them on, ideally with footwear.

I cut the front and back waistband on the fold. There are two pieces each, one for the outer, and one for the lining. I used my own traced pattern piece for these. I made up the waistband and added elastic inside for extra security. I made the whole thing up on my overlocker, with the exception of the back darts. I left the hem unfinished.

I went back and carved out some more ease above the knees. It has messed up the lines of the leg, they are pulling in a funny way now, but they are pretty baggy, and bell bottoms make your legs look so slim that I didn't want to miss out on that effect. I should really make them a whole lot smaller overall, take out all the ease, but the fabric is so sheer that I don't exactly want to dress like that. Any more. 

Supplies:

  Fabric: 2.5 yards, Fabricana, $23.57

  Pattern: New Look, used previously, $0

  Notions: elastic, upcycled, $0

Star Wars T-shirt

 

This t-shirt was literally YEARS in the making!

Following the success of our first trip to Disneyland in 2017, we planned a follow up for 2020. Oops.

I didn't need new clothes, but my husband did, and I also knew that we would be able to visit Star Wars Land, which opened since our last visit. He is a big Star Wars fan, so I got him a Star Wars t-shirt, which happened to come with some pyjama pants.

I figured that the pants would have enough fabric for a t-shirt for me, if I pieced a seam through the centre. I used the Kirsten T-shirt pattern from Maria Denmark. I got this through a newsletter signup many years ago, and I've made it twice before. Here, and here. I chose this one because I could fit it on the tapered trouser legs, and it has integrated sleeves, so less fabric needed.

Here it is, laid out on the pants legs. The print runs both ways up, so I didn't have to worry too much about pattern matching. 

After I got everything made up, I had a few errors to sort out. I don't know what on earth I did with the neckline. (This was three years, and an international move ago.) Did I turn it around and add this panel to the original front neckline? Probably. All I know is that now, that pieced section is at the back. 

I had a dreadful time with the neckline trim. This is the point where I put it away, and thought I would never resurrect it. The movers shipped it for me, and we re-booked our trip for November 2022, so I thought I might have another go. Even better, my overlocker and sewing machine worked in our new country, with a power converter!

I thought about doing three different colour trims, for the neckline and two sleeves. There are flashes of red, blue and yellow in the black and white. I thought it might add a nice pop of colour. But in the end, I went for the easiest option and trimmed the neck in the same fabric. I had to unpick this once because it was gaping too much. 

For the sleeves and hem, I just overlocked the edge and zig zag stitched them down. I shortened the hem a lot, which helps it skim my tummy better. Things always ride up on my hips and create fabric folds in my middle section. Above the hip, but below the waist, is the right length top for me. 

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I like how it is not obvious Star Wars at first glance, but not hiding either, and I always love taking something unwanted and turning it into something wearable!

Victorian Corset

As I embark on a new sewing adventure, I have made a Victorian Corset to fit under a Victorian Bustle Dress. Yes, I have decided to create something completely frivolous that I may never wear out in public. But it is a lot of fun to plan. 

A proper Victorian outfit needs the proper foundations. It is probably a good thing that the most daunting garment needs to be tackled first, kind of like eating your vegetables. Such a challenging construction almost put me off the whole endeavour, but it has been far less challenging than I expected, and I am pretty pleased with myself for how well it turned out.

I bought Truly Victorian's TV110 Corset as an e-pattern and made the first toile from a cotton business shirt. I cut a size D with a B cup. I shortened the waist by an inch, at the waistline. I made this without bones and I laced the back with knitting yarn by punching holes in the back with a knitting needle - because I didn't even have an awl yet. I sewed the front shut - no busk. Based on this try on, I decided to size down the cup and size up the waist area. I was pleased enough with this to go ahead and order the proper supplies from Sew Curvy.

For the real version, I cut a size D and graded out at the waist to a size E. I did the cup size A. 

While I was putting it together, I lost my nerve and started reducing the size of the seam allowances. It was coming up so small! When I put the first three pieces together and held them up to myself, what was meant to be the side seam was about 1/8 of the way around my body. I kept going, deciding that it was better to finish it as a toile and decide what should be done differently afterwards. I was determined not to abandon it half way through. I didn't actually have a proper idea of what I should change anyway. 

