Completed: Sunset Maxi Skirt

Finished what I am calling the "Sunset Skirt" last night! 

Ok, ok - I am faaaaaarr from a Photoshop expert. If you look hard enough, you can see a bunch of flaws. My advice? DON'T LOOK SO HARD.

This skirt is made from a very fine, stretch lycra. In retrospect, perhaps not the best fabric choice. The fabric shows every minor sewing issue and when you walk, it stretches in such a way that the fabric looks like it's a pattern issue with pulling. Also, the fabric store I go to - you have to take your choices. I originally was looking for a stretch jersey but didn't find anything I liked. I also had completely different colors in mind but couldn't find the hues I wanted.

I'm not beating myself up about it. This was my 2nd stretch knit fabric garment ever and it was my own pattern.  You may recognize the design from my Ultimate Manic Pop Collection board I did. I never planned on making anything from that board, but over time I really wanted this skirt.

Pattern making for the skirt.

 I took my skirt block and eliminated the darts. After all, this is a stretch knit pattern and darts are not necessary. However, you can't just eliminate the darts altogether - you have to slice off the intake. I just went ahead and did this on center front - the darts totaled to 1" there. On the back side, the darts totaled 2", so I also sliced that amount off the center back seam. Then, I drew my design lines.

 It really was that simple!

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 I added an elastic waistband at the top. This is important since it will hold the skirt up. Dummy me has only done elastic a couple of times in my entire life and what I really should have done is sew the skirt fully and THEN add the elastic, much like you would do a hem.

But this is what a sample is all about. You make mistakes, take notes, and attach it to the pattern. "Don't do this next time."

 In production, you typically have a few go'rounds of the same pattern. I've made 1/2 muslins, made corrections, then done a FULL muslin, and then after the sample is made, take notes again and edit the pattern. With this one? There was NO muslin. Hahaha. I like to fly by the seat of my pants.

I started the pattern on this April 30th, completed sewing by May 2nd. Three days?! I also only had one day off in between that time. This is my 4th original design/pattern this year already.

Finished skirt. 

I'm convinced my mannequin is a little thicker than I am because the fabric lays relatively flat on her. I hadn't really pressed the bottom at this point either.

During serging. Technically, I should have not even touched the sewing machine and just serged the whole thing, but my serger is sometimes iffy. I've ruined garments pretty well with it (and on the industrial ones at school) so I don't really jump to that thing first.

Another mental note: I should have continued the stripes horizontally across my butt and match up to the other side. That might be a pattern hack for next time.

 It was actually about 44 degrees Fahrenheit when we took these photos and had been raining. I was freezing, cars kept coming down the street... and I know my neighbors think I'm nuts! Haha. 

 

Another pattern and garment finished!