::Sewing::Self-Drafted Polly Pencil Skirt

Here is the first wearable garment I made using my pattern block and the patternmaking skills I honed during the patternmaking course I wrote about in my last post.

I'm calling it my Polly Pencil skirt, as in Polly Pocket Pencil Skirt :)

I wanted to wear this skirt to the last pattern drafting lesson I took. I also wanted to wear this skirt on a trip I was taking to visit my parents too. So that pressure was on! But that didn't stop me from making the final skirt the day before my last patternmaking lesson :)

I had all the supplies in my stash so I power-sewed the heck out of this skirt and I'm so pleased with it.

~Inspiration~

[source]

This skirt is one of the inspiration pictures I took into the patternmaking course. I thought it would be interesting to see the process to make the pattern from a basic pattern block. In class the teacher drafted the pattern, but omitted the pocket bands. I thought that the pockets bands where the best part so when I drafted the pattern I made sure to include them. The main thing that drew me to this skirt was the pockets and how they were constructed.

~Pattern~
Self drafted using my 1 dart skirt block from taking the patternmaking course.

~Pattern Adjustments~
I started by using my 1 dart skirt block. I decided that I wanted the skirt to be about knee length so I traced off a centre front panel and then a side panel from waist to knee. The centre front panel was set aside and I moved on to the side panels.

I drew in the style lines on my tracing of the side panel. I drew an outline for the pocket band, and the pocket lining. This became my working pattern and I used it to trace off the pattern pieces I needed to sew the skirt.


Then I marked notches and grain lines. I decided that I wanted to cut the pocket bands so they ran along the straight grain so they wouldn't stretch out over time. Once that was all done it came time for the toile. I was pretty happy with the toile and didn't make any changes.

~Materials~

• Slate coloured cotton drill fabric - most likely from spotlight.
• Black cotton lawn
• Zipper
• Interfacing
• Thread

~Construction~

Skirt Front
Sewed each of the pocket panels together.
Attached to centre front panel.
Attached to waistband.

Skirt Back
Sewed darts in skirt back.
Attached to back waistband pieces
Inserted centre back zipper

Assembly
Sewed up side seams and adjusted sided seams for better fit
Folded over waistband and secured by stitching in the ditch from the front

Hemmed the bottom of the skirt

~Changes I made this time~

• As I was sewing I realised that I wanted the skirt to be a little shorter so I ended up sewing a wide hem, but I'm glad I did because it adds some heft and weight to the bottom of the skirt.
• I took a little of extra time while making this skirt and top-stitched along the long edges of the pocket bands and along the seam joining the front side panels to the centre front panel. I also top-stitched along the bottom edge of the waistband.

~What I Like~

• the fabric is great because it breathes and has been wearing really nicely into a softer fabric.
• The pockets! They are so useful and are really great to stash my phone wallet and keys when I need to quickly duck into the store.
• I really like the centred zipper I put into the skirt, it's help up really well and conceals the zip
• I really like the way the top stitching I did on the skirt give is a more 'polished' look. 
• I'm really glad I did a zig zag tack across the bottom of the zipper. I usually wear  out the fabric here and it's held up well with wear.

~What I Don't Like~

• The waistband rolls a little
• The pocket bands get droopy sometimes

~Changes for Next Time~

• The waistband rolls, so next time try a narrow waistband like this
• I would interface the pocket bands next time because they have started to warp a bit over time
• The top of the pocket bands curl into the pocket if I have something a little heavy in my pocket so to stop that I would stitch in the ditch of the lower pocket band seam and catch the lining

~Numbers~

Pattern	Free - Self Drafted (time accounted for below)	$0.00
Fabric	1.5m slate coloured cotton drill - $8.99/m	~$13.50
Notions	Black Thread - stash Interfacing - stash Black Zipper - stash	$0.00 $0.00 ~$2.00
Time	I forgot to record time for this project so I'm guestimating here 12.75 hours (* $17-ish Australian minimum wage) fabric prep - 15 minutes patterndrafting - 3 hours sewing toile - 2 hours cutting -  30 minutes sewing final garment - 7 hours	$216.75
Total		$232.25

I was going to list the fabric as from stash because I couldn't find a price after a quick flip through my fabric stash record, but then I caved and had a proper look through my craft receipts.

