My Messings: January 2013

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Hollyburn Sew-along - Hemming

Welcome to the next post in the Hollyburn Skirt Sew-along! Incase you've missed any, here are all the posts so far:
- Inspiration (Part 1)
- Inspiration (Part 2)
- Choosing a view
- Sizing
- Choosing and Buying Fabric
- Changing the Length
- An Interview with Tasia
- Pattern Alteration - Removing the Pockets
- Pattern Alteration - Piping on your waistband
- Prewash and Prepare Fabric
- Thoughts on Grading Up in Size
- Choices to make before starting to sew
- Cutting Layout and Cutting
- Sewing the Pockets
- Skirt Seams

- Zipper (Unlined Skirt)

- Zipper (Lined Skirt)
- Finish the Waistband and Extras

Guess what! Today is the last post for the sew-along!! After today we will have finished our skirts! How exciting!!!

The last step we need to do is hem the skirt. Again, I'm going to show you two different ways to hem the skirt, one easier way, and one where all the raw edges are hidden.

Checking Hem Length
However, before you can hem your skirt you need to check the length of the hem on you. I often find that my skirts are shorter at the back than the front, due to a combination of the tilt of my pelvis and my protruding behind. For this reason, I usually hem my skirts longer at the back than the front.

To check the length of your skirt I recommend recruiting a friend (or long suffering other-half) to help you measure. Put your skirt on, and get your helper to measure up from the ground to see how long your skirt is on you. I was just finishing off my skirt at Social Sewing, so I recruited the lovely Mel to help check the length of my skirt:

Mel checked the length by measuring up from the ground with a measuring tape, but I've also used a long ruler, or the handle of my broom in the past. It doesn't actually matter what the measurement is, just that it's even - so you don't actually have to use something that 'measures'.

Below you can see the line of pins that mark an even amount up from the ground once I was wearing my skirt. The front is on the right, the back on the left - you can see that I need to shorten the front slightly to make it the same length as the back and the sides:

So I trimmed off that extra with a smooth curve.

You should do the same thing to check the length of your skirt. Once you've done that you can move on to hemming it.

Hemming Method No. 1
The first method I'm going to show you is the simpler method, where you just finish the raw edge, fold the hem over once and top-stitch it. This method is perfectly fine to do, and what I chose to do with my black skirt.

First you need to finish the raw edge of the hem. I did this with a zig-zag stitch:

Now fold up the edge however much you want to hem the skirt. I folded mine up by about 1/2":

Sew a line of stitching near to the raw edge of the folded up hem. It should look something like this from the wrong side:

And like this from the right side:

Give it a press, and you're done!!

"Hidden Raw Edges" Hemming Method
The other method I'm going to show you is one where you fold the hem up twice, thereby hiding all the raw edges However, it's not quite as simple as the above method, because of the shape of the skirt, you'll find that once folded up the edge is larger than the skirt it's being folded over. Sorry, it's a bit hard to explain, hopefully this photo will show what I mean, do you see how there are the 'bumps' of fabric in the hem where the hem is longer than the skirt under it:

Well to make it easier to sew the hem, and avoid getting big tucks, we want to 'ease' the hem into the length. To 'ease' the hem you need to sew a line of stitches with a long stitch length near to the edge, which we'll then pull on to 'squish' the longer edge into the space we need it to go into.

To do that, fold your hem up by half of your hem allowance, and sew a line of stitching at the longest stitch length your machine can sew close to the fold:

It should look something like this:

Now we'll fold the hem up the other half of the hem allowance. You can see in the picture below how the folded edge is longer than the skirt below it:

You need to pull on one of the stitches, and pull up on the thread to 'ease' the fabric to the length you want it. You can see below what the same spot on the skirt looked like after I had pulled on the threads to ease it to the right length:

Now you need to sew the line of top-stitching near the folded edge to secure your hem, just like in the first method:

Once you're done, give it a press and it should look something like this on the wrong side:

And this on the right side:

You can remove the basting stitches now if you wish, but it's also not the end of the world if you leave them in, just trim off any long loops from the easing.

And we're done! How exciting!! Pat yourself on the back for making a fabulous skirt!

