I Made a(n) (Unwearable) Skirt

For as long as I can remember, my mother decorated with fabric in every house our military family moved to. She made bedsheets into shower curtains, used liquid starch to "wallpaper" walls (again, with sheets), and she sewed yards upon yards of draperies, curtains, and valances. Once, she took an upholstery class with my Dad and over a series of many (thrilling, I am sure) Friday nights, they re-upholstered an entire sofa. 

She made us several Halloween costumes as kids. (One year the entire family was the cast of Peter Pan. She was Peter, my dad Captain Hook, I was Tinkerbell and my brother was Mr. Smee. All hand-made costumes, all VERY accurate and well-done.) She's made Claire and Charlotte quite a few dresses, hats, and bibs. She's not whipping up wedding dresses on the weekends, but my mother is a more than competent seamstress.

She gave me a sewing machine for my birthday when I was in college. (Maybe for my 19th or 20th birthday?) I've used it many times over the years but my skill level has remained pretty flat. I am a barely passable seamstress.

I can sew straight lines. I can even sew them pretty well. But, I sew like I cook. I dislike following all of the specific directions and much prefer to improvise and make it up as I go along. Making curtains really works for me since it's SUPER TOUGH to screw up four straight seams. I mean, there's just not a lot of room to get crazy or come up with a new idea or ignore a pattern. (There is no pattern! It's just a giant rectangle!)

I've tried making clothes before and it's always a total disaster. The detail work required to close seams, construct waistbands, and make simple buttonholes flummoxes me. I get frustrated, I don't understand the directions on the pattern, I make something up, and pretty fast I have ruined my project. So, it's with this in mind that you might understand how delusional I must have been when I bought a couple of yards of fabric, a skirt pattern, a spool of yellow thread, and a length of 1" elastic at the fabric store today. (I did not visit a fabric store with the intention of buying ANY of those things.)

I don't know. I just saw this fabric and I thought it would make a cute skirt and I thought about how wonderful it would be if I had a pattern for a cute skirt and I could just make my own skirts like Laura Ingalls did and they'd be in whatever color I wanted and they'd fit and they'd probably only cost me eight dollars to make. And then, if I got really good at this making clothes thing, I'd make something like this gorgeous dress that I've been eyeing and thinking about for YEARS, and die of happiness:

Source: grosgrainfabulous.com via A'Dell on Pinterest

 

But, I'm not (anywhere close to) there yet. Baby steps.

Here's what I came home with, on super sale and end of bolt, for about $5. I thought the citrus print was kind of summery and Vera Neumann-ish.

I picked this pattern because it looked simple, it was advertised as simple, and it was on sale for about $7. I made Pattern B - the two-layer skirt.

I tried to decide if I wanted the yellow fabric on top or the orange fabric. I used the very sophisticated method of Wrapping Fabric Around Self While Looking In Mirror, to make this important design decision. Now, when I bought this fabric, I intended to do the yellow over the orange, but when I was looking at it I thought the orange print might be better as the top layer because the print was kind of showing through the yellow.

At this point, I was still optimistic about getting a wearable skirt out of the deal, (HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA), so I wanted it to not be crappy and see-through. 

(Please to be ignoring the baby-smudged mirror.)

Now that I'm looking at them though, (and now that I've seen the final product), the orange on yellow just looks like candy corn and, well, I don't really love my bottom half looking like a triangle-shaped candy corn. But that's what this is about, right? LEARNING. 

If you've never used a pattern, it is basically the largest piece of tissue paper you've ever seen in your life, folded one thousand times to fit in the envelope. You do not want children to touch it. My pattern had pieces and directions to make six different skirts so I didn't need ALL of this. I just cut out the parts labeled "B."

Annnnd, here is my first mistake. I was trying to locate my pieces to cut out and while I will not tell you what size pants I wear, I will tell you that it is not a 14, which was the smallest size this pattern had. Turns out, I'd bought the pattern for sizes 14-22. CRAP.

Okay, well....It's okay. I'll just make the size 14 and since it has an elastic waist I'll just gather it up top and it'll be full and that will be still be pretty. (Again, still thinking I'll get a wearable garment out of the deal.) 

There are only two pieces for my skirt, which is good because it means there are fewer places for me to screw it up. (But, don't worry, I STILL SCREWED IT UP.) I cut them out, placed my fabric right-sides together and cut two pair of each in both the yellow and orange.

I made another mistake. I was cutting the yellow in big rectangles and I eyeballed the last rectangle and clipped it too short by about 2 inches. See all that space on the left where the lines are but there's not any fabric beneath? Yeahhhhh. That's supposed to have fabric underneath. See? Clothes are so much more EXACTING and PRECISE than curtains. I should not have been eyeballing anything. Whatever. I can't do anything about it now.

