I LOVE-Skirt pattern New Look 6035- but hate pleather

A story of three skirts
This pattern came with September 2015 edition of Sew Style and Home.  It was the jacket to which I was initially attracted- but haven't made yet. It is New Look 6035
Skirt number 1
I wanted to make a simple A-line skirt with pockets.  I used some fabric from my stash, a pale grey cotton twill in a medium weight that I bought some time ago from Fabrics Galore  of Lavender Hill, Battersea, with a completely different project in mind .  Looking through my boxes of patterns  I saw the skirt, included in this pattern, and liked the simple lines.   There are only 3 main pieces to the pattern, the front and back yokes and the skirt, both front and back pieces of the skirt are the same.  There is a lapped zip fastening at the left hand side.  The skirt has facings, these are made using the same pattern piece as for the front and back yoke. There are carriers for a belt on the skirt yoke if you wish.
I  made the following alterations to the pattern:
1.  The pattern is designed to sit one inch (2.5 cm) below the waist but I extended the yoke upwards for an inch to make it sit on the waist.   I cut a toile only for the extended yoke to test it for fit as I reckoned that, since I am not big in the lower hip area, as long as that yoke fitted the lower skirt would skim over my hips with no trouble.
2.  I left out the belt carriers for the yoke because I wanted to be able to wear the skirt with tucked-in tops and with tops over the skirt, in this latter case I thought carriers would stand out as lumps under the top.
3.  I extended the length of the skirt as I wanted mine to come over the knee,
4.  I have flat buttocks, which means the back of the skirt droops down.  I counteracted this by shortening the back length of the skirt by taking out a small amount from the bottom of the yoke and the top of the skirt from the centre back tapering to nothing at the sides.
5. I added a lining by cutting out the lower skirt pattern and sewing it to the bottom of the inner yoke facing. You can see how this works with the photo below of the inside of the second skirt I made ( I blush at the wrinkles in it but I didn't press the lining before taking the picture).

6.  I added patch pockets.  I wanted something slightly different from a rectangular pocket.  I waited until I had made up the skirt to play around with designs for pockets.  The pocket pattern piece was created by tracing around a saucer, cutting  through the middle of the paper and  inserting a strip of paper to create an oval (see photo below).  To make both pockets I cut 2 pieces of the entire pattern piece from the grey fabric, 2 pieces from the base to the line in the photograph below in grey fabric for the flap and 2 pieces in lining fabric from that line up to the top adding a seam allowance to sew it to the flap.

This rubbish sketch below indicates how the pockets were created.  I read in a book that the haute couture method of attaching patch pockets was to topstitch them first and then hand sew them to the garment, this is the method I followed to attach them to the skirt.  However, in future, I will just topstitch them straight to the garment as it is much more secure than my wobbly handstitching.

7.  As there is a lapped zip on the left side I made the seam allowance on this side 2 cm instead of 1.5 cm.  I always do this for a lapped zip as it avoids finding out that when you come to stitch around the outside of the zip you have not got enough seam allowance to extend under the stitching.  Here is the finished lap zip and a view of the pocket to which I added some vintage buttons from my button box .

And here is the finshed skirt.

Skirt number 2

I was so pleased with the first skirt that I used the same pattern to make another in a denim I had bought last year at the Summer Open Day of the Fabric Godmother .  Fabric Godmother usually sells on the internet only and I went to the Open Day as I do not buy on the internet because I like to feel and see fabric before purchasing.  Among the lovely fabrics I found just the colour and weight of denim that I had been searching for to make a skirt.

For this one I  made the following alterations to the pattern:

1. As steps 1,2,3 and 5 for the first skirt.

2.  I changed the zip placing from side to centre back and put in an invisible zip and a hook and eye clousure above it.  This was because I wanted to insert pocket bags into the side seams.  This meant that I changed the alteration for flat buttocks to a position lower down on the body of the skirt instead of between the bottom of the yoke and the top of the skirt but used the same technique of taking out a small amount from the centre and tapering it to zero at the side seam.

3.  I cut extensions in the side seams to which to attach pocket bags.  The pattern for the bags I took from another pattern.

Here is skirt number 2 in action.

