The Hanky Hem Saga Part 1

Sewing clothes has always been a bit nerve wracking for me. For years I just sewed toys, dolls and home wear. The closest I have ever gotten to garments is hats, scarves and headbands. Many people have told me over the years that I should take my drawings and designs and make them, but I've always been to scared. You see clothes need to FIT, they need to be comfortable and they need to be able to withstand wear and tear. Dolls don't complain if their clothes are too tight, and they don't move around so the garments risk minimal damage. But I've decided to bite the bullet and force myself to start experimenting with sewing clothes, and so, I give you, the hanky hem saga!

Technically speaking, this is the easiest style of skirt you can make, once piece of fabric sewn onto a piece of elastic, and yet I have somehow made about six of these skirts and still haven't nutted out exactly how I want it. I've only been using a very cheap polyblend poplin fabric thus far, as I don't want to waste my money on expensive fabric while I don't know what I'm doing, so when reviewing my progress I need to take that into account.

The Vision: This skirt is the first I have designed to be Faery mum friendly. The uneven hanky hemline is what gives it the "pixie" look whilst still being a simple skirt (no appliqué or prints). The waistline is thick elastic to squish in the "mum tum" but also allowing me to wear it either on my waist or the hips. Ideally I'd like to make these skirts out of bamboo, but bamboo is VERY expensive per metre and out of my price range at the moment. I also have had limited time up until this point, and have knowingly cut corners ( a habit I will stop now that I am in more of a routine with the kids). I have a love for full circle skirts that I can "swish" in, this is why I have chosen this style.

These skirts have all been made using the MADE Everyday It tutorial (link at the end)

Woodland Faery Skir

The first skirt I made was using dark green and brown to match my new boots and leafy creation top. It was a frustrating time as I was 8 months pregnant and had no waistline to work with, yet I had the strong desire to create a wardrobe to come into once Jasper was born (it didn't happen, I only made the one skirt and the one headband) so I just wanted to get started. I fudged the waist measurement from another garment I had seen listed online, and luckily it fit once I had given birth. This skirt is two layers of fabric in two different colours, cut the same length, overlapped in alternating directions and sewn onto some belting elastic with the edges overlocked. For the most part I like it, but I didn't like that the bottom layer can barely be seen. I am very happy with the length (knee length) and the stitching on the waist has held up ok, but it definitely needed some work on the layering. It also has a "undies flash" problem whenever there is a strong gust of wind. Unfortunately I did not realise this until after I had made many more. This one has the perfect waistline on the elastic, I wish I had written it down.

 

Cherry Blossom Mini

This skirt was my first "disaster" as I had to salvage a huge mistake. Following the dislike for the layering in the Woodland Skirt, I decided to change around the layering, unfortunately, I cut it to much. Instead of a shorter layer that flowed nicely into the bottom layer, I cut the top layer to exactly half the length of the bottom, when I held it up together to sew, it looked AWFUL! But it was already cut, the result? make a mini skirt! So I cut the bottom layer to the same length as the top and sewed it all up. For awhile I thought I had successfully created a mini in this style... Until my husband
informed me that he could see my underwear from the back even when I wasn't bending over, fail. I still wear this skirt around the house, and when I'm out I wear bike shorts underneath. The next time I make a min, I will be sewing a layer of fabric underneath that is only a half circle as it is the only way to solve this problem. It is perfect for a day when you want to be as naked as socially acceptable.

Six Layer Cherry Blossom

 

The next project I took on was a gift for my best friend. Keep in mind, at this point my son was still a newborn and time was VERY limited with Christmas looming. I wanted to try again with the layering, this time I was very ambitious and wanted to go with six. This was far, far too ambitious. The poplin I usually use did not have the shade of light pink I wanted so I had to use a different fabric. I went with broadcloth, another mistake, as soon as I had pre washed the fabric and it dried, I realised it was way to stiff and heavy for the fluffy, flowing look that I wanted (it was meant to be a summer skirt). Layering this skirt so that each layer was visible was a headache and unfortunately, I cut them all with not enough difference in length. When all sewn up, you can hardly tell that there are six layers, all the extra layers do is add to the weight, they also make the skirt very hard to sit right as you have to adjust each layer after washing. Had I had more time I would have gone back and cut the layers more, but my deadline was up. My friend still loves her skirt, but agrees with me on the weight and says she will wear it in winter instead of summer. The weight does solve the undie flash problem, so that is a plus.

I will leave the saga here as this blog post is long enough (and I still have 3 more skirts to talk about) Stay tuned next week for the Hanky Hem Saga Part 2!

Circle skirt tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqNU0-ORkbA

http://www.madeeveryday.com/2008/07/tutorial-the-circle-skirt.html/

I just leave it as a square instead of cutting it into a circle and overlap.

Until next week!

-Sami