Let's take a break and look at my pins. I prefer the multi-colored straight pins because I think they're pretty.

I've got all the pieces cut, and it looks vaguely skirt-y! I'm doing good! This is going to be so cute!

(I still think I'm getting a wearable skirt.)

About this time, I decide that what this skirt could use are some POCKETS! I love having pockets in my skirts and dresses. So, I break the rules, I make something up, and I go off pattern and freehand some pockets. I base them on the pockets in a J Crew skirt I have, that I've turned inside out to see how they're made.

(THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA.)

I cut them, pin them, iron them, sew them. I try and place them in the seam of the skirt. It takes me a minute to realize this isn't going to work since it's a two-layer skirt. I put the pockets aside for a future skirt. I need to stick to the pattern. I remind myself that things go badly when I make them up as I go along.

Next, I sew the panels together and I sew them with the wrong sides facing each other, so I have to rip out 2 seams and do it again. But once I do that, I have two skirt shapes that layer on top of each other and I'm pretty pleased with myself. Now I just have to do the elastic waistband and that looks easy enough.

Except...the directions are kind of vague about sewing the casing and that's because I was supposed to cut out a casing pattern piece, but I forgot to. I dig out the pattern, find it, cut one. I get confused sewing it though and it's soon clear that I've done it all wrong. I have enough fabric though, so I cut another one and I do that one wrong too. So I say, "fuck this," and I make up my own casing for the elastic band. 

(Can you tell this is about when the skirt starts to become unwearable?)

Sewing the casing is an improvisational disaster...it's the wrong size, the elastic doesn't stretch through it, and the way I attach it to the skirt leaves a big open gap in the seam that I break my needle trying to cram through the machine. I replace the needle, hem the layers quickly, and call it done.

It's not the prettiest skirt ever, but I made a skirt! I made clothes!

I try it on. It's, uh, way too small. Like, WAY TOO SMALL. I know I probably used a little more than the seam allowance, and I had that one panel that was too short because I cut it wrong, but...What did I do wrong?

It's about this moment I remember pattern sizes are not Gap or Old Navy sizes. I check the measurements on the pattern and a size 14 is equivalent to a 28" waist, of which I am not in possession of. (A 28" waist is a size 6 at Gap.) This skirt is also realllllly short because I hemmed it quickly and sloppily, so basically it's completely unwearable, even if I do somehow fix the hole in the waistband.

To sum up my sewing sins:

I cut the pattern wrong.

I tried to add pockets.

I forgot to cut an entire pattern piece.

I abandoned a pattern piece and made my own.

I didn't follow the directions and made up my own.

I broke a sewing machine needle.

There is a hole in the waistband.

Duuuudes, clothes are haaaaaard to sew.

***

This sounds like a spectacular failure (and it was on the wearability front, trust me, I'm aware), but I actually really enjoyed the whole project. I was using cheap fabric, I enjoyed figuring out how the skirt was constructed, and I only spent about three hours on it start-to-finish. I'm sure the next one would go faster and I already have several ideas on how to improve both my technique and the pattern (perhaps use six panels to achieve more fullness, cut it a bit longer, perhaps a sash tie instead of the elastic waistband).

I'm a long way from making that dreamy ruffle dress, and I might never get there, but this was kind of a fun way to spend an evening. I'll do it again next week and see if I improve. (Perhaps I'll even get to WEAR it.) I like choosing fabric and there's always something on sale, so it's not even an expensive experiment to repeat.

What about you guys? Anyone out there a champion sewer that makes her own clothes? Anyone want to be my go-to person for questions on how to sew a waistband? (I'm pretty sure I'll need outside help on that one since the pattern instructions were AWFUL.)

Comments

[Jesabes]

I am very impressed. You're way ahead of me, as I apparently can only sew a straight line into cotton. A few weeks ago, I bought a really long, really 90s Laura Ashley seersucker dress at Goodwill and attempted to turn the skirt into a tablecloth. But no matter what I did, I couldn't keep the thread from bunching on the underside of the fabric. I adjusted the tension several times and tried not to stretch the fabric as I sewed, but it didn't work. I'm fed up to the point I've decided to buy no-sew hem tape.

Anyone want to give me remedial lessons on sewing straight lines?

[Holly]

My mom has always been a fantastic seamstress - like, I'll show her something in a store, she'll look over it, then go home and make it. It's made me extremely lazy - cause why should I learn? My MOM can do it so easily!!!

She made all my clothes and my sister's until we were in junior high and suddenly embarrassed to be in non brand name clothing. Except jeans - we always bought jeans.

