Please contribute: tips for sewing a simple skirt

Shall we do a collaborative blog post?  All about tips for sewing beginners about sewing a skirt.

At our monthly meetings we often get the question from sewing beginners: "I would like to sew but I never have before and I don't know where to start".  We have lots of advice and tips so how about collecting it all in one place?  Like right here!

We often recommend that a beginner sew a simple skirt first. There isn't quite as much going in terms of different elements that a dress or trousers would demand (getting sleeves to fit into the armhole, or doing a front zip on trousers).

First tip: when you want to use a stretch fabric and you have never sewn before then pick a firm jersey fabric that is a bit thicker than the cheaper jerseys that are very saggy and extremely difficult to sew with. Sewing with thin jersey fabric is something that I still can't do. Avoid it if you want to retain your sanity. Honestly.

Woven fabrics are much easier to sew with (as far as I'm concerned), but because they don't stretch they need to be fitted to your shape to look good.

There are different skirt styles with different degrees of difficulty. A gathered skirt made from two rectangular pieces is the easiest, - circular skirts and skirts made from flared panels are also relatively simple.

The more pieces your pattern has the more sewing you'll do, but you also get more opportunity to fit the garment to your shape because you have more seamlines you can adjust.

Sewing in a zip isn't as difficult as I feared when I was a beginner but you may want to go with a button closure on a first project. See how you feel.

A commercial pattern is useful because it has instructions: not just how to sew but there is also the layout of the pieces for cutting out, and it tells you which piece to interline. There is also really useful guidance on seam allowances and how to do the different ways of stitching (like top or edge stitching, under stitching, stay stitching, or how to stitch for gathering - all kinds of information).

The sewing pattern size is not the same as your dress size in shops. Measure your waist and hips and compare to the measurement table on your pattern. Most pattern envelopes have multiple sizes in them, often split by the smaller and the bigger sizes.

Above all pick a skirt shape that you are excited about! I often make the mistake of falling in love with the pretty fabric they used and forget to check the line drawing to see if I actually like the style. Which is kind of important.

Now I've gone on much longer than I meant to. I haven't even said much about sewing itself (the things we discover as we go along) - I hope that other Dressmakers Club members want to give tips and advice in the comments!

Woven or stretch fabric?

I like trying out Lekala patterns because you can get a sewing pattern to your own measurements, and you can use the advanced features (called 'Optional' or 'Adjustments') to further personalise the pattern: arm or leg length relative to torso, neck or upper arm width, short-waisted, narrow-shouldered...  there are all kinds of different options.

This Lekala pattern #5081 is the most standard blouse pattern I found on the site. I thought it would make a good basic pattern that I could then adjust for other versions.

I am not sure though that the required fabric is listed correctly. It says: "Fabrics: Knit" and "Is stretchy: yes". Really?

Can this be right?  This is a blouse with bust darts, a buttoned front opening and placketed cuffs.  I have never seen these kinds of features in a pattern for stretch fabrics.  I feel that this has got to be a pattern for woven fabrics instead.

I decided to try a polycotton fabric to see how it works out.

Unfortunately the sleeve/body seam is very puckered despite gathering the sleevehead in the normal manner before sewing them in.  So there is not a good fit in this area.

On me the blouse shoulders are too wide (I didn't use the "narrow-shouldered" advanced option, I didn't think I was) - I may be able to adjust this by cutting the armholes a touch bigger to narrow the shoulder and sewing the sleeves as they are back in. This should reduce the puckering.

My biggest gripe is that the blouse doesnt overlap enough for buttonholes and buttons - in fact this would be a perfect fit if the front closed with a zip: the centre fronts fit wonderful if they meet flush with each other. I had to add a piece for the 'underlap' and attach loops to the edge of one side to catch the button I sewed onto the seamline with the added piece, i.e. onto the front centre line where they need to be.

I should be able to adjust the pattern at the front centre by adding about 2/3 of an inch (around 2cm). This would also increase the tiny little lapel to a more reasonable size (just look at them in the above photo: they're barely there!). I just feel that the very small lapels look rather ridiculous - as if something had gone wrong to be honest.

I think all round this is not the most successful of Lekala's patterns, but it has potential. I just dread having to make all the adjustments when I had been hoping I could just sew this together and be done. Which is really what you want when you go for a personalised pattern.