Skirt number 3

Due to the lack of darts and limited number of seams I thought this would be ideal for making a skirt from some pleather ( as I understand people now refer to faux animal skin fabrics).  This time I wanted an exposed metal zip at centre back.  Given that I had made this skirt twice I thought the third version would be so easy.  I had not taken into account the material I was using!  This pleather had a knit backing and an embossed PU surface. This means that you cannot press the seams because the surface will melt as I found out, luckily I was only trying to press the seam between the lining and the back yoke, which is on the inside of the garment, and I realised what was happening before anything too drastic happened.  Thus, in order to get the seams to lie flat you need to topstitch them down.

Now my Janome DXL603, a fairly basic computerised model, was fine when stitching with the right sides of the fabric together for the inside seams but just would not work when it came to stitch on the outer face.  I tried everything, using different types and sizes of needles, adjusting the tension, changing the stitch length, buying a teflon foot, putting tissue paper under the fabric, using different types of thread, seeking advice from The Sewing Forum  but to no avail.  Nothing produced consistent results, sometimes the needle would not pick up the lower thread, sometimes the fabric would not move forward, sometimes stitches were skipped. I had to stitch in the exposed zip, using a different method to that I intended, entirely by hand. 

However only by topstitching could I hope to keep those seams flat.  I was in despair.  Then, with nothing to lose, I though of trying my almost 50 year old mechanical machine- Behold!, it stitched like a dream with an ordinary foot, standard thread and with any size of universal needle.  It even went smoothly over the side seams where the yoke joins with its multiple layers of fabric.  I am so cross that I did not think of trying this before I did.  Check out the topstitching in the photo below. 

I still have not finished the skirt.  I am waiting for my partner to have the time to undertake his usual task of marking up the hem, hopefully this weekend, so that I can topstitch that in position, and then it will be done. 

Despite managing to discover how to sew the pleather in the end, I will still never use this fabric again.  More than ever I realise how important pressing is to sewing.  But I still love the pattern and will probably make some more variations on it in the future.  To introduce beginners to this pattern I am going to run a Meetup workshop soon.

If you would like to see some other versions of this skirt here are two blogs about it, one from BETSY MAKES  - her version includes the belt carriers and is made in a lovely patterned needlecord and  an emerald green version by SEWN

How to ... turn a weekend project into a week's project

Saturday, the weather forecast mentions heavy and thundery rain, hail and frequent lightning. My plans were cancelled, not due to the weather, so I had all possibilities at my fingertips, as long as it didn't include wandering outside. My eyes looked at my famous Ikea bag with fabric, went over to my desk with my sewing machine and my brain remembered the sew-along "A simple item from stash fabric" which was about to start. Still lying in my bed, my weaker self started to nag about closing the eyes and get more rest, but my fingers were already infected with the sewing bug and it finally got hold of the rest of my body, wanting to finish the skirt over the weekend.

I found a white polycotton with red polka dots which I wanted to use as the skirt part of a dress. Since I don't yet have a dress pattern, I work with body blocks rather than with commercial patterns, that fabric had to wait ... or not. I could just turn it into a circle skirt and wear it on a lovely summer day. I decided for the latter and, instead of inserting a zipper or using elastic band, I decided to use some of my buttons. It also helped that I found a similar fabric here.

The fabric itself is rather see-through, so I decided for an underlined skirt and used some of the white polycotton I bought a while ago. I used the half circle skirt pattern which Barbara helped me to make, and cut the pieces. For the back piece, I just traced the pattern onto my fabric. For the front pieces though, I folded the pattern in half, traced it and added some extra fabric for the buttons and button holes, respectively. The width of that extra fabric is the width of the buttons I used, in this case 2 cm. (More explanations on how to add a button front closure can be found here - although that tutorial is for a dress.)

My folded blue half circle skirt pattern on the fabric I want to use, the buttons are next to it. 

I then sewed together my red polka dot fabric with my white underlining, wrong sides up, just a straight line along the edge where the buttons and buttonholes will be, zigzagged it and then trimmed it. Ironing is essential, so I ironed it, flipped it over and sewed another straight line, just for effect than for anything else, two cm (my button width) from the edge. If you want to, you could add another layer of fabric or underlining for the part where the button holes will be. But since my skirt is already underlined, I decided against it.

The front layer

It turned one pm, and the weather forecast was slightly wrong. It rained a few hours, no sign of hail or thunder and then the sun was visible. Quickly sewing the back piece to the two front pieces, and all which was left were buttons, buttonholes and hems. But first it was time for socialising!

