the making and unmaking of a prairie skirt



New Look #6978 in purple striped cotton print

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I did it. I took the lace off of the purple stripey skirt and opened up all but one of the seams to start over. I decided that it wasn't just the lace that was bothering me, bringing back those visions of 80's prairie skirts. It was also the fit. It was too long, too loose, and too poofy. So I took in the side seam about an inch and plan to shorten the whole thing another couple of inches. I wanted to have it done this weekend while the weather is warm again, but then I decided that it needed a lining. After an end-of-the-week run to the fabric store, I only managed to get the lining pieces cut out and ready to join to the skirt.

Any suggestions on the best way to attach a lining? The pattern doesn't call for one, so I'm just winging it here.

After I'm finished with the ex-prairie skirt, I'll be moving on to my fall projects. I've decided to put aside the summer projects - too much work for something I won't be able to wear for a while. So my flowery top, the Cleo pattern, and a couple of skirts go into the time capsule until next spring.

Next up on the list then will be a light, drapey jacket for me. I fell in love with this Burda pattern when I first saw it and then I found this pretty patchwork fabric on sale to use for it.

And for the boys, I'm planning some safari pants! I'm going to try this Burda kids pattern in these fun fabrics that grandma picked out.

I'm excited about a new season of sewing. And the ex-prairie skirt just might turn out okay after all. Change is good.

No new sewing to report so far this week. I hope to get the drawstrings finished for my skirt this afternoon, though. I've become a bit discouraged as regards the skirt: A) because I don't have any shoes to wear with it; and B) because someone mentioned "prairie" in one of the comments last week and all I can think of are those god-awful puffy sleeves and poofy prairie skirts that I wore when I was 13. A) is pretty easy to solve, I think, but B) may require my cutting off the lace.

Cutting off the lace and rehemming would be pretty scary, but if it comes to that, I'll try to follow the brave example set by my boys, who got their first haircut today! They really needed it. Until April, they had almost no hair, but once it started growing in, it didn't take long for it to get a bit outta control. Here's B before and S, whose hair was even longer and curlier than his brother's.

There were only a few tears shed at the beginning of the cut. Animal crackers, cartoons, and the realization that nothing bad was happening helped to calm their fears.

And now, no more hair in our eyes! Fuzzy heads rule!

So, I took a little break last week from my sewing updates (and my sewing!), as I was completely focused on finishing up native for my mom's birthday (stay tuned, this week). Last week, I promised a picture of my stripey skirt and I wouldn't want it to get around that I don't keep my promises. So here it is, still without the drawstring ties.

Elsewhere in the land of project overload, I cast on for my holiday island sweater (aka, Chaise). I love the name of that Jo Sharp book and the soft, cool blue cotton that I'm using seems to fit the island theme so nicely. I'm most curious to see how I'll feel about the 3/4 length sleeves. I have two other 3/4 length sleeve projects planned for fall, so I hope I still love the idea when I'm done.

I think I've figured out what is keeping me from jumping into my sewing like I do with my knitting. It's the ironing. I absolutely love cutting out the pattern pieces, pinning them on the fabric and then cutting everything out - I really enjoy the pieces with their neat cutting lines and the pins all in a row (could you tell by the number of pattern piece photos I've posted?). And I like the actual sewing - a side seam, a hem, even a casing for elastic. But I hate all the "press down 1/4 in. here and then fold over and press again" sort of stuff. How annoying is that? Sew a little seam, stand up and do some tedious, intricate foldy-pressy thing, then sew another little seam. Just makes me want to get my knitting needles and do stockinette in front of the tv for an hour or two!

So this week, I tried to make friends with the iron. My first project wasn't sewing at all, but a bit of crafty, iron-on fun. Remember when I was dreaming of knitting Joe sweaters for the boys? Well, I still want to do that. I've got two more sweaters planned for the boys before I get to those, but I figure they'll still be watching Blue's Clues in two years! Anyway, the character they really love is Dora the Explorer and you cannot find any Dora clothes or accessories that are for boys. I'm not a huge stickler about boy colors and such, but everything Dora is pink AND ruffly AND covered in flowers. That's a little much for even the most open-minded mom. So I made up some little iron-ons and bought some cheap shirts at Old Navy, and voila: boys like Dora too!

And here's the back. The boys love them!

After doing the Dora shirts and making some headway on the native sweater (check it out!), I managed to almost finish sewing my stripey skirt. Step one on the skirt was iron on interfacing over buttonholes (now you can see why I waited so long!). I picked up the iron, since it was out, and got to work. Then sewed up the side seams, the hem and even added a bit of lace to the bottom. All that's left are the fiddly little drawstrings. I should have finished pics for next week's update. I really like how it came out and I'll probably start wearing it even though I still have to deal with the ties. Good thing the rest is finished, cause I'm done ironing for this week!

New sewing project alert! I've cut out the pattern pieces and pinned them out for two summer projects from the new stash.

I realized I had enough of the purple striped fabric to make a skirt (one that will perfectly match my purple tank and the Phildar top when I make it). I still really liked the simple lines of the pattern I'd originally planned to use with the striped fabric, so I decided to use it with flowery fabric, which is my favorite from the new stash.

In old news I finished up the last of the curtains. I love the way the light glows when it comes through these curtains. The living room finally has that nice home-y feel that curtains always bring.

I'm used to this with my knitting, but now I've got an overload of sewing projects. One birthday and I suddenly have something you could call a fabric stash and a lot of exciting patterns to make. (Okay, I know I've still got two projects unfinished, but I'm beginning to think that I won't like dressy and it's too hot for me to get excited about long pajama bottoms, even if they are groovy.) And no more sewing for the boys - I'm talking fun summer patterns for me! Now the problem is deciding where to start. Should I make this little stripey top or maybe this lovely strappy top or perhaps this lacy flowery blouse?

I've still got to look through my new Burda magazines to see if there isn't a pattern in them that just has to get made. So many possibilites - how can I ever decide?