So I sewed it up and closed off the back edges. Then I sewed the boning channels and inserted the bones. Sewing the boning channels was actually really fun. I decided to put them beside the seam where the seam allowance was not. The pattern calls for topstitching the seam allowance down and adding the boning channel beside that. My machine was struggling with four layers of coutil, so I didn't want to finish it off by making it sew through six layers. Putting the boning on the other side gives it less bulk and the seam allowances balance out the boning plus give a modicum of strength opposite each bone. 

Making a two layer corset seems like a bit of a faff at the time, but I can fully appreciate how much easier it is than adding boning channels. Especially if you have to make your channels out of self fabric. All I had to do was run a seam beside the existing one and push the bone in. So easy.

I decided to add the laces without grommets to check the fit first. I put one straight bone in the back, but didn't place it very well. I could see an issue with my sway back in the fit of the lacing over the back waist area. It was very puckered, even with the bone. I wasn't exactly sure how to fix a sway back in a corset, but it definitely needed less fabric in this area. I pinched out a wedge but then straightened up the back edges from top to bottom. It added quite a bit of fabric back into the waist circumference.

I was truly surprised, when I tried it on, at how well it fitted. I was delighted because where I thought I was going to have to re-make the entire thing, with new coutil and a shorter busk, I now only had to re-do the back piece and buy one pair of shorter spiral bones.

I had also realised that the bottom edge was too low, and would dig into the top of my legs when I sat down. This was pretty disappointing, since I had bought pre-cut bones, based on the measurements from my first toile.

But I ordered more supplies and put the too-long bones to good use. I re-positioned them on the centre line of the corset pieces. Each piece is boned twice, once at the side seam and once in the centre. There are also flat steel bones at either side of the busk and on both sides of the eyelets. 18 spiral steels, 6 flat steels, the busk and 12 eyelets. The whole thing is very heavy but I love the armoured plate effect that the three bones in the first panel give where they meet at the bottom.

The fit seems to be pretty good. I have a about 1 to 1.5 inches of lacing gap, but the back is even throughout the laces. The fit in the front of the bust seems pretty good. It is not particularly supportive, and there is not a proper amount of "spillage" at the top. Unfortunately, all the spillage is at the back, not the front. I think that is more a problem of my body than the fault of the corset. I am not sure what to do about the back fat spillage though. The tight areas have to press the flesh somewhere but this will show with a fitted bodice over the top. I'll probably have to make a corset cover but I think it might not be enough.  Not very pretty, but look at that that straight lacing gap!

The waist fits really well. I think I shortened it by the right amount and the fit is snug but not uncomfortable. There is no pressing on my hips, which is what my short waist usually leads to. I love how the corset makes me look the right shape and flattens my tummy! I got a 3 inch reduction. Now, how to wear this in real life...

The fit at the bottom of the hip is not quite as perfect but I am not going to fuss with it. I am so pleased with the overall general fit and it has come out a lot better than I expected, especially with my usual short waist issues.

I flossed the bottom of the bones before adding the edge tapes. These were done with linen thread because I had it with no real use for it and I really like the pale taupe colour against the white. All the stitches are different, I couldn't get it perfectly even. One of them is done backwards (as is one of the eyelets), but who's looking? The edges are trimmed with cotton twill fabric, also from the stash. I only broke one needle in the process of adding it - although there were some close calls. I didn't do a great job of matching the points at the bottom front. These parts of the tape were very thick and I was having an epic battle with my sewing machine just to get them folded under. They will be under the skirts and the whole thing will be under the dress, so it is only for Instagram that I even need to think about it.

I added the lace by hand at the end. Partly because it is very narrow and I would have struggled to catch it into the edges, but mostly because I forgot until I was halfway through. It is polyester, but I had plenty of it, harvested from the nightgown.

I'm actually pretty surprised that it has turned out as nice as it has. It's a lovely pattern to start with and it looks fab all made up. The coutil got a bit dirty in my iron, and with all the handling, but if you squint, you can pretend that it is due to age. As a very first corset, from an amateur maker, I'd say it's pretty amazing.

Now on to the petticoats!

Costs:
 Fabric: Sew Curvy; £10.50
 Pattern: Truly Victorian; £7.87
 Notions: busk, flat steels, spiral steels, eyelets, lacing cord, teflon tape, thread, shipping; £39.96
 Tools: eyelet setter, awl, machine needle; £3.24
Total: £61.57

The dress that wasn't

Sometimes a fabric that speaks loudly about what it wants to be doesn't work out at all. The dress-that -became-a-shirt was wanting to be a long sleeve shirt dress from the second I saw this rayon in Spotlight earlier this year.