Sunday morning, and this is how you turn a weekend project into a week's project: I realised that my back piece is wrong side up, so I had to rip the side seams apart and start again. Important note to myself: You must never rush things! I spend most of Sunday evening to undo the wrong I did to my skirt. And I did the hems.

After I found my motivation the week after, and a very useful hint to start with the button holes from my fellow seamstresses at a monthly meeting, I did the button holes. And forgot to take a picture. But basically, I marked where the top and bottom button hole would be. I then put a mark on exactly half the way down and made this the centre of another button hole. I repeated that until I had no more space on my fabric and marked 9 button holes. After sewing all of them and ripping them open, I marked the middle of each button hole on the other skirt front to know where my buttons should be.

Et voila:

Sew a Skirt and Show it off

This is the story of my effort for this London Dressmakers Club event.  I’ve included some hints that I think may be useful to beginners.

 To look at the contestants in “The Great British Sewing Bee” one could be forgiven for thinking that you just grab your fabric and start cutting out.  In real life you need to prepare your fabric first.  I am assuming that your material is washable so wash it to get rid of any shrinkage, to test if it “bleeds”  (in which case launder it separately from other garments in the future)  and to get rid of any “dressing” that might have stiffened the fabric and be concealing its true drape and handle.  Then iron the fabric so it is smooth and any creases eliminated.  I also iron my pattern on a low setting to make sure that this also has no creases or wrinkles.

Then check if your fabric has a nap (see glossary -link at right hand side of blog), a one way design or a pattern to match up at the seams or centre.  If you have been watching “Sewing Bee” you will know how important this is in getting a professional looking finish and it will determine how you lay out your garment pattern pieces before cutting.

You also need to check that your grain (see glossary) is straight as many pattern pieces have to be placed in a particular way in relation to the grain line.  The grain line of the warp (the threads that extend lengthwise on the loom and across which the weft is woven) is almost always the strongest thread and the one most commonly used.  Unfortunately sometimes the design on the fabric turns out to have been printed slightly off the grain- in which case you probably need to go with the line of the design.  Now you can start laying your garment pattern on the cloth.  Play around with the layout as you sometimes find that the layout included in the garment making up instructions is not the most economical in terms of the amount of fabric required.  This is why I had enough jersey fabric left over from making another garment to make this skirt.

You can see how old this pattern is from those huge shoulders of the jacket.  Notwithstanding the length of time this pattern has been lurking in my pattern box, I had not made the skirt before despite my good intentions. 

I trace my original paper patterns on to greaseproof paper because then I can easily mark out any alterations and, by not cutting the original, also preserve other sizes if it is a multi-size pattern.  

I know that my problems in fitting skirts are due to my flat buttocks and back, causing the skirt to drop at the back and the side seams to swing forward towards the front of the garment unless I make alterations.  To counteract this figure fault I took a tuck down the length of the skirt from the waist to the hem and redrew the back dart.  I also lowered the back waist seam grading it from its lowest point at  the centre up to the side seam.  You can see these alterations in the photograph below.

The pocket linings were cut from a lighter weight woven fabric to reduce the overall bulk of the pockets and to give more stability to the pockets that might otherwise have stretched if they were made solely of jersey.  Also I wanted a "secret" flash of colour somewhere as the actual skirt is very sombre.  It's nice to know you have a secret even if it is only a coloured pocket.

The next step, after cutting out, was to tack the darts and pin for fitting.  The front of the skirt has a pleat either side of the centre and this is just tacked in place, the tacking to be removed once the waist band is stitched on as this band then holds the pleats in place.   At the centre back of the skirt I had included a 2 cm seam allowance a) because I was going to fit a zip and I always allow more  for a seam where I am putting a zip  and b) because the pattern does not have an extension for the kick pleat at the back of the skirt but just folds the seam allowance back so I wanted a bit more.

Amazingly it seemed a reasonable fit at first try on and all I would need to do would be to take in a small amount from the waist to the hip when sewing the side seams.