I am also not enamoured of my fabric choice: this polycotton is just that bit too stiff and I worry that I won't want to wear this blouse much.  A big reason why I am finding it so hard to finish this - this project has been languishing in my sewing basket for at least the last year.  What a shame.

What kinds of fabrics do you think are suitable for this pattern? Is the website right or should I try some other fabric?  I could really do with some advice and ideas.

Thank you.

A Day Workshop with Chinelo Bally,finalist in The Great British Sewing Bee, Series 2

Searching on the internet for dressmaking workshops I came across this one day workshop described as Freehand Cutting Dressmaking with Chinelo Bally.  It is run by Make Do and Mend in Chelmsford and this is what they promised - Learn how to make a garment using the freehand cutting method with Chinelo Bally (contestant on The Great British Sewing Bee). This course focuses on a stylish peplum top or, made longer, a beautiful dress to impress! 

 I had to find out more, having seen Chinelo's wonderful creations under pressure in the second series of Sewing Bee.  Would a one day workshop enable me to run up similar fabulous garments?  Well, I wasn't under the illusion that my sewing would be transformed in just one day but I did hope that I would be able to produce better fitting clothes that would be cut to fit straight on the cloth, rather than having to make alterations to the paper pattern and toiles before the final cutting out of the fabric, plus trying to avoid the difficulty of trying to fit oneself. I telephoned Make Do and Mend  to ask if one could make the garment without  help from another person with fitting etc.  I was assured that with this method one could do it all alone without recourse to any help, even taking the initial body measurements.  This sounded like a dream come true so I signed up straight away.

Getting to Chelmsford from London is easy as there are frequent trains from Liverpool Street Station and you can walk from the station, via the High Street, to Make Do and Mend in about 12 minutes if you do not dawdle window shopping.  You are asked to bring your own lunch to the venue and there are plenty of options, including a massive Tesco, on the walk to the venue to purchase something if you have not made your own packed lunch.

There were 8 students in all, of varying ages and sizes (from size 8 to 22).  The premises are delightfully decorated with enough room to carry out the tasks without getting in the way of fellow students.  We were all there before the start time and enjoying hot drinks and biscuits provided when Chinelo arrived.  She is the perfect tutor, calm, patient, giving clear instructions and always ready to answer any queries.

The workshop commenced with the taking of a given set of body measurements.  It wasn't quite true that you could take them all yourself as it is impossible, unless you are a contortionist, to measure your own back.  I would advise you to take your own tested tape measure to workshops as they can stretch with time and use.  I test mine against a rigid measure to make sure that this has not happened before I take measurements, unfortunately the one provided for me at the workshop was not accurate.  While we are on the subject of what to take to workshops I would also advise taking your own pins so you know that they are of good quality (not rough, bent or with blunted ends) and that you will have plenty.

 Next we were given a series of calculations to make using our body measurements, you needed a calculator for these and I had to ask another student to do mine on her mobile phone.  I think most of us hadn't used pi since school!  Here we are hard at work on our sums.

Chinelo then described how we should layout and fold our fabric and press it so that the fold lines could be used as guide lines for centre front etc.  This use of fold lines works well on cotton fabric and is quicker and easier than putting in a tacking line so I shall certainly be using it again with similar cloth.

Next, following Chinelo's directions and using the measurements resulting from the calculations, we marked out our pattern directly on to our fabric.  There is one problem that I could see with this free hand method - calculating how much material you need for making a specific garment.  With a paper pattern  you can do some test layouts to see how much  fabric you need before you go and buy the material but with this method you have to have your fabric in order to make the pattern.  We were told to bring 2 metres if making a top or 4 metres for a dress, I found, as I am slim, that 2 metres was more than enough for the sleeveless top plus the sleeves that I intended to add but another person was concerned that she might have insufficent cloth.

The subsequent step was the most terrifying for me- cutting out.  When using a paper pattern one has the opportunity to try the pattern against you, maybe measure the garment pattern and compare it with a similar fit of a garment you already have, to see if you have it roughly correct.  This freehand method was completely new to me and was a bit like taking both feet of the ground to pedal your first bicycle - would I proceed safely forward or crash disastrously?  I did not cut the armhole exactly as directed because I was intending to add sleeves, while the workshop is for a sleeveless garment, and my sketched-in armhole looked weird and not the lovely curve achieved by the other students but Chinello came to my rescue and corrected it.  After the cutting we had 6 pieces, bodice front, left and right bodice backs, skirt front and left and right skirt backs.  Below you see us with  our cut out pieces and ready to start marking in the bodice shaping.

