Saturday, September 2, 2017

Coral Eyelet And Not Chambray

Earlier this year I bought some fun eyelet knit from Style Maker Fabrics (at the moment there is a small piece left for sale, here) without any real plans for it, other than thinking I'd use it for myself. It's a polyester nylon spandex blend, which isn't my favorite, but I loved the eyelet enough to give it a shot anyway! Eventually, I decided on a shirt:

  I made a full-circle peplum with the seam situated below my natural waist, and a dip to one side. (I sewed a pretty decent point in it too- I'm disappointed that it was just barely out of the frame in the one photo I got of the dip!)

  I made 3/4 length sleeves and ruched them with elastic:

  And I echoed the dip slightly at the neckline with another bit of ruching:

  I took a small chunk out of the upper back section at the waist seam, then added it back to the lower edge of the peplum, and it really helped reduce the wrinkles back there! I lettuce-edged the sleeves and hem:

  I also sewed a white tank to go underneath, using the last of my white swim lining. But of course I didn't get any photos!

  Then, I spent a couple of days drafting a skirt block, making it a-line, muslin-ing it, and adding a tulip-style flounce and pockets. I wanted to sew it up in chambray, but the only piece I had was too small, so I used a slightly larger piece of lightweight denim, wrong side out. Unfortunately, the denim was still too small for the flounce, so I went with an overlapping ruffle instead, and I'm not entirely happy with it. I like the overlap, but flounces are much more graceful than ruffles!

  I made a mistake when drafting the skirt block though. I drafted it at the wrong time of month and it's too big the rest of the time, and sits quite a bit lower than I'd intended. Not a problem I'd considered! Also, I wish I'd added half as much width for the a-line flare.

  At least it has pockets?

  I used an invisible zipper in the back, and a hook and eye on the waistband:

  I've worn the skirt pretty frequently in spite of its issues, but early on I forgot that the inside is denim, and dark, and washed a load of laundry- including the coral shirt- with it, and it bled on them. So my pretty coral shirt has darker spots all over it now that I just can't seem to get all of the way out. =( I do have a bit more of the coral- maybe I can squeeze a different shirt out of that!

Thanks for stopping by,