… or “What I did on my summer vacation (Part I)”.
I managed to get in a bit of sewing while on vacation. I finished the third skirt of my Sister’s Sewing Projects. I offered to sew up for my sister three skirts and three dresses AND the dress she is going to be wearing to her son’s wedding, her MOG dress! I love having the distraction from my own sewing projects and it is fun to work with the lovely fabrics and patterns that she has picked!
What we have to show today is the “Snake skin”, just another nick-name we gave to this fabric when we were trying to decide on which fabric to pick while running from bolt to bolt in the fabric shop. This is a very soft 100% cotton with a nice drape to it. Again, for this skirt, my sister wanted me to use her 1989 vintage pattern, McCall’s 4408. I’m getting so accustomed to this pattern, I going to have to make one for myself someday!
You already know from previous posts of the first two skirts, here and here, that my sister wanted the waistbands changed to half elastic – in the back – and half not – in the front. This turned out to be an easy procedure (after my first try). I sewed the waistband on as usual and folded it to the inside on the fold line, as usual. I topstitched the top edge all around and topstitched the bottom edge on the back half only.
Adding another row of stitching in the middle of the waistband on the back half gave me a two narrow channels on the back half of the waistband to run my elastics through.
After that I sewed the elastic ends down and topstitched down the bottom edge of the front half of my waistband. Easy Peasy ,,, now that I have done it on three skirts in a row!
I have been using the blind hem stitch on my sewing machine on all three of these skirts and just loving it. I pinned up the hem and folded it to the right side so that I could run it through my sewing machine’s blind hem stitch.
I haven’t ironed my sister’s skirt yet so you can just see the tiny stitches left behind after blind hemming. This stitch certainly makes the task go easily and quickly!
Petunia gets to wear another new skirt. Proper waistband in the front, elastic waistband in the back. Gotta love those hidden pockets!
And I can’t forget about those inverted pleats either!
Three skirts completed now Sis – and three dresses, plus the all important MOG dress, to go!
Next post, I shall tell you “What I did on my summer vacation (Part II)” – just a hint … it involved looking at a LOT of butts!
Happy Sewing!