I'll share my two sew-along versions with you tomorrow and Monday, and then if you comment or email me with pictures of or links to your skirts, and I'll share them all here on the blog in a 'Hollyburn Party" on the 11th of Feb. Just make sure that you share your skirt with me before 5pm Melbourne time on the 11th of Feb.

Missed any of the sew-along posts, or just want to re-read them? You can find the full list here.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Hollyburn Sew-Along - Finish the Waistband and Extras

- Zipper (Lined Skirt)

Today we're going to finish off the inside of the waistband, and if you're doing them, the button tabs or belt loops.

Finishing off the Waistband
To finish off the inside of the waistband we need to attach the inside edge of the waistband to the waistband seam. You can do this either by hand or by machine.

I'll be demonstrating how to do it by machine, if you want to do it by hand, there's a great tutorial here by Tasia on how to slip stitch it by hand.

First you need to pin the waistband along the waistband seam, lining up the bottom edge of the waistband on the inside of the skirt just below the seamline on the outside. If you have lined your skirt, you can do exactly the same thing.

It'll look something like this when it's pinned:

Now you want to sew a line of stitching in the ditch between the waistband and the skirt to secure the inside of the waistband to the rest of the skirt. I used my topstitching foot for this:

When you're done, this is what it should look like from the outside, can you see the line of stitching just below the waistband:

And it should look something like this from the inside, with a line of stitching along the bottom of the inside of the waistband:

Does that all make sense? If not, why don't you take a look at the last section about ditch-stitching in this post, Tasia has explained it really well. Feel free to ask any questions if you still have any though.

Please Note: In the following photos I am using pink thread on black fabric- this is because I was just taking the photos for this tutorial not to put the tabs or loops on my actual skirt, so chose fabric to contrast so you could see the stitching easier. You should use thread that matches your fabric!

Button Tabs
As we discussed earlier in the sew-along, one of the two additional options in the pattern are button tabs. If you're doing the button tabs, you should already have cut out two of the tab pattern pieces (piece 9) and interfaced them.

Fold the tabs in half, RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER, matching the notches and corners:

And sew around the edges of the piece with a 1.5cm (5/8") seam allowance:

Now trim the seam allowances, including trimming down the corners to remove the bulk from there:

And turn it the right way around:

And press:

Now finish the raw edge. This isn't essential, but if your fabric is prone to unravelling is a good idea so you don't get unravelled threads popping out:

Now pin it onto your waistband. You'll be lining it up with where you want the straight edge to go (probably above your side seams) but FACING THE WRONG WAY (ie towards the back):

Please excuse my fake (and wonky) waistband I made to demonstrate sewing the belt loops and button tabs. Obviously, you'll be sewing it onto your actual skirt.

Sew a line of stitching parallel to the raw edge of the tab, close to the edge (my line was about 1/4" away from the edge) to secure the tab to the waistband:

Now fold back the button tab along the line of stitching you just made, so it's facing the correct way. Sew a line of top stitching along the edge to hold the button tab facing the correct way:

And the last step is to sew a button on. Sew the button on through all the layers of the tab and the waistband:

And done! Huzzah!

Belt Loops
The other additional option in the pattern are belt loops. For making the belt loops you'll need to have cut out one of piece 8:

First finish one of the long edges of the button loop piece, I used a zig-zag:

Now you need to fold the belt loop piece into thirds, with the edge you just finished on the outside:

And pin it like that all the way along the length:

Now you need to sew two lines of topstitching along either edge of the folded belt loop piece, making sure that you catch the finished edge. The outside of the belt loops should look something like this:

And the underside like this (do you see how I've made sure to catch the raw edge in the topstitching):

Next, cut your belt loops into 4 equal pieces:

Now you need to pin the belt loops where you want on the waistband. I would probably place mine over the point where the pocket meets the waistband at the front, and a matching spot on the back. Fold under the raw edges like this:

Now sew a line of stitching near the edge of the top and bottom of the waistband. To make it nice and secure, I stitched back across the line of stitching to make two layers of stitching:

And when you've done all four, you're done!

Are you excited? We're almost done! Just hemming to go and we're finished! I know I'm excited! How is everyone done? Will you be ready to share your skirts with us before the 11th of Feb?

