Tuesday, May 29, 2012

What I Didn’t Wear - Knock-off Dud

Remember when I said I’d like to make that CAbi knock-off skirt? Yea, well, maybe not. I had the perfect border print for it (it’s the top swatch) and everything?? Yea, well, it’s just not me. Although in the pictures, it doesn’t look as bad as I thought in the mirror. But I still don’t like it. This is a simple elastic waist skirt from Burda 05-2010. I modified it slightly and I think that is where it went wrong. I am using a border print and I wanted it to be straight along the bottom. “Wait, I know! I’ll just make it more of a rectangle and gather it at the waist more!” Yea, well, that put more material at the waist which made it too full and too gathered. Here it doesn’t look too bad.
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Tucked in is just a disaster. Maybe with a belt? The second big problem was I didn’t have enough fabric to do a better waistband. I usually make elastic waists like this a big thicker so they don’t look like, well, this . . .
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Here you can see the bad waistband. I put pockets in it which I do think are cute. Not cute enough to cancel out the badness, mind you. I do love the fabric so I’ll save this wadder and do something else with the fabric.
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This is the “Momma don’t like that” face. See what I mean about all that fabric around the waist??
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And here I thought I could whip into the sewing room in between paint coats and whip up a cute skirt. Wrong!

 

I’m still working on painting the bathroom. For those of you who asked, I’m still pondering the weird ass kitchen window. That’s a bigger job.

12 comments:

Jessim said...

Sorry you are unhappy with it :(

I LOVE the untucked shirt with it though. You look fabulous.

sdBev said...

You need to leave this in the magic closet for a week or so. It's not bad at all, especially with your bod.

Digs said...

If you really really loved the look of the skirt (nicely thought out bottom border and all), you'd pick out the waistband and make several long darts in the upper section to remove at least some of the excess fabric, before re-gathering it. But it would still look gathered - unless you loved it so much that you'd want to put a proper waistband and zipper in it. With the top over it, it's cute as is, and no one's the wiser.

ReadyThreadSew said...

If you've got Burda 03-2009 there is a pleat front (sewn down) skirt that might work perfectly (although you'd have to ignore the pockets unless you've got spare fabric). It's pattern No. 105 in the mag. The version in the magazine is an ankle length skirt but, having made it, I can't see any reason that it wouldn't work for a much shorter border print fabric.

Christiana said...

I really like the border print and the colour combo of the fabric. I'm not keen on all the gathers and the elastic waist. When you wear it with the untucked shirt it hides the yukky parts. Perhaps a re-do, with a fitted waistband will rescue the project.

Christiana
sewamusing.blogspot.com

Mel.J said...

It's a cute skirt, worth trying to sort out what you don't like about it. I was thinking some darts in the top section would help quite a lot with controlling the gathering, and maybe one of those waistbands where you sew the skirt to the wide elastic & then flip it inside?

Anonymous said...

Well, what I love is those kick-ass abs! Don't love the skirt, yeah it's too full. Maybe rework it into a skirt for one of the girls?

Janelle said...

I agree with you - love the fabric and the border is the star of the show, but too much bulk at the waist. Something like this tutorial would help to eliminate the bulk and still show off the party at the bottom. http://www.sewinginnomansland.com/2012/03/15/crafty-cupboards-pleated-chevron-skirt/

Raquel from J.C. said...

I don't like the skirt, sorry, but you have nice abs! Good for you!!!!

marysews said...

It's too wide? Make it narrower, and it might be good.

Anonymous said...

Sew - Take off the whole top of the skirt (above the border) Use the fabric to make a fitted yoke, complete with darts, zipper & a waist facing. gather the border to the yoke. Now you've got the border and no yucky gathered waist. Just demoed this to my neighborhood sewing group, using my 20yo niece as model - we use this for everyone from the little 8 yo to the (ahem, mature) Moms & Grandmas - more flattering on every body type than all that fabric. Sue in MN

SueK said...

I think it's really quite cute with the top untucked.  It's just not as fitted as your usual choices, it's a fun, flirty summer look.  I think you'll wear it a lot, if you just accept it for what it is.  Love the fabric.