The Failure Skirt

My third skirt for the Summer of No Pants challenge was not nearly as successful as the first two.  I decided to up the stakes this time, and cut into my light corduroy.  I added piping, and installed a zipper.  I did some beautiful and perfect top-stitching on the waist band.

But...

It looked terrible on me.  Completely and spectacularly unflattering.

I had tried it on part way through the process, and while it was maybe a little loose, I thought that would just make it comfortable.  So I kept sewing, and did a really good job of finishing my seams and all that jazz.  When it was all done except for the hem, I tried it on and got my boyfriend to snap a quick picture to see how the hem length was doing.  The look was so bad he actually seemed reluctant to show me the camera.  I deleted the two shots immediately.

I really need to get a full-length mirror for the cabin if I am going to keep sewing clothing.  It may sound stupid, but it never even occurred to me that having one would be useful.  I haven't looked at myself in a full-length mirror on a regular basis in nearly a year, and I'm almost starting to miss knowing what I look like.  In terms of the actual Failure Skirt, I discovered that I either need to go with a loose, full kind of skirt like the first two I made, or something quite form fitting, like a few skirts I have in my closet.  The Failure Skirt is in-between and it is bad.  I used the "straight skirt, fitted waist" variation from Sew What! Skirts.

Nothing against the book, really.  It's just not the right style for my body.  I tried to save it by chopping off the waistband, taking out my (practically) perfectly installed zipper and adding a thin elastic waistband.  And subsequently discovered that a thin elastic waistband does not work, either.  The fabric is a little too thick and stiff for it to drape properly; this was also a problem with the original zipped version.  I am planning on switching out the thin elastic for a wide one and finishing the hem with a zig-zag stitch.  But...  not right now.

Setting up the sewing machine and ironing board in this tiny cabin just really takes over the whole house, somehow.  It's hard to get in or out the front door, and it totally impedes kitchen-related activities.  You could probably fit my entire cabin into Anna Maria Horner's recent studio renovation, and still have space leftover for shuffleboard.  It gets stressful having all the sewing gear set up, and I can't handle it this week.  It's so busy: besides my usual commitments, I am putting in extra hours at work learning some pretty complicated shit (not my heli company but an example of one of the machines I am learning a lot about).  I now know about scissor and sleeve assemblies, and I am not talking about sewing.  So a last-ditch-effort fix on the Failure Skirt has been set aside, and plans for a fourth pantless project have also been set aside (cutting out pattern pieces doesn't count), until chaos on the home-front feels manageable.  In the meantime, please admire the good job I did on the piping:

Screen Print Skirt

Recently, Sarah MacIntyre spent a month as Artist in Residence at Macauley House, and was kind enough to host a screen printing club at KIAC while she was here.  I missed the first weekend (filmmaker Santiago Giralt, also at the Macauley House in May, was hosting a workshop on directing actors) but made it to the following two Sundays.

I've done some screen printing in the past, beginning with a workshop with Todd Stewart during his residency last year (check out his blog posts from February and March to see the amazing work he created while he was here), as well as a of couple sessions cranking out pillows and t-shirts for the film fest.  Sarah definitely had a few different techniques than I've used before, and printing in hot summer weather has different demands from printing in cooler conditions.  Everything dried so quickly!  I was particularly interested to learn that you can print using stencils; I've only ever used photo-emulsion before.

I brought two pieces of muslin to the workshops, and layered a few different stencil prints across the breadths to create this:

Which I then sewed into this, keeping with my pledge to go pantless:

(I like how, if you peek past my left arm, you can see my refrigerator collage with all kinds of KIAC events included.)

I used the same basic design from Sew What! Skirts that I used for my first skirt, except this time I used a sewn-in elastic waistband.  I used bright red thread to match the screen printing ink and to stand out against the creamy muslin.

I really embraced all the "misprints" that happened while working on the fabric.  I love how one print is never really identical to all the other prints from the same screen or stencil; it adds so much character.

I am tempted to add more red thread to the skirt.  I've been looking at Kathryn Clark's work lately, and feel that something similar to the stitching on some of her foreclosure quilts could look really amazing on this skirt.  Or it could turn into a hot mess.  I can't decide (and if I'm going to be hand stitching anything, I should be working on my quilt).

I'm also going to be embracing wrinkles in this skirt.  The muslin creases something terrible, and the printed areas tend to 'hold' the creases no matter how much I iron.  Next time I wash this, I will probably twist it up and make all sorts of on-purpose wrinkles, so that it will look like it's supposed to be that way and not like I'm lazy.

There are a few more photos up on Flickr.