Sidenote I have a habit of keeping the reciepts from my crafty purchases in a folder where I keep other crafty paperwork I want to keep. It comes in handy when I'm costing out my projects. I have them in date reverse order and and the end of each year staple together the years reciepts. I've only been doing it for 3 years, but I like the idea that I can go back and see how much I paid for various supplies. OCD much :)

~Final Comment~

Awesome Skirt Fist Pump!

I'm so pleased with this skirt. It has been on very high rotation in my wardrobe ever since I made it.
I wear it at least once a week if not more. It's so comfortable and I'm really pleased with the fit. I keep meaning to cut out another and make the changes I've mentioned above. This is definitely a win in my books.

Do you have a self-made garment that you wear all the time. Are you pocket obsessed? Do you keep receipts from your crafty shopping? Did you ever play with Polly Pockets as a child (or now, no judgement here)?
Tell me in the comments, I love reading what you have to say :)

Until next time,

Let's connect online :)

::Sewing:: Patternmaking Short Course

The mini patterns we got in class
[source]

I mentioned in this post that I had been to a patternmaking short course, but I haven't really written about it here. You may have seen a couple of Instagram posts. I spent the later part of last year and the early part of this year trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I quit my job, before it ate me up, at the end of November last year and was lost. There were a lot of options but I didn't have a lot of direction.

Aaanyway, I got it in my head that I wanted to learn how to draft patterns, well really I'd been thinking about it for a long time. I read a lot about sewing and have a lot of sources of information for my obsession interest. I read blogs, sewing magazines, sewing books, fitting books, dressmaking books and patternmaking books. My sister did fashion at TAFE (the Australian equivalent of community college I guess) so I've learnt a bit about patternmaking from a few of her text books.

I could have learnt pattern drafting out of a book, or looked around on the web, but I'm the kind of person who needs to be face-to-face with someone showing me how to do something and the added accountability of having someone to answer to, homework and having paid for a class in order to push myself to do something. So finding a patternmaking class was the obvious option.

I knew that I didn't want to take an accredited course, because they are flipping expensive, and I don't intend on applying for fashion industry jobs, so I don't need a piece of paper saying that I know things.

Now something to mention here, Brisbane is divided by a big river that essentially divides it into North and South. I try to avoid crossing the river as much as possible because it's time consuming and if you're crossing at toll bridges it can get expensive. So I looked for courses in my area on the north side...there wasn't much happening. I did email a sewing school that was near my house, but I never heard back from them. Lame!

So I finally narrowed the search to a sewing school...on the south side. Sigh... I got over myself and sent an email asking for a course outline and got an email that afternoon. I looked over the course summary I got and after uhmming and ahhing I enrolled.

A frilled mini-skirt done for homework
[source]

The course was ten classes for 3 hours on Thursday mornings and went from mid-July to mid-September. One class had to be cancelled because the instructor was sick, but an extra class was added at the end to make up for it. There were a few materials we needed before class, most of which I already had. I did need to buy a tailors awl though.

In the course we learnt the first 2 principals of patternmaking - dart manipulation & adding fullness. The third principal - contouring is covered in the next patternmaking course. We did our pattern drafting in class and sewed our toiles (muslins, test garments) at home. At the end of most classes we had to do some sort of homework whether it was work on our own blocks or making mini garments from half scale patterns (mini-patts) we were given or both.


On the first day after a brief introduction we dove straight into taking body measurements and  drafting a 2 dart skirt block. We were asked to bring pictures of skirts that we liked to the next class. We had to sew our skirt toiles for the teacher to check the fit at the next lesson. These pictures were used to teach us patternmaking techniques, which I thought was a great idea.


We covered how to do a design analysis, some of the key things to look for when picking apart a design to 'be inspired by' (*cough* copy *cough*). The teacher talked about dart manipulation and demonstrated on the mini-patts. The difference between pivot and slash & spread methods of manipulating darts was covered.

