Sunday, September 26, 2010

Tip of the Iceberg


Okay, everyone, don't laugh, but I made this ruffle denim skirt for Emily. This is so not my style of denim skirt.
This is my idea of a denim skirt:

Yes, yes, I know - it's not something a 6-year old should wear. Or even her mother.

So back to Emily's denim skirt. I don't do ruffles. I've said that before. But my little Emily - she loves ruffles. And while we were out clothes-shopping for school earlier this month, she saw a denim skirt like this in the store and wanted it so badly. But it was just barely long enough to cover her behind, I kid you not. So I said no, but that I'd sew her one like it, except modest.


So here it is - fitted front
elasticized back
and some printed cotton to line the waistband and the inset pockets. If you look closely (no, I don't mind at all- that's why I'm showing you the photo) you can see my inferior tension-control in the stitching on the bottom of the waistband.

On hindsight, I think I'd have liked it more with shorter tiers - maybe three instead of two. And without the top-stitching. Yes, plain blue denim. Seriously. But Emily - who isn't me - loves it.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She grabbed it the minute I finished it (she never does that) and ran off to choose a shirt to go with it so she could wear it to school tomorrow.

So what's with the title? This is the first of the school clothes I'm supposed to be sewing. I bought vast amounts of corduroy, french terry (I think; I'm awful with fabric names), plaids and knits. I cut out 4 skirts before the weekend, all kilt-y-like, and have my sketches - knife pleats, box pleats, inverted box pleats, rubbish pleats, gored, whatever. There are also supposed to be pinafores in denim, corduroy and twill. And I weakened and bought fleece-on-sale for trial-run winter coats for the girls. All three girls. Lined with plaid flannel. With welt pockets. If they turn out nice, I'll splurge on wool melton. And I told Emily, "go sketch out what you want to wear for Halloween" and asked Jenna if she still wanted to go candy-collecting as Ariel-with-legs, dressed in pink.


Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!


(wiping eyes)


And where will I find the time to do all this supposed sewing?
I fool myself. Always I fool myself.





19 comments:

  1. You will not get any sleep until -maybe-next year...;-)

    Great skirt, btw, perfect for a 6-yearold!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the skirt, I bet she looks so cute in it!
    Isn't that always the way, we plan way more than we could ever achieve!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love how your skirt turned out! You should be happy that your daughter loves demin skirts! We (meaning my daughter) have now officially arrived at the PINK stage! Oh my! She refuses to wear anything that looks boyish. Totally new. And she loves pink. And rose! Great! I am telling myself that is just a phase and try to sneak in some purple and dark red ... :-)
    Oh, and can not wait to see the coats. I bought fleece, too. I actually like natural fabric better ... cotton, wool, ... I thought you could not get "natural" fleece ... so I just ordered some I could get. Now I found out that you can get cotton fleece. DARN! Should have known before. Oh well. It is alot more expensive though so maybe it is good that I bought regular one first ... to kinda practise ... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your ruffles! I wouldn't wear it myself, but for my younger daughter...

    I bought myself a 6 gore denim skirt with bias inset godets... Never thought I would wear such a thing, either, but it works so well I'm thinking of making a pattern from it.

    Glad to know:
    1) That I'm not the only one whose plans are much bigger than the time available for executing them (although I think you WILL!)...
    2) That even really skilled seamstresses sew with bad tension from time to time. foflol.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great job!! I agree the stores don't size childrens clothing properly.. My daughter is a child not a street walker..:/ I have been making skirts and dresses for my daughters also.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It looks great

    I have a few more clothes that I want to make, but after last week's blitz, I'm just planning a bag and then it's Halloween stuff. The rest will have to wait.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice contrast stitching -- I'm impressed!
    Yeah, my daughter gets me to sew ruffles and pepto(d)ismal pink too. We love them and we can not resist their pleas. And it makes them so darned happy, so why not ??

    ReplyDelete
  8. This skirt rocks! Beautiful and simple!
    www.maomaocrafts@blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. You may fool yourself but you sure made one person happy today! That skirt is adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a lucky daughter you have! =)

    ReplyDelete
  11. *grin* I know how you feel. I do it too, all the time. But who knows, just start sewing. Maybe you'll get more done than you think now.

    The skirt is cute. I can see why she loves it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. With your prolificity (is that a word?) you'll be done in no time. Just think how fun it will be when your girls are older and you can team sew. May the sewing angels be seated at each side of your presser foot!
    Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
  13. Corduroy, plaid, knits? Can't wait to see what they become! Am so disappointed with the selection of fabric at the local store right now. Oh well, creates less projects to go on the "to do" pile!

    ReplyDelete
  14. oh LiEr, it's so fraggin cute! I adore topstitching and yours is perfect.
    I also love ruffles as trim because they have so much movement and interest BUT don't usually introduce a distracting new fabric or color into the garment. Exactly how you used them here.

    What a warm feeling when your girl adores your creation!

    and oh my heavenly days, I forgot about Halloween. Maybe they can wear sheets and be ghosts.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I too love the skirt! Great for a little girl. When my daughter was young all the clothes looked to old for her so I made skirts and dresses too. Why do they want to dress little girls like Brittany Spears! I love following your blog! I don't know how you do all that you do! Great job always!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ariel with legs....dressed in pink!? Priceless. This I have to see. I hope J said yes.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love both skirts!!! The little details are perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  18. My sewing room is a testament to all of the sewing I wish I had time to do...

    I totally understand your problem with finding clothes that are REMOTELY modest for a little girl. I mean really, is it too much to ask for their bottoms to be covered?

    I've really been enjoying your series on drafting. I feel like I can't mentally keep up with all of the dense, meaty info you have but I'm having to bookmark everything and keep it to read over time because I want to really really get all of this good stuff!

    There's so much good stuff! You are amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  19. O, and my daughter earmarks her fairy tale books, and brings them to me, and says "Mommy, for my next dress I'd like something like this, but in purple, and maybe a slightly different sleeve..." It makes me laugh how she thinks I can just "whip something together."

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for talking to me! If you have a question, I might reply to it here in the comments or in an email.