I wanted to make more dark background florals, figuring they would be easier to wear. I loved the muted pinks, greens and blues in the foliage and then I spotted that there are two tiny birds hiding in there and I feel in love with it all over again! It is identical fabric to my Alex Birds Shirt, which seems to be a polycotton blend. Despite this, the fabric drapes nicely and is cool to wear.

I decided that a summer dress with long sleeves would be just the thing, our English summers typically being mild but not hot.

I really admired Sewaholic's Nicola Dress with it's soft drape and feminine lines, and decided that I could get pretty close with Simplicity 2447. I really like wearing my sleeveless version and wanted to try adding the sleeves for the look I wanted.

I cut View A in a size 8, without the bib, and lengthened it by 6 inches. I tapered the skirt sides out and removed the scooped hem. This is almost exactly what I did with the linen version, but I changed the construction order a bit. I added a double yoke and used the "burrito method" for attaching the yoke. (I forgot to put the right side facing outward for the lining, so I only got pretty seams, not a pretty facing.) I tried an inward double box pleat, but there wasn't enough fabric in the pleat to make it truly noticeable. I attached the sleeves so that I could flat fell them. Then I sewed up the sides and sleeves with flat felled seams too. I regretted not adding side seam pockets, but this was serendipitous because I would have had to remove them for the shirt.

One element of the construction that I didn't pay attention to, but has affected the finished garment are the two different weights of interfacing that I used. I chose lightweight for the collar but I had some ready cut strips of "waistband interfacing" that I used for the long lengths of button bands. This was much heavier, almost equivalent to my heavyweight interfacing and because the button bands meet the collar stand, it is noticeable. I was sorry that I did this, the collar could have handled a heavier weight. It does, however, seem to lie evenly, something which my other two versions have not done.

I lost a bit of motivation to finish this. I cut it out in June, went away in July, sewed the button bands to the side seams, unpicked them, added the sleeves, decided it looked like a kimono, started another project, and finally made myself finish it - one step at a time, and a sprint to the finish.

Then I tried it on.

It was OK, but not great. Far too frumpy and Granny-like. I tucked it into my jeans and liked it three times more. So the next day, I cut off 34cm and created a faced hem on my new shirt. 

I really like the feel of the fabric, and I love the way it drapes into the cuffs. I didn't make cuff fastenings, I just measured a distance as small as possible that I could still get my hand into. I pleated two knife pleats to fit the sleeve into each cuff. 

Costs:
 Fabric: Spotlight, £20.00
 Pattern: Minerva Crafts, used previously, £0.00
 Notions: 
   Black thread, £1.90
   Interfacing: scraps, £0.00
   Buttons: old shirt, £0.00
Total: £21.90

Sorbet Stripe T-shirt Skirt

Why do I not have a whole wardrobe of skirts made with t-shirt material? It is sooo comfortable! Oh yes, because it is a bit sheer, and a bit lumpy. Oh well, I don't care! So comfortable! And swishy!

I had an idea that I might like to make a skirt out of some blush pink bamboo that I have been hoarding, so I thought I would try out the idea with the remains of my Sorbet Stripe Maxi Dress. I had about 85cm left over, in the full 150cm width.

To make a pattern, I measured my high hip, the area between my actual hip and my waist, and divided that number by 6. I also measured the remaining fabric width and divided that number by 6. Then I cut out 6 pattern pieces from newspaper with those measurements at the top and bottom of each wedge. Because I could turn the pieces upside down against one another, I could increase the bottom edge of each piece by another 4cm.

I squared off the top edge of each wedge to allow for a waistband and then I started cutting out. I added 1 1/2 eighths to each edge for a seam allowance. I sewed the pieces together as I went along, and after 5 pieces I found that I could join them into the skirt. I was a bit confused, surely my maths could not have been as bad as all that? I think the weight of the pieces was making them stretch out to take up the space that the final panel would have taken. (I still need to measure this to check). I didn't want a gathered waist so I went ahead and joined the 5 panels.

I used the elastic from an old pair of boxer shorts and overlocked this to the edge of the fabric, then I zig zagged it down to form a waistband. I didn't have quite enough clearance on my waistband allowance so there are a few puckers in the stitching.

Hemming also done by hand. I have no luck with fine knits on my machine so I always hand finish the hems.