But - I have resolved myself to learning now that I have a kid and want to be able to make her cute things. My mom's original sewing machine from 1979 is in a closet at their house just waiting for me to have more than 800sqft in my house to accommodate it and all the thread, bolts of fabric and notions :)

[megan]

This is awesome! I got a sewing machine at my shower seven years ago and am only sort of good at straight lines. Better than I used to be, but I tend to use my sewing skills to fix things more than create. But last year when I was on maternity leave, I sewed a few pillowcase dresses for my daughter and it was a lot of fun. (I also had an easy baby, because while they are one-day projects, they are kind of intense projects.) I found that using the really light fabric was hard and showed mistakes pretty easily. But the more lineny fabric seemed to hang really nicely. Of course one was huge (and I hope will work for this year) and (two were kind of too small). Maybe, when the baby is older and not so "into" everything, I will try again!

It was definitely neat to learn about garment construction and bias tape and all that!

[Mom]

I will gladly give you lessons. As a teen you weren't interested in sewing your own clothes. I think you learned to sew straight lines due to all the "baby sea bags" you sewed for the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society. Your first mistake was paying $7.00 for a pattern! You can find them on sale at Jo Ann's for $.99 or half price. My first experience sewing was in 7th grade Home Economics class. We made a half slip without a pattern. It was supposed to be the cheapest slip we ever owned. Not for my friend and me after we had to purchase yards of lace to coverup our mistake. We cut the fabric too short too...finished project was about12 inches. Mini skirts were popular back then, but it was waay short. Thinking of that mistake, you could "simply" add another layer to the bottom of your skirt to make it longer.

[Lolly]

Your legs look amazing! My puffy pregnant cankles are jealous ;)
Love the pattern and your efforts - keep going! Can't wait to see what you try next. I was cracking up at the sizing on the patterns vs. GAP vanity sizing, I shudder to think what "real" size even my non-pregnant hips would be. Don't worry about any fabric being too see-through if you don't want to do multi-layers again (although I love the look), just wear a slip beneath it. I don't know why slips and panty-hose are out of fashion now, I think they're life savers, but I'm probably the only one who still wears them :)

[Raven]

I would LOVE to learn how to sew properly. I have MANY skirts that I need to have altered and a sewing machine but I don't know how to do my own alterations and my sewing machine suddenly stopped winding the bobbin properly (I need to just take it in and have it looked it, not sure if it's worth repairing or just replacing at this point)

[K]

Eff.

I didn't even know that patterns came in SIZES.

[Life of a Doctor's Wife]

I read this with RAPT attention! My mom is also an excellent seamstress (she made me a [very un-PC] gypsy costume when I was in elementary school for Halloween and I wore that thing for YEARS, it was SO BEAUTIFUL!). But I never learned (by my own laziness) to do so much as sew a button. (I CANNOT SEW A BUTTON.) I would LOVE to be able to create my own clothes - and that dress! so lovely! - but it is never going to happen.

Anyway, it sounds like this was the PERFECT learning experience, and you will create something wonderful next time. Can't wait to see it.

[HereWeGoAJen]

That is how I sew too. Things sometimes do not come out so well. Which is why I have decided to stop sewing clothes. There are some pretty easy little girl dress patterns out there though. Look online for free ones.

[Elizabeth]

This was an awesome post. Lots of insight into the fabulous mind of A'Dell. Also your mom's comment made me laugh.
And I agree, yellow over orange.

[Shilo]

me! me! me! I want to help!

Really though, the best thing you can do is exactly what you did. Make something, figure out where you messed up and try to mess up less next time.

Seriously though, I can help.

[Meredith & Gwyneth]

A'Dell, I cannot offer any help with sewing advice, but I can offer my dreadful attempts to show you are not alone! I got into sewing for a very brief moment a few years ago and made myself a tunic. I thought it looked fabulous. Then, while out to dinner with several friends, I realized I had sewn one of the sleeves on inside out. That was the end of my sewing career!

xoxo,
mk

[Elsha]

I'm pretty good at sewing straight lines (I've made quite a few blankets!) but not much else. That said, I do know enough about patterns that when you started talking about the pattern sizes my first thought was-- but patterns are sized differently than clothes in the store!

[Maggie]

HELLO, HOT LEGS!

One summer in high school I made a dress with my grandmother. It was the most tedious thing I've ever done (besides embroidery GAWD I hate embroidery.) But I am CURIOUS about making clothes and my mom has an old sewing machine that's mine if I want it and I have a book of very simple patterns, but I am pretty sure I would make ALL the same mistakes.

[Carmen]

You sew EXACTLY like I sew.