Clothes Clone, Spotty Skort (Instructions)

One of the great things about literally picking apart a garment step by step, was that it gave me a good insight to how I was going to assemble to garment once I had everything cut out. As I was essentially putting together the skort with nothing but the disassemblage process and my past knowledge as instructions. I decided to keep note of all the steps I followed so that when the time comes, I'll be able to make the next in my skort collection without too much head scratching. I wrote these out on the plane to Berlin to stop me overthinking about being 10000s miles in the sky, but hopefully they will make sense when I come to my next one! 

Seam allowance: 1cm throughout
Suggested fabric: Something with some body but also a slight bit of stretch
Fabric requirements: 1m fabric, small bit of interfacing
Notions: x1 7" zipper & thread to match fabric

1- Interface:

• Waistband front x1 back x2 (L&R)
• Seamline on fron x2 back x2 (use a 1.2cm strip of interfacing)
• Bottom edge of top flap and underflap (3.7cm strip of interfacing)

2- Stitch darts in back pieces and press

3- Stitch waistband front and backs at side seams

4- Press hem of flaps (2.5cm)

5- Overlock:

• Bottom of waistband  (optional- turn under the overlocked edge  on waistband and stitch a narrow hem)
• Centre back of waistband (L&R)
• Short edge of each flap hem
• (Fold up short edge) Overlock long edge of underflap hem)
• Raw edges of front / back leg hem
• Centre back of L&R back pieces down to the notch

6- Unfold upper flap hem and overlock the seam. Stitch under flap to upper flap at 1cm seam allowance

7- Stitch front pieces together along front rise

8- Match notches at the front side seams to notches either side of the upper flap

9- Baste 0.5cm seam allowance, ensuring flap hems are folded under. Baste the top edge of the flap to front leg pieces, fitting the slight curve

10- Place back pieces overthe top RST and stitch seam. Match hem at front and back / top and the notches. Press.

11- Stitch front to back at inside leg seams

12 - Overlock inside leg seams, press.

13- Match inside leg seams, pin and stitch back rise from the notch (end of th overlocking), to the front rise.

14- Overlock the rise seam allowances together, from the front to the back (to the beginning of the single overlocking at the zipper area)

15- Match centre front, side seams and centre back of the waistband to the top edge of the skort RST. Pin and sew

16- Pin and tack invisible zipper to left side centre back. Ensure the top of the zipper sits at the top of the waistband opening. Stitch using invisible zipper foot as far as it will go.

17- Pin and tack zipper to right side, ensuring waistlines match at the top. Sew as far as possible

18- Change to a standard zip foot and secrure the top of the zipper area. Flip the end of the zip tag out of the way and stich from the bottom of the zip to the backrise seam, backstitching for security

19- Flip facing RST at zipper opening and stitch from the lower edge towards the waistline seam - as close tot he zip as possible to secure the zippr ends. Turn back out

20- Check waistline matches before clipping bulk from the inside of the top of the waistline opening. Turn out again and press

21- Understitch the waistband to the waistband seam allowance, starting from right back dart and ending at the left back dart

22- Press the waistband

23- Turn up 2.5cm (/?2cm?) hem on each leg and press

24- Blind hem the leg hems bu hand

25- Blind hem the lower flap hem

26- Blind hem the folded edge and hem on the upper flap

Finished!

x

Location: Bakers Hill, Sheffield

Currently listening to: The Moon is Full, Hindi Zahra

Clothes Clone, Spotty Skort

If you're a girl in a band, or if you're used to performing on any kind of stage, I imagine you will have a certain amount of familiarity with the term 'up-skirt'. You'll know that if you have a gorgeous skirt that you feel fantastic in, chances are- despite wantingt to show it offf to the world, you've put it back in the wardrobe when planning your gig-wear, or you've dug out a pair of lycra cycle shorts to wear underneath it, so that those front row 'toggers don't get a perfect shot of your knickers while you're performing. 

Or, if you're like me, you've turned to the trusty skort to create the chic vision of a mini skirt, but with all the practicality of a pair of modesty protecting shorts while you're towering above your audience. I love skorts. They seem to baffle men which I always find amusing, and they are so un-restrictive, which makes them ideal for wearing while you're playing guitar and having a dance. 