Will I make this pattern for my blush bamboo? I'm not sure. It's a fun skirt to wear, moves nicely and is very comfortable. Blush pink doesn't suit me, so wearing it away from my face is a good idea, but the lumps and bumps show, especially in a plain colour. I might continue to hoard it for a little while longer. At least until it goes out of fashion.

Costs:
 Fabric: leftover from Maxi Dress, £0
 Pattern: self drafted, £0 
 Notions: 
   Overlocker thread: started new spool: £1.89
Total: £1.89

Sorbet Stripe Maxi Dress

I snapped up this striped knit from Fabricana in July. I remember admiring it a 2-3 years ago, so I was  delighted when I saw it on the markdown table for 30% off. At just over £5 per meter, I got 2m.

I had my wish list to make a cardigan with this pink stripe, but when I got it home, I decided that a maxi dress would be just the thing. It must be all that hot weather we were having, Londoners wearing their holiday wardrobes. It's not always pretty, but it's fun!

Being the wrong side of 40 (or 30 for that matter), I didn't want my maxi dress to be figure hugging. I used an existing dress I have for the width, and the Karen Drape Dress for the shoulders and high bust. I laid out the Karen Dress pattern flat, and laid my maxi dress over the top. I didn't worry too much about exact cutting, or seam allowances because my overlocker seams are pretty small.

I kept the neckline of the Karen Dress, it could have gone lower by a stripe or two, but this creates height and I didn't want to fiddle about with drafting a new curve. I finished the neckline and armholes with bands of self fabric.

My RTW maxi dress has side splits to above the knee, which I really like, and is also not floor length, so I copied these features in my dress. I hand stitched the edges of the splits and the hem, giving them a tiny hem in whip stitch. I didn't need to bother with a stretch stitch because the hem does not need to stretch.

I'm really happy with the fit. It honestly seems to skim and not hug, which is exactly what I wanted. The fabric is a little on the sheer side but, whatever, I'm on holiday. Unfortunately, the weight of the dress has pulled the hem down in the first washing. I'll have to figure out a fix for this. Maybe some clear elastic through the armholes.

Costs: 
 Fabric: 2m, Fabricana, £10.20 
 Pattern: Maria Denmark, used previously, £0 
 Notions: 
   Thread, started one new spool: £1.89
Total: £12.09

Rayon Birds Sorbetto

I made this Sorbetto out of the remnants of a current WIP. The weather is hot, so I decided to finish this first and get myself a new summer top.

The fabric is a rayon that I got in Australia. I am trying to buy florals on a black background as they are more wearable as dresses than my usual choices. In a top this is more unusual.

For the Sorbetto pattern, I traced out the full size pattern pieces so that I can lay them flat and get the most out of the fabric. I left out the centre pleat as this is meant to be a scrap buster, and the pleat is very distinctive, and completely lost on a print. I think I need to raise the shoulders by half an inch, and I also need to add a centimetre to the hips.

With a small amount of fabric to work with, I had to cut the back piece upside down, and the length is as much as I could manage. The birdies are very secretive, so I don't think anyone will notice the odd one upside down, and I tried to compensate for the length by doing a faced hem, which gained me an extra cm. I actually think this is the perfect length for me.

I did french seams, but then I unpicked the bottom to create a side split so I had to cut the seam allowance. This isn't very tidy, but it will do. I had to hem around the split and create a bar tack over the cut edges. Without a short waist adjustment, I need the extra space at the top of the hip.

I hand stitched the neckline facing down. I was on holiday, so I took it with me as a hand sewing project. I stared on attaching the hem facing by hand, but didn't bother to finish it, and completed it by machine back at home.

I still don't utterly love this pattern. It is too boxy to be truly flattering on my, but in a drapey fabric, it works out very nicely, and as a free pattern, it's pretty amazing.

Birds / Alex / Rayon / Navy Shirt

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this pattern, the Alex Shirt from Sew Over It's e-book, My Capsule Wardrobe City Break.

I love that it is a super easy shirt pattern, it's extremely quick, and it eliminates all the fiddly bits of shirt making. What I don't like is the very large sizing, and the casual dropped shoulder. I am wondering if I should put on my big girl pants and get a proper shirt pattern. But I don't wear a lot of shirts, so I don't feel like slaving away over making complex details in my sewing time.

That's why, when this rayon wanted to be a shirt, I reached for Alex once again. I got the fabric at Spotlight in Australia in April. It was on sale for just under $12 a metre, so I got 1.5m for a shirt. I also got 2.5m of a black with pink/green/silver florals.

