Making my Lantern skirt

 My lantern skirt came out alot shorter than expected as the fabric I used was blind fabric and was very thick and stiff so it curved more than expected.

 

Once the main shape was sewn I paint splatted the base using slightly watered down fabric paint, I think this has worked really well however I think I should have used some blue.

 



 

For the waist band I took the models waist measurement and sewed this on using the same method as the pacman skirt, I also sewed hooks and eyes at the top.

 

 

Thanks for reading!!

 

Jenny xxx

 



Making my Pacman skirt

Making my pacman skirt I followed the same procedures as my toile however I interfaced the whole skirt to make the fabric thicker and more sturdy.

 

I also then appliqued eyes on to the front evenly spaced.

For the hem I had to sew the bottom of the binding on and then I had to hand tack the top as the fabric was stretching when I used the sewing machine.

 

After I finished sewing I glued mini cabochons to the hem to add more detail.

 

Thanks for reading!!

Jenny xxx

Pacman skirt toile

Here I'm creating the toile for my Pacman skirt hope you enjoy learning!

 

First I started by drawing a horizontal line the length of my waist measurement, I then drew a vertical line the length that I wanted my skirt to be, and created a rectangle using these measurements. I then split the rectangle in half both ways, and divided the vertical line into 10 even sections

At each other line I drew curved darts and a curved seam at each side, this will create the ball shape I require at the top of my skirt to create my pacman skirt.

 



 

At the hem I drew the same shape as a pacman ghost's feet making sure the curves were an even distance away from each other.

One I finished drawing out the shape I traced over this adding a 1cm seam allowance and cut it out.

 

I then pinned this to my fabric and cut it out.

 

Next I created a template for my darts to ensure I sewed the dart in the right shape.And then sewed all of the darts together.

 

Next I sewed one side together and pined the other whilst i tried it on my friend as she had a dress on with a netted underskirt, and this helped me to decide weather or not the shape was right.

Next I sewed the other side half way up leaving room for a zip

 



 

I then created the waist band by drawing a rectangle 8cm long (to be folded down) and half of my waist measurement wide as I will cut this on the fold. I then added a 4cm button stand and a 1cm seam allowance and cut this out of my fabric.

 

Here I put a notch for the button stand.

I then decided that I didn't want the button stand and took that off and left enough for a 1cm SA

 

I then drew an interfacing for the waist band using only one half of the original. 



Next I sewed the waist band to the skirt wrong sides together on one half of the band 

 

I then folded over and top stitched so the seam was hidden. 

For the edge of the waist I sewed as close as the zip as possible and cut the corner off so the point would be sharper. 

 

Next I traced part of the hem and drew a 4cm SA to create my binding pattern, then added a 1cm SA and cut this out.

 

 

here I sewed one edge of the binding to the skirt hem.

 

I then cut notches in the curves so it would create a better curve when folded over.

I then ironed over 1cm of the top of the binding  and sewed this down.

 



 

For the Eyes I drew a shape for the white part and one for the pupil and then added a 1cm SA

 

Thanks for reading!!

 

Jenny xxx

 

Toiling My Lantern Skirt

The other week I started toiling my Lantern Skirt, I first drew a horizontal straight line and then a vertical line at a 90C angle to the first line.  as I am going to have 8 panels to create the ball shape, I have to divide each measurement into 8. I then took an 8th of my waist measurement and marked it evenly across the top line where the line crosses.

I then measured how long I wanted the skirt and added a little extra as it will poof out and marked the bottom line down from the waist line, I then drew a line half way down. After I had the grid I measured how wide I wanted the half way point, divided by 8 and then marked the points on the line, I the did the same with the hem. After that I drew a curved line connecting the waist line measurements and the same for the hem. I then drew a curved line on each side making sure it passed through the middle measurements. 

I then added a 1cm seam allowance all the way round, and then cut out the pattern. I then folded the fabric so there was 4 layers and cut out 8 pieces. 

After I cut out the pattern I realised that it was far too wide so I trimmed 4cm off each side. Remembering to keep the same curve. 

 After I had my pattern pieces I sewed them all together at the sides and then sewed half way up the back seam for  a zip, It will look much better with netting underneath to bag it out. I thought the skirt looked too long so I took off Around 10cm off the hem off the pattern. 

And that was the finished toile, unfortunately I didn't take pictures of every step but I did recreate my pattern on Illustrator which is the first image. 

Thanks for reading!! What do you think of my first toile?? 

Jenny xxx

Military Skirt patterns

This is a post on my military skirt patterns, For some reason I imagined that I already posted this!

(Unfortunately the image above isn't very good) To start my patterns I began first draft by tracing around a skirt block, I included the hip lines and darts and I also added a line were the box pleat would be. On the centre back line I also added extra flare by extending the hem line a little bit and then joining the end of the line to the hip line so the line is smooth.

Next I traced around the front piece adding the dart and hip line, I then cut this out. After I cut that out I then measured the width of the box pleat on my first draft, Then(I think) I took a new piece of paper and drew a straight line I then added on double the width of the box pleat. I then cut this out and taped this on the centre front of the pattern making sure the line met the edge of the pattern, then I folded the paper in half exactly. I then cut out another strip of paper the width of the box pleat and taped this onto the edge.

I traced over this on another piece of paper and then I added a 1.5cm seam allowance and cut it out.

I also traced around the back piece and added a kick pleat to the centre back by using a set square to draw a 45 degree angle, I then drew a straight line down and across to create the shape above then I added a 1.5cm seam allowance and cut it out.

Yoke Patterns.

To get the yoke patterns I traced around the top of the skirt patterns to the hip line, I then cut those out and closed the darts. To get the facings I used a set square to draw a line 5cm distance parallel to the waist line and then closed the darts

Here are the adapted yoke pieces, I traced these of from my first draft cut them out and closed the darts.

I traced around the adapted yoke pieces and added a 1.5cm seam allowance and cut them out.

Here are my final front and back skirt pattern pieces.

Thanks for reading!! I hope this made sence!

Jenny xxx