Missed any of the sew-along posts, or just want to re-read them? You can find the full list here.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Hollyburn Sew-along - Zipper (Lined Skirt)

Today I'm going to go through the steps for adding the zip if you've lined your skirt. You need to modify the method we showed yesterday for the unlined version, so that the skirt is finished nicely on the inside with the lining. The technique I'm going to show you is based on the method that Tasia showed us in the Crescent Skirt Sew-Along (Part 1, Part 2), but modified slightly to accommodate that we have a folded waistband and lining rather than a facing.

Prepare the Lining
First, you need to prepare your lining. Sew the two skirt front and two skirt backs together, much like the skirt, it will look something like this:

Sew lining to waistband
Now, we want to attach the top of the lining to the other side of the waistband. If you added the extra notches that I suggested last week, then line up the notches on the waistband with the centre front and side seams of the lining, right sides together:

Stitch the seam with a 1.5cm (5/8") seam allowance, and press the seam allowance towards the waistband. It should look something like this:

Sew the centre back seam
Now stitch up the centre back seam for the skirt (but NOT the lining), as we did yesterday, matching notches. Finish the two edges separately, all the way up to the waistband. I finished mine like the centre front, with binding around the raw edge like my centre front seam.

Check the size
Now, similar to yesterday we're going to pin the zip in place and try on the the skirt to check the size.

First, fold the waistband in half lengthwise, matching the skirt and lining waistband seam, and press the waistband in half. Now, with the skirt and lining together, fold back the seam allowance of 1.5cm at the centre back seam and press lightly. Now pin the zip in behind the fabric so you can try the skirt on.

As with yesterday, spend some time to make sure that your skirt is the right size at this step.

Once you're happy with the size, repress the fold, as this will act as a marker of where your seamline will be. If your fabric doesn't hold a crease-line then mark it with a marking pen/pencil instead. Below you can see my fold-line, as you can see I've taken the skirt in slightly as it was a bit big, so the seam allowance is bigger than the standard 1.5cm:

Now we're going to pin the zip into place to first stitch it to the lining, and then the outer skirt.

Sew the zip to the lining
Take your zip, and place it right side up, with the skirt lining right side up too:

Open up the zip and pin it so that the zipper teeth line up with the fold-line, with the zipper tape on the seam-allowance side. The top of the zipper should be just below the fold-line of the waistband:

Quick Tip: Make sure that you're only pinning the zip and lining, and not the skirt fabric.

Now close up the zip and make a mark where it crosses the waistband seam (marked in pink):

Now we're going to pin the other side of the zip to the other side of the skirt. First, line up the other side of the centre back seam next to the first one:

Now fold over the zip so that its orientation is a mirror image of the first side of the zip, with the teeth next to the fold-line and the tape in the seam allowance:

And line up the mark you made on the zip with the waistband seam (marked in pink):

And then pin the rest of the zip to the lining:

Now we're going to sew the zip to the lining. Using the zipper foot on your sewing machine, sew a line of stitching slightly to the side of the teeth down both sides of the zip:

Once stitched it should look something like this, the zipper pull should have naturally rotated to face the outside of the skirt:

Now close up the zip, and give the lining a light press, so that it's folded back across the seamline that you just stitched.

Sew the zip to the skirt
If you turn the skirt right sides out, the outside of the zip should look something like this:

First, we will fold back the top of the zipper, so that it's enclosed in the top of the waistband. Fold back the top like this:

And slide it inside the waistband, now adjust the folded edges so that the outer edge meets the edge of the zipper teeth, and the inner edge is a little further across so the zipper tape is slightly visible. Now pin it in place:

Resume pinning the zip to the skirt making it so that the folded centre back edge just meets over the centre of the zip. Make sure your waistband seams line up on either side of the skirt. It should look something like this:

And on the inside it should look something like this:

As with yesterday, you can choose to baste the zip in before you sew the line of top-stitching, it's your choice.

Now, again using your zipper foot, stitch a line of top-stitching around the edge of the zip:

And that's it! A lovely zip that's neatly finished on both the inside and the outside!

How's everyone going with the Sew-Along? We're coming into the home stretch now, not many steps left to go!

Missed any of the sew-along posts, or just want to re-read them? You can find the full list here.

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