Last year for my birthday, my Great Aunt Barbra (who just celebrated her 93rd birthday this year!) gave me a couple of large bags of fabrics she would never use. Some were remnants, some whole pieces.
There were 2 lovely Challis', one deep blue with scattered golden flowers (untouched, about 3 yards), and the brightest fall colored piece, also about 3 yards. I loved the colors of the fall piece; flowers in yellows, golds, oranges and reds all on a black background with paisley here and there to accent. I was thinking about a dress, but then my wonderful father gave me boots for my birthday (he called them my wicked witch boots, lol), and now I have something to wear skirts in fall with! I recently found McCall's 6799, and the line drawing as well as the model picture showed such a lovely drape, I just had to try it, even with no previous reviews to guide me. I plowed on, and am glad I did!
Mark my words, this will change my wardrobe. :)
I originally intended to make an entire Thanksgiving outfit, appliqueing the remnants to my own black long sleeved tee, but I just couldn't find time before the holiday arrived. Still, I am thrilled with the skirt alone, and I think I will get a lot of wear out of it, hopefully for may autumns to come.
I've always been a fan of maxi dresses and maxi skirts, and the flow of this one is amazing. This is the first project I've ever cut on the bias, and it really makes a difference in how it fits, hangs, and moves. I love it! It was a little trickier to cut, and much trickier to hem, but not too bad really. And well worth it! I also love the yoke, which hides the tummy pooch....
The back has a slight tacky spot, but I don't think it is noticeable unless you know what to look for.
I hope no one finds it inappropriate, I was just having fun showing off my boots, and got kind of a old time teaser shot on accident. I thought it was kind of cute. Looks like I'm about to do the can-can! lol.
I wore this all day Thanksgiving while cooking the turkey, potatoes, casseroles, etc, and it was comfortable and I felt lovely dressed up, but not too much.
I hope those of you that celebrate it had a wonderful turkey day! And that like me, you find the right pattern for those "special" fabrics in our stash!
Not inappropriate at all ~ just a whole lot of fun in a great skirt! I also have a few pieces of fabric that haven't been cut into ... YET!!! Love your skirt ~ I really must try a bias cut skirt now ...J
ReplyDeleteThanks Judith. :) I hope you get a chance to try bias cutting!
DeleteAdorable! Love your skirt and boots too. I would have never noted this pattern had I not seen your review. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Carla! I hope you get a chance to try this excellent pattern. :)
DeleteI posted comments on Pattern Review site. To add another p.s. re hems I'll add that by using fabrics that are more stable than ones such as challis, you can still have nice drape if they aren't too thick and stiff. (I used cottons similar to quilting weight). I’m thinking this would even be good in one of the super light feather weight corduroys. My skirts like this were calf length and I had no issue whatsoever with hemming because of the fabric stability.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as a future forewarning, although I love rayon for it's beautiful draping qualities I've discovered it to be very unpredictable. I had a pretty RTW blouse that shrank at least 2 full sizes and the Sears Jessica blouse I purchased this past spring actually got larger. If I purchase rayon again, it certainly won’t be from the clearance section at the back of the store. I want the right to make complaints if it happens again.
You can google rayon and read about its properties.
I was following someone’s comments at PR and ended up on a website about cutting and working with rayon. The site owner talked about it growing and shrinking etc. Sorry I don’t have the link. At the time, I’d been wondering why I had purchased the size L blouse other than the M was snug and had no shrink room. I learned rayon can sometimes grow or shrink. Bingo. My blouse continued to increase each time I wore it. It went from size L to XL in one season of less about 8-10 wearings and about 4 gentle washes.
There appears to be no way of telling what it will do other than you can pre-shrink etc. In the case of weave such as challis, pre-washing, especially more than once makes it harder to work with… which reminds me of a starched 2nd hand top I was up-cycling a couple years ago... still sitting in a drawer. My sewing days are limited, so for myself I will not be buying new rayon fabric or clothing. Being young, you may want to do a bit of research as it truly is a lovely fabric to wear. I love it in summer things like camp shirts and little sun dresses. It has a breathing quality you don’t get in synthetic fabrics thus making it cool on hot sweaty days when you’d really rather be wearing nothing.
Best of wishes and happy stitching, Sewing Canary.
Thank you for all the advice and tips, Sewing Canary. the truth is I am not certain this is a rayon chalis at all, that is just a guess based on the drape of the fabric. Since it comes to me second hand, it is aged and could be almost anything. I did prewash it twice, and it only improved the drape, so possibly it is either a very nice expensive rayon, or some other fiber.
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