One of my favourite gig outfits from years gone by featured this Top Shop skort which I found in a charity shop the day before our show. It fit the brief perfectly- tease-y like a mini skirt, practical like cargo shorts (sorta), created a nice silhouette and fit perfectly on my waist. And it was houndstooth to boot! The Top Shop skort has made a few appearances on stage since, working both with and without tights. I have found however, that it's maroon tones doesn't go with every outfit, and I haven't wanted to present as a one-skort-pony , "Oh look, Angela's got the gig-skort out again" - cue eye roll. 

So that got me thinking, what I clearly need is another skort that I can wear for shows, the same style and shape but perhaps in a more versatile fabric. The seed was sewn to recreate the pattern - its only small, how hard could it be? Searching Top Shop Skort and scrolling through Vinted, I soon found what I was looking for - the same Top Shop skort on sale for £1.00 (!!), that I siftly ordered, unpacked and unpicked so that I could draw around the pieces and re-create the pattern. 

This is the first time I have completely disassembled a garment in order to recreate it. I found the whole process really quite cathartic. Essentially I was making somthing I already knew fit like a dream, so although I did make a toile to check my theories, I felt confident that the pattern was going to create a garment that I loved - and let's face it, sewing something from a paper pattern doesn't always provide that certainty. 

Carefully unpicking the seams allowed me to keep the seam allowances intact, so I could draw around the pieces without having to add any extra on. It was clear from the folded lines when unpicking the darts exactly where and how wide they needed to be, and taking time unpicking also allowed me to better understand the construction of the garment and what order I would have to piece together the front layers in order for the faux-wrap to work. 

I made the toile from calico, which I found didn't have as much give in it as the original, so this helped inform my fabric choice. I already had a stash of this black and white linen blend fabric from a previous project, the monochrome also hitting the mark in terms of the versatility I was looking for in design. 

Having seen the guts of the original, I felt much more assured in where to place my interfacing, how wide my strips should be and what areas required extra reinforcement. This attention to detail resulted in my finished skort having really crisp lines and angles which was integral to the design. 

I'm super pleased with the outcome, it was exactly what I wanted and I really feel like I learned from taking the skirt apart and recreating my own. We played over summer in the back of a truck, it was absolutely scorching so the legs out option was much appreciated. We keep talking about touring and I have visions of making another 6 in different colours so I have something different but equally reliable/sexy/versatile/practical/'me' to wear each night. 

What's more is I gained a lot of confidence and inspiration from the process, and now feel like I could take absolutely anything apart and recreate a pattern to make my own. Due to mass production and fast fashion, I have found it really easy to find a 'back up' version of garments I love on Vinted at really cheap prices. It's really exciting to think that clothes that I know fit and feel great that I have bought on the high street can be recreated by my own hands, adding that me-made element to an outfit that means so much to me. 

x
Location: Bakers Hill, Sheffield
Currently listening to: Midnight Sweat, Satllites

New Look 6843, Mini Skirt Hack

Yet another autumnal mini skirt using my heavily modified New Look 6843 patternm which features a slightly A-line cute, an inside facing band rather than a waistband, and is fully lined. 

I was on the hunt for the perfect autumn skirt fabric and I knew I'd found it with this. Upstairs in Abakhan Manchester I found this brown, almost felt-like fabric, which was half price!! The colour was perfect and with it being a bit felt-ier than other fabrics I have made skirts from it was already giving me winter-warmer vibes before I'd even laid the pattern pieces out. 

I was a little bit worried how heavy the fabric was would cause the skirt not to hang quite right, but I was already dreaming about matching it with a brown beret, and did I mention it was half price?! Already in my basket was a slightly textured plain black wool blend from downstairs, and the faun-flecked wool blend from my previous post. I knew all three would spice up my autumn wardrobe even more than a spooky-season Costa menu, and the wearability of a mini skirt in each fabric was high; suitable for work and play! So I felt no guilt in buying all three fabrics and the concealed zippers ot match. 

Knowing how much wear I would get out of these made me feel much less creative-guilt for deciding to make the same pattern a further three times (I already have two 🥲). 

Lining choices were a bit sparce in Abakhan that day, so I had to wait to sneak a trip into Hillsborough Fine Fabrics and get this, all linings were half price that day! Honestly this skirt was such a bargain make! 

In between securing the fabrics, I set-to cutting out the skirts in a kind of conveyour system, which I knew future me would be grateful for (who else hates sitting down to sew only to find, oh shit need to cut my interfacing😑). This was by far my most efficient cutting out and sewing together mission. I had piles of each pattern piece and sewed each step on each skirt before moving onto the next step. So you know that feeling you get after finsihing a garment (that fits super well!)?? Well I got that three-fold when I had finsihed sewing! 

