Finito.

I'm back...and I have a skirt!

Today was my last sewing class, and I managed to finish the skirt. Hooray! Even better, I'm really happy with it. I will wear the hell out of this skirt. I'm already planning another with the same pattern. Maybe navy (I know!) with orange contrast for all the topstitching? And maybe an orange band around the bottom if I can figure out how to add that onto the pattern?

I'm so happy I took the sewing course. Sure, I could have managed on my own again - I figured it out enough the first time. But there were things, like dealing with the fabric, that I might not have thought to figure out. And having someone help me interpret my first real pattern was so helpful - mostly to remind me what all the different stiches meant! I feel pretty confident that I can figure out another pattern now. And there's always the internet to help.

Proof that this was more involved than my first skirt:

Look! It has a real waistband and a zipper. And I clearly picked my pattern well (without realizing anything about what I was doing) because I didn't have to blindstitch the hem, which seems to be fairly time-consuming, at least according to the woman in my class, the best sewer there, who had only managed half her hem in 2 hours.  Her skirt was pretty full, but still.

Once you fall into the Etsy trap...

How much do I want this pincushion? http://www.etsy.com/listing/80171243/large-pincushion-vintage-lemon-bar

Ooh, or this one shaped like a pear! http://www.etsy.com/listing/80176102/large-pincushion-cheeky-pear

So ridiculously adorable. Also would solve the problem of continually losing my pincushion among all the other tomato pincushions. I wonder why the tomato became the accepted standard?

7 down, 1 to go

I had my second-last sewing class yesterday. I'm really going to miss the class! The studio does offer other classes, but they seem to offer only the intro class on evenings and weekends. Which just seems weird to me, because I feel like I'm their target student. Who are they getting for the daytime classes?

Confession: I thought I was going to get my skirt done way before the end of the class. I had plans to take something else to work on the last class. But I'm actually a little farther behind because of the curved seams and the top sewing. And I didn't get nearly as much done this week as I thought. So now I'm wondering if I'm even going to get finished in class time! So much for feeling like a star pupil. :)

Update

I haven't had much time to sew the past few days - life is busy! But I did manage to sew the trim on my skirt! I found some more lime green rickrack during my last fabric store trip, much to my delight. I mean, I think the skirt looks fine without it, but it feels more *finished* with it.

Lulu agrees.

Skirt Progress

I made it a little further on my skirt during sewing class this week:

It almost looks like a skirt! All that's left is the zipper, waistband, and hem. I'm especially proud of all the topstitching, which hopefully you can see a bit better in the pic below.

(I'm still trying to figure out pictures in Blogger - at first all my pictures automatically went to the top of the post, and now I don't seem to have any justifying options. One day I'll figure it out!)

After I'd stitched it all together, I tried it on. It *just* fits. Or maybe it fits fine, but it's a closer fitting pattern than I thought. In any case, I'm relieved, because with all the seams being topstitched, it would be a pain to let out. Maybe next time I should baste it all first to try on? Or perhaps I should start making muslins for proper fitting.

...and once again I think I'm getting ahead of myself. Learn to sew first, perfect fitting after.

Onward and Upward

I have patterns! And also fabric and contrasting fabric for another skirt, notions for the shirt pattern I got, and a Fabricland membership. Also, much less money. I think it was the patterns. I should really start looking for sale fabrics, though, to keep the costs down.

So, if you're keeping count, that's seven fabrics I now have in the house that I intend to make things with. Luckily, I actually have patterns/plans for six of them. I also have three more patterns here and two on the way. Surely this will keep me entertained for a while?

Pin me baby one more time

I skimmed through a couple of pattern alteration/perfect fit books from the library last night. Eep. They seem really complicated! Of course, I've only finished one skirt so far, so maybe I was being a tad precipitous in reading the books.

It's a bit of a pattern with me. [Pun not intended.] When I get interested in something I tend to read a lot, and in detail, before I actually *do* much. Because reading is easier than doing, right? So I tend to know a lot about things (yoga, bellydance, running) that I'm still very much a beginner at. This time, however, I'm going to just make a few more things, without muslins, before I try to make them all fit perfectly.