Pieced Skirt and Top

When I posted about my fabric dyeing and making blitz, I said I would share the skirt I made the next week. And that was the plan.  All I needed were some pictures.  But the leftovers were calling to me and I just had to make a top to go with the skirt first. And with all that time, E actually wore both the skirt and top and got them dirty so I had to wash them.  I finally got pictures yesterday.  Not as many as I wanted because the setting made her feel a little shy.  It was on the sidewalk just in front of a gated garden.  It was morning and there weren’t too many people but E wouldn’t twirl for me.  I didn’t push it.

If you don’t remember, this was the fabric.

And here is the outfit.

The skirt is a basic circle skirt.  The exact same one as here and here. It was drafted for V but E is hardly any bigger so the ease works.  She’s taller so the skirt is shorter on her but she likes them that way now.  My fabric was actually big enough to cut the full circle but I wanted it pieced even more so I did 4 quarter circles.  Since the back of the fabric wasn’t finished, I lined it with white lawn.  The two circle skirts (main and lining) were sewn together at the hem and then treated as one when I attached the elastic.

The top was a bit of a puzzle. I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do.  It had to be a T-shirt (I used white stretch cotton jersey) but I wanted some pieced accents.  In the end, I used the Carousel Top pattern. I’d made it once before and thought it was sweet.  It has gathers at center front, top of sleeves, and at the shoulder seam (it’s placed forward a little).  And a keyhole at the back.  In theory, it was just the kind of thing I was looking for.  I added some strips to the shoulder seams and appliquéd rectangles to the front.  The keyhole, sleeves, and hem are hemmed with a coordinating turquoise thread in a zigzag for more color.

And I do like it but there are some elements of the pattern that bother me.I did the closed keyhole and you can see the seam allowance peak through the hole.

I think the pattern should have been drafted so that the seam allowance would be hidden.  I found the sleeves didn’t have as many gathers as I would have liked.  I didn’t have that problem before. Maybe a grading issue? As it is, it looks a little bit accidental. The pattern also doesn’t tell you how much to gather at the front but having the right circumference around the neck is kind of crucial when attaching the binding, no?

(I’m also just not going to mention that I should have used my walking foot for that zigzag stitch.  The sleeve hems stretched out a little and now constantly want to flip out. And that I should have used double sided fusible to stick the rectangles to the background before stitching. And that ironed nothing after taking it out of the dryer.)

And now, I still have some leftovers of the pieced fabric.  Hmmm…

About deuxsouriceaux

Creative mommy at home to two wonderful little girls, trying to juggle family, sewing, exercise, family, knitting, photography, and did I mention family?