This fabric was little harder to handle in places given the thicker nature of it. I used the overcast stitch on the normal sewing machine rather than overlocking as this just seemed to match the fabric really well (cough, overlocker fear on bulky fabric, cough). 

Despite it's qualities, the skirt does hang well, the body of the fabric making the shape definitive, creating a 60s silhouette. There isn't much give in the fabric and the facing adds a bit of bulk, particularly around the darts. This perhaps makes the skirt sit a little higher on my waist than the others do but that's not at the detriment to comfort or style. 

If you've ever spent time in my company, you'll know I'm a big fan of fast-walking (who has time to amble, really?), and the fit of these skirts allows for a wide stride, which is also great for the cooler seasons when you just gotta keep moving to keep warm! 

Something tells me these three skirts won't be the last I see of this pattern. These little mini skirts are already the best thing about autumn. Now, if only I could find a sewing pattern to salvage winter! 

x

Location: Ponderosa Park, Crookes Valley Park
Currently listening to: Man on a Mission, Black Keys

New Look 6197, Summer Shirt

I keep getting targeted ads for P&Co. clothing. Their American 50s style bowling shirts particularly keep catching my eye. Sadly for P&Co, instead of reaching for my wallet, I decided I'd rather have a bash at making my own. 

This Hawiian-style shirt pattern has been in my stash for ages - a classic fit for both men and women, however I hadn't actually made one for myself yet. I was tempted to have a go at hacking the pattern so that it had raglan sleeves, but there were some cool bowling shirts on the P&Co. website that didn't have raglan sleeves, so in the end I will admit I chickened out and stayed pretty try to the pattern. 

I did decided to make it 2 inches longer, as I wanted to created that oversized/throw it on at the beach look. This was definitely the right decision length wise, however I'm gonna skip to the conclusion here and say, I should have made the shirt wider as it got longer in order to accomodate the extra hip width. Luckily, the shirt tucks in really nicely AND it looks pretty good to wear open over a vest top, so no drama here really. 

I took a trip to Fabworks in Dewsbury for my birthday and bought these 2 crepêy drapey fabrics with shirts in mind, I wanted to used something a bit differnt to a classic Hawaiian shirt print, a) to make it more feminine, b) to at least pretend to be office appropriate, and c) well, just to looka bit less Hawaiian. I had trust in the cut of the pattern that it would still create the retro vibes I was looking for. 

Next came deciding on the colour blocks. I had plans for a sleeve band in white but it looked a bit naff (bordering some kind of uniform territory), I do wish I'd have planned a strip across the top of the pocket, or at very least some cream top-stitching, but I am hapy with it's placement and crisp corners so we'll not spend too long criticising the pocket thanks. 

I took a bit of a gamble, as I knew I wanted the contrast between the outside and the under collar, however I knew the black fabric was likely to show through the white. In order to try and minimise this, I interfaced the black fabric with white and did my overlocking in white, To be honest, when I'm wearing the shirt, the white isn't AS see through as I feared, but I'm definitely glad I used a pale interfacing for the neck and front opening pieces. 

I do wish I'd done the underside of the collar in black. I did cut the under collar smaller in hopes that the seam edge would roll around to the underside and you wouldnt be able to see any of the white fabric, but of course some bits still peek out 🙈 

Another learning curve was using cover-your-own buttons. I knew I wanted the buttons the same colour as the main fabric of the shirt (In Mark's words 'you don't want to look too checker-board'), and I thought I wanted them in the smallest size. Try as I might, however, I really really struggled with the smallest size cover-buttons. Either the backs didnt fix properly, the button bent, the edge of the fabric was baggy or fraying... Sure I was trying to do this with banding toothache - so maybe on a better more focussed day I'd achieve (or maybe when mI'm using a less frustrating fabric, hey?), but after attempts across 2 days, I considered it a twist of fate that I found slightly larger cover-buttons peeking out of a misc tray in a charity shop I'd popped into on a whim. For 20p it was meant to be. The larger size was much easier to cover and I love the effect. 

After 2 attempts hemming the sleeves on this wavy-wavy fabric, I unpicked, re-pressed and cut a strip of 5cm wide innterfacing for each. The result was a much better, structured sleeve that gives that holiday shirt pizzaz. 

