Indygo Junction Girly Gored Skirt #2

Just wanted to quickly share the my second version of Indygo Junction's Girly Gored Skirt.

I made this one entirely from Jennifer Paganelli Queen Street fabrics.  (Which by the way...are TO DIE FOR).

This one came together even faster.  Now I have two friends whose girls are in school together who get to twirl the day away.  Can't say enough good stuff about this pattern.

Indygo Junction Girly Gored Skirt - Review

Right out of the box, I'm going to say I LOVED this pattern.  The directions were fairly basic, but that's all they needed to be.  The whole thing, start to finish, took me around an hour.

The number of panels you cut is determined by the size skirt you're making.  There are three length and gore size variations.  I made this skirt for the big sister of the baby I made the Seven Seas Quilt for.  When the new baby comes, I wanted her to have something new, too.

The skirt is very simple.  I made the smallest size, which called for 9 panels, so I chose three fabrics so there would be an even number of each one.  I also turned up the bottom and hemmed it...the pattern showed a simple serged bottom, but my cutting wasn't neat enough for that.

This will make a fantastic twirly skirt.  My daughter's already picking out fabric for hers.

Overall I would give the pattern and "A".  Simple directions, lots of sizes to choose from, options on how to finish it, and a spectacular finished product!

McCall's 5431 Skirt - Epic Fail

Dear Lord. How could I not have thought of all of this BEFORE I started cutting into my beautiful Denyse Schmidt 80's retro pink and grey plaid??

I should back up. I love wearing skirts in the summer. I wear A-line skirts the way lots of women wear khaki shorts. They are my every day staple. Of course, as a sewist, I love the idea of making skirts for myself with precious pieces from my stash. I buy TONS of skirt patterns...alas, I have not yet found the right pattern for me. Here's why.

I'm 5'4". I CANNOT carry a lot of fabric. That means flowy-ness OR length. I bought this McCall's pattern #5431 for $1 at Joann, so at least THAT didn't kill me. I was going to make version C, the shortest one, with no pockets. Looks to hit a hair below the knee....Perfect. 5'4" also means NO pockets for me. Too much fabric. I liked the fact that it said "quick". I liked that there was a zipper, this tends to mean the skirt will fit better. I should have known when I couldn't cut the front of the skirt without turning the fabric sideways that it would be TOO MUCH SKIRT.

But I neglected to look at the drawing closely...all of the versions are flowy. All of the women have stupid long legs. Unlike me. So I dove in, and took my precious 90 minutes of sewing time and made this...

Sweet Baby Jesus, where do I begin??? First of all, I ALWAYS get screwed up by the sizing. I made it a full size and half too big (yes, that's even MORE fabric). But it's a plaid, going crosswise, too. I put on the skirt, and I looked like the broad side of a barn. Much cursing and foot stomping ensued.

There is one saving grace to this mishap. The skirt has SO much fabric, I will easily be able to cut it up and use it in a quilt. That is only a little bit of solace. I am seriously, like 0-4 on my last few garment projects. What's a girl to do???

Would one of you be kind enough to recommend a good A-line skirt pattern for me??? This trial and error stinks.

On a cheerier note...my daughter walked with her Brownie troop last Monday in our local town's Memorial Day parade.

She is pretty tiny compared with a the other girls. They put her in the middle to even out the height on either side. But she makes up for it in spirit.

I may not be grateful for my sewing epic fail today, but I am most certainly grateful for my wonderful family, and yet another gorgeous New England weekend.

Izzy N Ivy Addie Jo Pattern Review - Adorable Skirt pattern!

I got this pattern as part of a kit from Above All Fabric. I love Melanie's kits. She does a great job choosing fabric choices and makes it easy to get the package in the mail and start sewing right away.




This was the first Izzy N Ivy pattern I've made. I always love trying new pattern designers, and this one did not disappoint. The pattern comes with 5 different style choices. My daughter chose version C, which had a ruffle at the bottom of the simple skirt top. This was my absolutely FAVORITE pattern type. The directions were very well written, with clear diagrams inside and it was easy to follow along with which version of the skirt I was making. The directions were fairly short, none of the versions of this skirt were very complicated. I made a modified size 6. My daughter is a skinny Minnie, so we have to really decrease anything with a big waist or too much fabric. This worked out perfectly, between the elastic waistband that I could cut to fit her, and the "just right" amount of fabric for a nice twirly skirt that was not too much to overwhelm her little frame.

Also, it came in a ziploc bag, which is wonderful. The cellophane with a sticker I always manage to make a mess of, rip the sticker and the cellophane gets stuck to another pattern. The directions were on nice thick stock, printed in an easy to read font. Perfect.




I would absolutely make this skirt again in another one of the versions. It went together very quickly. Including cutting, I would say a total of 2 1/2 hours. The only reason it took me that long is that I am NOT a good gather-er. I always break at least one set of gathering stitches and have to start over. Thankfully, this time, it was only once.




Who are your favorite pattern designers? For quilts and for clothing?

McCall's 5430 Vacation Skirt in gorgeous Timber Fabric

So this is the skirt that is one of my four projects from vacation. I did everything but the buttonhole, which I did when I got home this week. I got the Gingko Timber fabric (by Jessica Levitt) at Purl Soho when we were there this winter. I just fell in love with the colors.



I chose this pattern because I wear a lot of A-line style skirts. I think they flatter me best, and they are super comfortable and easy to move around in. Now, I don't know WHO on earth they had write this pattern up, but "skirt in an hour" is just hogwash. The pattern was fairly easy to follow, but the cutting alone took me 25 minutes. Then there was the interfacing, which took another 15. This, by the way, was NOT clear in the pattern, I put interfacing on more pieces than I needed to. Of course, if I did more than scan the directions, I might have looked at the pictures on the last page showing which pieces needed interfacing. Alas, I thought to myself "it's only going to take me an hour, how confusing can it be????" Am I the only one who deludes themselves with these thoughts?



That having been said, the only other thing that took time was adjusting the small amount of gathering to get all that fabric inside the curved waist band. Not difficult, just sort of "picky" work. NOT a one hour skirt. A two hour skirt, yes. But to my mathematical mind, they were off by 100%!!



I am very pleased with the final garment. I will definitely make another one. I made version A. I might try to make the version with the pockets next time. I did submit this also, to the Sew Mama Sew "Sew it Wear it" Challenge group on flikr. Some great submissions there, if you like to see what other folks are making.



Up next, I'm hoping to FINALLY finish the small round rug I'm working on. Super cute so far, and likely a gift for my mom. Pictures coming shortly...