Chinelo described how to mark out the darts on the front and back of the bodice and the way to sew them.  The way to sew the front darts is unusual and I found I had to rather play it by ear, as it were.  This was followed by sewing the peplum skirt pieces to the front and backs of the bodice.  To my amazement these matched exactly, not even a millimetre out.  The next step that Chinelo demonstrated was sewing in the invisible zip to the bodice back.  I had brought with me the 22 inch zip specified, this is fine if you are making the dress or a top with a longish peplum but it was too long for my top and, although Chinelo related how it could be shortened, at home I took the zip out and substituted a 16 inch zip.  I only got as far as putting in the zip before the end of the workshop.  Most of the class got a bit further than this and I could just have had time to sew up the sides but I did not want to do this because there was no opportunity to pin the seams and try on my bodice for fit before sewing.  Chinelo not only tutored us and helped with our queries and problems but also made a dress to the measurements of one of the Make Do and Mend team as she demonstrated the processes.  Here is the result.

My sewing continued- very intermittently- at home.  To make the sleeveless dress as per the workshop you finished the armholes and neck with bias binding before sewing up the side and shoulder seams.  However, for my sleeved version, I needed to close the side and shoulder seams, in order to establish the armhole into which to fit the sleeve, and I wanted to make a facing for the neckline rather than have a bias binding finish so this is how I progressed.

I pinned the side seams and discovered the fit was good except that the seam over my left breast was slightly out.  It took me a long time to rectify this because I had to keep trying on, tacking, re-trying, re-tacking numerous times and it was difficult for me to reach behind and use the back zip fastening.  I could manage to do it but it was a really hard and time consuming struggle  so, in the end, I only sewed when my long-suffering partner was there to zip me up and down.  Eventually, after a number of unpickings I altered it to my satisfaction.  I am sure, if Chinelo had been with me, she would have instantly spotted what I had done wrong and told me how to rectify it without all the trial and error. 

I puzzled how to create a sleeve and decided to cut out a toile for the sleeve from a New Look pattern for a top that I had made with a good fit to the sleeve.  When I made this up and tacked it into the armhole it fitted quite well and I only had to lower the sleeve cap a bit to create the pattern for a sleeve to the peplum top.  I made a facing for the neckline by making a tracing around the neckline using greaseproof paper.  I produced patterns for a front neck facing to be cut on the fold and a back neck facing to be cut in two pieces ( left side and right side).  I even managed to remember to add a seam allowance for the shoulder seams.  The rest of the sewing went really quickly, except for the hand hemming of the peplum, which seemed to take forever.  I was glad that I had not chosen to make a dress which would have required yards more hemming.

So now for the reveal, with photos taken at the crack of dawn by my dressing-gown-clad partner who I dragged into a cold but sunny garden.

Here's a close-up of the fit over the bust.

 And now for the back and side views.

  To sum up, here is the final verdict on the workshop.
JOYS
a) Chinelo is a brilliant teacher.
b) This is the most fitted top that I have ever made in a non-stretch fabric and I never thought I could get such a good fit.
c) I learnt to trust measurements.
d) I found out that Chinelo is working on a book of her method  and it is due out in October 2015.  It will present a number of projects for you to make.  I will definitely be buying this.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
a)  As is usual with this type of workshop, not enough time to get to the point that you want.  As I mentioned earlier, I would really have liked to have a quick try-on to see if I had made any major mistake.  If you have followed the instructions then it should come out correctly but I'm so muddle-headed, partly from the amount of brain cells that you lose the older you get and partly because I am naturally that way, that I would have liked that reassurance before I left the workshop.   I found it difficult to take notes and listen to instructions at the same time  but, after the workshop, you are sent a video on the process.
b) I had hoped that this workshop would show how I could apply the freehand cutting process to other types of garments  but I will have to wait for Chinelo's book for that.

Have you taken a workshop or done a course, maybe one on line, that you would like to blog about. Any member of the London Dressmakers Club can blog on a sewing related matter so contact Giselle or myself if you would like to post something.