The fabric was nice to press, the hem was hard to hem, and the colour-blocking did exactly what I wanted it to (why have I never made contrasting lapels before????). I think there is some really elegant sewing on here that wasn't always easy to achieve with due to the qualities of the fabric. 

I'm pleased with this one 🌴🌊🌺

x
Location: Sidney Street Car Park

Currently listening to: Cutthroat, Shame

Burda 6456, Ruffle Blouse

The Burda 6456 is a blouse pattern that's been sat in my stash for a while. The pattern has been prepped and ready to go, but I've never quite found THE fabric to let it loose on until I snapped this up from Abakhan. The unusual geometric print of this fabric caught my eye in. I bought a big piece so I have some left over I can make something else out of. 

I cut a straight size 10 for the Burda blouse. The fit is intended to be quite loose so I didn’t make any alterations to the patterns pieces.

As the fabric is very drapey, I wanted to ensure I was cutting the patten pieces as accurately as possible. I usually pay a lot of attention to the straight grain but very little consideration to the crossgrain. As the fabric was an offcut I decided to take extra care to ensure my fabric was laid out flat before cutting. I Googled the best method, and am embarrassed to admit that 10 years into my sewing journey, I had never pulled a thread to determine the cross grain before! Once the pulled thread identified a straight line, I could line this and the selvedge up against my cutting mat and lay my pattern pieces out flat. This helps to avoid wobbly pieces that sag into a completely different shape once cut out! (we’ve all been there right…). 

The main attraction to this blouse is the central flounce down the front. This is made up of 2 bendy pieces of fabric with a slightly daunting curved edge to hem. The pattern suggests folding over a 1.5cm s/a and zig zagging closed to the fold before trimming away the excess. I tried this tentatively, not keen on zigzagging or trimming something that was going to be so visible on the blouse. A few zigzags showed that the fabric was going to tunnel in between the stitches and not look great. Instead I folded over and pressed 1.5cm, stitched a straight stitch close to the edge, trimmed and then folded over again- another row of stitching to secure. As a result, 2 rows of stitching are visible on the back of the flounce, but they are neat and petite, and definitely an improvement on the zag zag and raw edge method. The hem is so narrow that it finishes the edge without distorting or wibbling the curve. 

Reluctant to put a delicate fabric through the overlocker (because I am a wuss and the settings still puzzle me…), I decided to French seam the side seams and centre front of this blouse. I haven’t French seamed in ages and every time someone mentions French seams I think ahh I have got to get them back into my life! I was pleased with the result – my tip would be to be brave when trimming the seam allowance down before the second row of stitching. The moveable needle placement on my machine made it much easier to sew small (and straight) seam allowances than it was on my old machine. 

The CF French seam did lead to a bit of confusion when it came to cutting the notch at the neck and attaching the flounce to the neck edge, as there was fabric folded this way and that, however I also think the instructions here weren’t quite right. From the images, and logically, the seam allowance of the neck should sit underneath the flounce, so effectively on the outside of the garment, but hidden. Following the instructions, however I placed the fabric the seam allowance seemed to show on the outside of the garment. I would be interested to know if anyone else experience this by following what was said?

I was able to figure out flipping the fabric round so the seam allowance lay flat and hidden, though admittedly the French seam did add a bit of bulk/confusion at the V-point of the neck, and I had to put a couple of sneaky stitches in to finish the top of the seam allowance. 

The rest of the neckline is tacked then hidden inside the collar band. The curve at the front is really tight, and when pinning the neckband to the raw edge I was convinced I’d cut the neck band a size too big! I persevered though, and found the neck curves easier to pin while the blouse was on the mannequin rather than on my lap. The neckband DOES fit, but I would recommend super accurate cutting and sewing around the neck to make this as trouble-free as possible. 

The armholes are bound. The binding is cut from the same fabric, folded in half, seam allowance from the armholes is reduced but 0.5cm, raw edges of the folded piece are then matched with the armhole and stitched before trimming the seam allowance, turning the folded edge over the seam and securing by hand. The pattern does suggest top-stitching here but I did a slipstitch by hand - we will see if it survives! If not I can always secure this with a machine stitch. 

Quick double turned hem (quite easy as the bottom of the blouse isn’t particularly shaped), though once I’d done this I saw the pattern did suggest side slits, woops! The blouse fits well though and there is no struggle getting it on or off so why add the hassle! 

x
Location: Milton Street, Sheffield
Currently listening to: Doom Bikini, James K