Here's a quick look at what was covered in class:

• Taking body measurements for a skirt blocks
• Drafting a 2 dart skirt block
• Adding flare by closing darts
• The rules of  how to manipulate darts
• The effect grainline has on drape
• Gored skirts
• Making a 1 dart skirt block from a 2 dart skirt block
• Ways of using the 2 dart vs 1 dart block for different styles by separating at the darts
• Godets
• Skirt yokes
• Circular patterns - e.g. circle skirts, sleeve ruffles
• Frills vs. ruffles
• Peplums
• Pleats
• Taking measurements for bodice blocks
• Determining bust cup size
• Using body measurements to adjust a commercially drafted bodice blocks block 
• Dart manipulation on a bodice
• Cowl necklines
• V necklines
• Shaped necklines
• Using body measurements to adjust a commercially drafted sleeve block
• Changing sleeve styles using fullness
• Facings
• Collars
• Button bands
• Converting a pattern for wovens to be used for knits
• And way more bits and pieces...

The main thing I learned out of the course was that I knew a lot more about patternmaking than I thought. I did learn some tips and tricks along the way, but for me the main thing was putting into practice a lot of what I already knew. So that has given me way more confidence with my patternmaking.

I'm not going to take the next patternmaking course, I'm pretty happy with the skills and confidence I got from this course. I want to practice using the skills I have before I continue if I want to.

Working on my bodice toile
[source]

~What I Liked~

• The instructor was lovely and approachable.
• At the end of the course I had a 2 dart and 1 dart skirt block, a bodice block and a sleeve block.
• I learnt that experimentation and toiles are very important when designing your own styles.
• The teacher used some of the pictures of skirts that we had brought in to demonstrate patternmaking techniques. I thought that was a great way to make it a more personal learning experience.
• One of the biggest take aways for me was how to adjust a woven pattern for stretch fabrics.
• The small class size of 5 people meant there was a lot of one-on-one attention. Each person got, body measurements were taken by the teacher and the fit of our toiles was checked by her too.
• We did a lot of exercises in our sketch books so that was a good way of practicing what we learnt and I use it as a mental prompt now that the class is over.

~What I Didn't Like~

• The teacher also has an alterations, dressmaking and a patterndrafting business so this meant there were lots of interruptions and distractions during class. There was a lady doing digital patternmaking in the same room and whenever she started the plotting machine up it make a lot of noise. The teacher didn't always have someone to answer the phone for her so she had to answer it when it rang sometimes. So that was annoying, but a necessary evil.
• I really wish we had learnt how to draft bodice and sleeve patterns from scratch. Instead we traced off our patterns from her set of blocks and made adjustments from there, but I guess it was a good lesson on how to adjust patterns to fit our measurements. However, it really would have taken a long time do that which would mean we wouldn't have covered as much content in the class.
• I found the course was missing a little structure and I wished that there were more teaching resources like fabric samples/step outs to help explain things. I grasped the concepts eventually but there were a couple of times where it would have been handy for her to have a couple of samples or examples or pictures of what she was trying to say.
• Most of the reading materials we were given were mainly photocopies of books the teacher had in her library. I wouldn't mind so much if photocopies were supplements, but most of the materials were photocopies. I just expected that there would be more original content.

Drafting using a 1 dart skirt block to draft
[source]

~Numbers~
Other than the course expense itself, I didn't need to buy too much for the class. I already had a lot of the stationary and tools. However, I bought a sketch book and folder for all the printed materials we were given and after a few classes I also ended up buying a set of curves and a grading ruler. Even though I had sewing curve/ruler from way back here.

Course	10 X 3 hours	$745
Additional tools	Tailors awl Grading Ruler Curved rulers Sketch book Folder	~$5.50 $25.00 $20.00 ~$6.00 ~$9.00
Travel	Bridge Toll - 10 * 2 * $4.25 Car expenses - just throwing a number out there	$85.00 ~$100.00
Total		~$995.50

That sounds like a lot, but really if you break it down that is about $34 per hour, so not too bad really. That's about the hourly rate for private sewing classes. When I think about the one-on-one attention each person got it is pretty good.


Do you make lots of pattern adjustments? Do you make your own patterns? Have you taken a sewing or patternmaking course? What was your favourite thing about it?
Let me know, I love reading your comments :)

Until next time,

Let's connect online :)