Learning from my previous Alex Shirt,  I sized down from a 10 to an 8, leaving the collar and neckline as a 10 (this because the 8 was cut away in places when I cut the 10). I also added interfacing to the under collar. Next time I would interface the tips of the sleeve tabs too. The final change I made was to skip the pockets. They would have spoiled the drape and the pattern of the fabric.

I found the instructions for enclosing the yoke seams very confusing. It says to twist the edges, but doesn't say in which direction, or how many times. I used the "burrito method", detailed beautifully in Grainline's Archer sewalong. I'll be using that for all yokes from now on. In such a thin fabric as this, I didn't even have to roll it up, it just sat nicely inside the yoke, and it was fun to have it spill out afterwards.

This pattern doesn't work so well in a fabric that has an obvious wrong side. The lapels aren't faced, and the one piece collar means that the wrong side shows where the neckline opens. I fortunately/accidentally managed to have a bird at each point of the lapel, so the lighter colour saved the look of the neckline, but if it had been the navy background, it would have showed the wrong side badly.

The rolled up sleeves also need a fabric that doesn't have an obvious wrong side. I added cuffs to the sleeves, so I can turn these up and then fasten with the sleeve tabs. I didn't gather the sleeves into the cuffs, nor did I make button plackets for them. They are just the same width as the sleeves and are 5 inches, folded over. I like wearing the shirt with the cuffs rolled up once and then gathered into the sleeve tabs.

I set the tabs much higher than the pattern calls for. I can't understand why the pattern has them so low. It would roll them to about bracelet length, which is a bit pointless since they could be rolled to this length and not need fastening. I noticed this before I did the buttons for my white shirt, so I sewed the buttons higher up the sleeve. They are not on the anchor point of the tab, just floating on the shirt. For this one, I placed them much higher up, and the buttons are sewn on the re-inforced part of the tab.

I had four small navy buttons in my stash so I spaced them through the front. Five would have been better, there is a bit of gape between them. I didn't make buttonholes, since I will never wear this shirt open. So much faster! I had two larger, non-matching buttons that were close enough to each other that I could use for the sleeves. 

I shortened the hem by 7-8cm, so I can still tuck it in, but also wear it untucked if I want. I find the City Break hems much too long. This photo shows the shortened hem. Imagine if that was 8cm longer.

Will I make another Alex? My head says no, but if I get another drapey patterned fabric, it might be too much to resist. 

Costs: 

  Fabric: 1.5m £10

  Pattern: used previously £0

  Notions: 

    lightweight interfacing, stash £1.13

    navy thread, used previously £0

    buttons, stash £0

Total: £11.13

Floral Scuba Dress

Blegh! It looks nice, but remind me never to wear scuba. I'm afraid that it is the worst fabric! It is pure plastic and it behaves as though you are wearing a plastic bag. It makes you feel cold if the weather is cold and sweaty if the weather is hot. Also sweaty if the weather is cold. Sweaty no matter what the weather.

Sorry scuba. I wanted to love you. You print such beautiful pictures onto yourself. You sew nicely, don't fray and don't need pressing as you go. All wonderful qualities, but I can't buy a knitted plastic fibre again. There is lots coming out in the fabric stores and the blogosphere is producing a lot of test garments.

Shall I talk a little bit about the dress? I wanted a pattern with a cap sleeve and a full-ish skirt, so I decided on Simplicity K1699. It is a pretty good outfit-maker pattern, with a dress, a top, a jacket and trousers in one. I got it with a sewing magazine a few years ago. The top and dress have raglan sleeves and princess seams. The skirt has a centre front seam, but I cut mine on the fold to remove this. 1.5m of fabric would have been plenty for this dress.

I cut a size 12 and did not make my usual short waist, sway back or small shoulder adjustments. It should be higher at the sides of the waist, but I didn't adjust it. You can see the puckers at the side of the bodice when I move:

I sewed almost the whole dress in March, and then put it aside for almost two months. There were two reasons for this:

Firstly, trying it on, it looked incredibly dressy. Like, wedding guest dressy. Since I am not invited to any weddings, nor Chelsea Flower Show, I felt like I was wasting my time on something I would probably never wear.