After sewing the back darts I inserted an invisible zip.   I've been asked before what is the difference between an invisible and a standard dress zip so here's some identification help for next time you are rummaging through the bargain zips on a haberdashery stall.  In the photos below the grey zip is the standard dress zip and the black one is the invisible zip.  This is how the zips look when you are looking at the side of the zip that will be facing outward on the garment.  With the black zip the teeth are, well, invisible.  Note also the typical  teardrop shape of the zip tab.

  

Here are the same zips on the reverse side, the side you will see on the inside of the garment. Now it is the standard dress zip that has no visible teeth.  You will know from looking at the zip slider tab which side is the front and which the back of the zip.

 Invisible zips mean that no stitching will show on the outside of the garment but they still need to be put in carefully.  There are demonstrations on YouTube of putting in invisible zips with an ordinary zip foot but it is so much easier with a dedicated invisible zip foot.  Mine cost £15 and was definitely worth it. 

This is the way I tackle an invisible zip, there are other methods so find what gets the best result for you.  The zip is put in before sewing up the back seam.  You need a zip longer by 3 or 4 cm than the actual opening, the end of my opening is marked by the pin in the photograph below. 

Before you start inserting the zip very carefully press along the zip tape to flatten out the fold next to the zip teeth.  I say carefully because you do not want to damage the zip teeth.  Using the longest stitch on your sewing machine tack up the seam along the seam allowance  from the waist to a few centimetres beyond the point where the end of the zip reaches.  Press the seam.Lay the zip in position face down on the seam with the zip teeth centred over the seam.  Pin and then tack the zip in position tacking the zip only to the seam allowance and not through 2 layers of fabric ( that is, not through both the seam allowance and the outer fabric).  In the photo below one side of the zip is still pinned and the other side is tacked.  I've turned the seam so you can see that the tack only goes into the seam allowance and not into the back of the skirt.

Below is the zip tacked in on both sides.

Now unpick the machine basting that you did to close the seam (stitch ripper to the fore!) as far as the end of the skirt opening  so that you can open the zip and flatten out the fabric so that the seam allowance is no longer folded under.  I should have taken pictures but my battery ran out.  The seam on the right hand side  will be sewn first.  Place your invisible zip foot so that the right hand groove of the foot  straddles the zip teeth and you will be stitching on the left hand side of the teeth from the waist downwards as far as you can go until the zip slider stops you from going any further.  Fasten off.  Then you do the same for the other side but with the left hand side of the groove of the zip foot straddling the zip teeth and the stitching to the right hand side of the teeth.  This latter is the side shown in the photograph below.

In order to complete the seam down to the hem you need to fold the zip up out of the way as in the photo below.  It is easiest to use a normal zipper foot to sew this seam so you can get as close as possible to the base of the zip but I used a standard straight stitch foot.  You should have a few machine tacking stitches that you did not unpick left in the seam below the end of the skirt opening.  Use these as your guide as to where to place your foot to start sewing the rest of the seam and thus it will line up perfectly with the zip opening.   You may be able to see the line of tacking stitches that I am following exactly in the photo below but I stitched in black when tacking so they are hard to see.

And here is how your inserted zip will look  from the right side - Invisible except for the zipper slider tab!

 Then I only needed to sew the front part of the skirt, by creating and attaching the pockets that formed part of the front yoke, and sewing up the side seams.  I made a lining by pinning the patterns for the  pocket yokes and front of skirt together and cutting it in one piece.  The back lining I cut as the skirt back pattern but, instead of sewing the darts, I just made the relevant sized tuck at the waist and pressed them the opposite way to the darts in the outer fabric; this reduces bulk at the waist line and allows some ease in the lining.  See the tuck in the photograph below with the waistband in position.  I was a bit disappointed in the quality of this lining that I had bought cheaply in a rush.  I hope it lasts.

Finally I sewed on a skirt hook and bar fastening and completed the skirt and lining hems.   Result- a skirt made of left over fabric in a pattern I had been meaning to use for some time.  It is rather a boring skirt really but will be very useful as it goes with the black and the grey jackets and many of the tops and jumpers that I already have.  I love having pockets, it is a good fit and the fabric doesn't crease.  I like it so much that I am sure I will make it in another fabric, something a bit more exciting maybe.  I've just realised that I haven't got a photo of the finished article so I'll take one in a day or so and post it on the London Dressmakers Meetup site under the photos for the "Sew a Skirt" event.  You can get to the site from the link on the left hand side of this blog.

Happy Sewing, Barbara