[I have to edit this and add my thanks to Marigold at Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! for including my skirt in her five faves round up.  I'm really quite honoured and so very glad that people like my artsy-fartsy mess!  So many people are making such beautiful skirts and dresses; it's really very inspiring being involved with the Summer of No Pants.  Don't miss the Flickr pool.]

The best laid plans of...

After dreaming big about many lovely designer fabrics to be found on the internets, I went shopping at JoAnn.  Which was kind of a big deal, because I did have to drive over 1500 km to get there.  I had contemplated visiting Anchorage quilting shops, but too much Big City Driving would have interfered with my desire for a relaxing holiday.  So JoAnn it was, and it was fun.  I was able to get all those handy-dandy notions like elastic and thread that you can't get here in Dawson, and of course picked out some pretty fabrics.

The polka dots at the top is a light corduroy, and the other two are quilting weight cottons.  I also picked up some muslin for linings (if needed) and some sky blue cording to jazz up the polka dots (because multi-coloured polka dots are in need of jazzing up?).

After getting everything washed and ironed last Sunday, it took me until today to actually cut into something and start getting pantless.  Using a helpful copy of Sew What! Skirts, I whipped up this drawstring number:

I'm not really sure what it looks like on me--no full length mirror in my cabin--but my attempts at self portraits out in the yard look alright (except that I will have to watch out to gather the fabric evenly around the drawstring and prevent things like the weird crease seen below).

Not that it was easy to line myself up properly.

It ended up plenty big--I worked with lots of ease, figuring that too big was better than too small.  I could trim away some of the excess, but I did such a neat job of finishing my seams that I don't have the heart to do any of it over.  I am definitely happy with my craftsmanship on this one.

But it won't be work wear...  Before I started my new job on Tuesday, I had visions of myself sitting at a desk all day long, looking cute in skirts and high heels (like the blue ones at left, a treat from the delightful ShuzyQ in Anchorage).  But I only wore the heels to work once (on my second day) before my boss suggested that I dress more casually--as though I could have to "jump into a helicopter at any moment."  And he was right: besides spending two dirty days in the hangar doing inventory, on Friday one of the pilots asked me to "help" him with a power check, and we were up in the air before I could even grab my camera, never mind changing clothes if it had been necessary.  But giving up a classy work look for the occasional helicopter ride is a worthy sacrifice.  Plenty of time to wear skirts out of work, and lots of awesome Threadless tees to match.

Wish List

This weekend I discovered The Summer of No Pants challenge over at Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! and, while I'm not usually a jump-on-the-internet-bandwagon type, I just... had to join this.  It is hilarious to me--and also nicely timed.  Next week I start a new job, and I will not be required to wear all black all the time.  So why not celebrate with a new summer wardrobe of colourful skirts and dresses?  I may even have to buy a pretty pair of heels to celebrate getting to sit at a desk all day long!

The challenge is to sew four skirts (or dresses) in four weeks, and I'm thinking the challenge is really going to be to narrow down all the great choices out there to just four.  Four may have to be a jumping off point.  I've managed to limit myself to free patterns for the most part, largely inspired by links from Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!, but have just gone wild picking out pretty fabrics.  If I could make it all--meaning, if money were no object--here's what I'd do...

• This elastic waist skirt or maybe this "fluffy back" skirt in this fabric by Laura Gunn;
• Flirting the Issue Skirt in Innocent Crush voile (with this as a lining) by Anna Maria Horner;
• This reversible skirt in two of Valori Wells' linens: this one and this one;
• Copy one of my favourite skirts--a grey denim one from the Gap, of all places, pictured above--in this wild corduroy with some accents of this corduroy (also by Valori Wells--I guess I'm a fan);
• The Diane Kimono Dress by Kay Whitt in a just-below-the-knee version with these three fabrics: one, two, three;
• This t-shirt skirt, made with finds from the local thrift store;
• This hilarious upcycled jean skirt is too funny to pass up;
• and there are at least two, if not three, dresses in my closet that I could make more wearable by turning them into skirts, pictured below.

All three dresses are spectacularly unflattering--the top two being shapeless fashion-hipped mistakes purchased right here in Dawson.  The third was bought on-line (and on sale) from J. Crew.  All can easily go under the rotary cutter without the slightest bit of worry.  I'd like to try out this ruffle technique on the J. Crew dress, keeping the style of this petticoat skirt in mind.  It's the right kind of fabric and god knows there's enough of it.

And in honour of joining The Summer of No Pants, today I wore my LBD--one of the dresses in my closet that I do like--paired with Converse sneaks when it was warm during the afternoon, and then tights and gum boots to keep me warm in the radio station.  Here's a backyard self-portrait:

Look at that green grass!