Secondly, the scuba fabric wasn't handing a facing well, so I was going to have to work out different neckline finishes. I thought I might have to experiment with a binding, or just a hem. Neither of which were making me feel the love for the dress. In the end, I just turned it under and top stitched it down. It looks fine as a finish and the spongy fabric creates quite an attractive rolled edge. I should have done this for the sleeves and the hem. These edges don't look that good, puffing out as they do.

The neckline on this pattern is extremely high. Way too high. It is because of the collar on the top, the bottom of the collar is about the right level for the dress neckline. I didn't lower it because I was going to experiment with the aforementioned different neckline finishes. But in this instance, I didn't change it - again, because this is not a dress that is going to be worn.

I broke one of my Sacred Rules of Sewing - I put it aside and worked on something else. I have never done this before! I was terrified of getting on a slippery slope of starting new projects and leaving them aside every time I get into a little bit of difficulty. I would never finish anything! I always make myself keep going until the bitter end. But this dress was truly a waste of time, and I needed something new to wear while Me Made May was still in full swing.

In the end, it was Me Made May that made me finish this at all. Since I pledged to wear something different each day, I have been a bit stuck on some of the days. I decided to finish this to wear while I was watching the royal wedding on TV so that I would have something to photograph that day. Then I could change back into my leggings afterwards. I finished it remarkably quickly, helped along by the fact that I was finishing it to wear in front of the TV, rather than out and about.

Cheating a bit on the whole Me Made May concept, but hey-ho, it's my challenge. And the pictures do look very nice.

Costs: 
 Fabric: £10.99 
 Pattern: £5.99 
 Notions: 
  Zip: £0.60
Total: £17.58

Floral Scuba Skirt

This skirt is the antidote to a sewers block that I've had recently. Sewing something easy and low risk is the way to get around it, I find.

I have been wanting to make something out of scuba since I heard about it a few years ago. I was very drawn to the vibrant images that it is possible to print on the fabric. When I saw that Fabworks had scuba for just £7 per metre, I had to get some.

I love this silver colour and the pinks, blues and greens in the print, but the actual fabric is not wonderful. It is heavy with a lot of body and no drape. If it is stretched out, the print separates and shows the white through the pattern. So you wouldn't want to make a body-con outfit that is meant to hold you in. Not from a print, anyway.

I'm also going to avoid sewing with scuba in the future for a few more reasons: it's basically plastic and this means it is cold in the cool weather and hot in the warm weather; and the spongy nature of the fabric means it is quite tricky to get nice edges and seams when sewn.

The dress I started to make was coming along well, but it was looking too dressy, and I struggled to motivate myself to finish it when I knew I wasn't going to wear it. I will finish it, but I will need an occasion to do so. I believe this is the first time I have ever left a sewing project and started a new one.

To give myself a break, and unlock my sewjo, I let myself make a skirt from the leftover fabric from the dress. It's kind of the same project, using up the scraps.

I'd had to buy 2 meters, so I had a lot of fabric left over from the dress. I didn't use a pattern for the skirt. I took my hip measurement and added 2cm for seam allowance. Then I measured from my waist to the length I wanted and added 10cm for good measure. I cut a rectangle of these measurements.

The stretch is firm, kind of like a ponte. I wanted zero ease, so I draped the cylinder on myself and pinched out a dart at each side. I had folded a large facing over. To put it another way: turn cylinder wrong side out, try on, fold over 15cm, pinch out at each side, mark the pinched areas with chalk and unfold the waistband. Sew darts at the pinched areas and turn waistband in.

I left the waistband unfinished, but I did stitch down the top of the darts at the waistband so that the whole thing wouldn't slide around. I also pinched out a tiny amount at the top of the back seam.

I didn't peg the skirt because I didn't add a kick pleat. I hand sewed a stretch hem.

It pressed a little bit with a wet pressing cloth and a medium setting. I was pleasantly surprised that the hem stopped being so puffy and the darts looked better.

Final verdict: a decent enough addition to a spring wardrobe, especially with Me Made May starting on Tuesday; but I'm not going to sew with scuba again.

On that note, here is my Me Made May '18 Pledge:
I, Cathy, of Cathy's Makes, pledge to wear a different item of me made clothing each day of May 2018.

Last year was the first year I pledged to wear something every day, and this year is the first time I've felt able to wear something different every day. It scares me a bit, but that is the point of a challenge, and the other point of this challenge is to get those makes out and about in the real world.

Costs:
 Fabric: £8 
 Pattern: £0 
 Notions/tools: Thread £1.35
Total: £9.35