The sewing style I`m using is not your traditional style of sewing, everything is not perfectly sewn here but it is done quickly but still looks nice to have clothes to wear for yourself and your friends at a very low price. I would NOT recommend you do it this way if you want to be a professional.
I have been sewing since I can remember but I only started being serious about sewing about 8 years ago.
I worked for a Vietnamese lady in a sewing store doing prom dresses and alterations for 1 year and learned a lot from her. I then was asked to take over another lady`s business making draperies which I gladly accepted. I have been making draperies since 2003.
Although I like making draperies, my real passion is in clothing/designing. All my life I’ve been dreaming of making and designing clothes but I’ve never had anyone that could show me how it’s done. Living in a small place, there is not much going on around here as far as designing clothes goes. We also don’t have the schools and education for such things close by. So when the internet came around here and we hooked up to it, that’s pretty much all I did was surf the net for designing clothes, clothing illustrations, manufacturing clothing etc. I found Granton Institution through an ad in the mail and took a correspondence course in Fashion Design and Merchandising.
I really enjoyed taking this course. It was a course that I could do in my own time and so it doesn't put any pressure on you if you are working. I also bought any good books I could find on pattern making, pattern draping and pattern fitting and I studied them and did the work. I learned a lot doing this but I also learned that it’s a lot of work to make a pattern, finding your fabric and learning how to sew it up correctly to fit you properly. So I started thinking… how could I cut some corners, make great looking clothes in less time and cheaper.
I loved making the patterns from scratch but it just took too much time. 2 or 3 hours making the pattern and then placing the pattern on the fabric and then cutting it out and sewing it. It was taking me two days to get one outfit done. Too long for me, I want to wear my clothes NOW.
So having become familiar with how patterns look and an artistic ability, I laid my fabric down and could SEE the shape of a simple stretch skirt on the fabric. I measured half my waist and made sure the top of the skirt was the same size plus seams. I cut out the shape in sort of triangular shape using a ruler with the top of the triangle cut off on a piece of fabric that I doubled. I then sewed the side seams together and decided not to serge the seams because the fabric doesn’t unravel and I’m the only one who sees the insides and I don’t care what the insides look like and it saves a lot of time. I tried the skirt on for fitting and adjusted the seams as necessary for a good fit. I then hemmed the skirt where I wanted it and put in an elastic for the waist. Skirt done!!! done in a very short time!!! about 1 hour!!! maybe a little less if you are really fast!!!
This skirt is for someone that has sewn before, not for a beginner. You need to know how to put in an elastic. If you want to know how to put in an elastic just Google, “ how to put in an elastic in a skirt” and you should come up with good examples of it.
TIPS:
*Fabric must be a stretch fabric
*Measure half your waist and add half an inch for seams on both sides. Sew your seams a half inch seams
*Flare or straighten the bottom of skirt according to your taste in skirts. Make the bottom line of the dress longer if you are curvy and shorter if you are straight (not much hips)
*Find your length that you like and add about 3 inches for turning hem (You could measure the length of a skirt you already own)
*If fabric is thin double all your pieces and work as one
*If you have a protruding butt, cut the back length about two inches longer in the back.
*If you have a sway back cut the front waist about an inch deeper slightly curving down and the back length about 2 inches longer.
1.Use a ruler to mark the lines for accuracy
2.Use a zigzag stitch down both sides of the skirt so that the stitch will stretch with the fabric
3.Insert elastic for the waistband (see inserting an elastic in a skirt)
4. Hem the skirt to your desired length
Skirt with a wrapped top to wear at the beach
The back of my wanna be magazine
I hope you enjoyed my wanna be magazine and that it gives you ideas on sewing your own clothes. Have fun!!!
