Tuesday 20 October 2015

stripiness

I got my first ever fabric haul from a Dunelm. It had a little haberdashery section complete with an even littler selection of fabrics, intended for cushion-making. I bought two cottons; a solid bright red and a navy and white stripe. I pictured, with the feverish imagination of one who has no idea how to make clothes, all the wonderful things these two pieces of fabric might become. I brought them home and sat them in my cupboard, and they became my stash. The idea of having a stash consisting of two pieces of fabric is actually quite appealing now. 

The red cotton became my first ever dress, and I felt that was a good use of it - it was good enough quality that I would wear the dress, but not so good that I would worry about messing it up with my amateur hands. The stripy fabric, though, sat in my cupboard for months as I looked at pattern after pattern that said "not suitable for stripes". I knew that it must be possible to make stripy clothes - I mean, I'd seen them and everything - but began to wonder if I'd made a mistake in buying it since pattern companies apparently considered it unusable. 

Then I discovered that chevrons were a thing. 


I think it was a Colette pattern that made me aware of the potential for chevronning and I almost bought it, having had this fabric for some time and being quite keen to use it. But then a copy of Gertie Sews Vintage Casual fell into my hands (because I went to a bookshop and picked it up and paid money for it), and within its pages sat a chevron skirt. I knew that my cushion material's time had come, and one insomniac night (I have a lot of those), I cut it out and pinned my stripes together. 



It's an easy skirt to make up; four pieces of skirt and two pieces of facing, with a concealed zip down one side. This was my first attempt at putting in a concealed zip, and when I can be bothered I need to rip it out and do it again - it keeps catching and I think some of the stitches are starting to break. Also I'm still not keen on faced waistlines. But I do want to fix this skirt, because it's got a lot going for it. I got my boyfriend to pin the skirt up while I was wearing it, so my hem is actually even for once. When it's off it looks like a mullet hem, because I have rather a lot of bottom to cover, but it's really nice to look at a photo and go "hey, that's a good hem." (I never do that. I hate hems.) Also, check out my chevrons:


I think this is some damn good chevronning. (Excuse the wrinkles. I am bad at ironing.)

This was a really good lesson project. Pattern matching, even hems, concealed zip. And it will be an even better lesson project if I fix the little things - if I can persuade myself that actually, it is worth taking the time to redo something properly instead of shrugging and deciding that "technically wearable" is good enough, then I think I'll have grown as a person. Not into one of those finicky people, because I just never will be, but working to improve something I've already done without demanding perfection of myself would be tremendously healthy for me and now I'm definitely not going to do it, am I. Sigh.

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