Wool Hollyburn Skirt

The hollyburn skirts that I made previously for pattern testing and the sew-along have proved to be very versatile work skirts, so it was bound to happen that I'd make more at some point. For this version I used the last of the wool suiting that I used for my Mad-Meh dress. I had pretty much exactly the right amount left over.

This time around I made myself the 'middle' option (in both length and flare). My previous versions were the short and most flared-option. I ended up having to hack off quite a few inches, as it was a little too long on me, settling with this knee length, as any longer was a bit overwhelming on me.

Similarly to the dress in this fabric, I'm not completely loving the finished make. I still love the fabric, but the skirt itself doesn't quite feel right when I'm wearing it. Having said that, it's gotten plenty of wear since I made it.

I lined this version, and inserted the zipper as per the sewalong, and also added the button tabs to the waistband (which I do really like).

The t-shirt in these pictures is also a me-made and unblogged. It's my standard t-shirt block, and the first thing I made on my new overlocker, what feels like yonks ago when I got it but realistically is a few months ago, early May maybe? I love the jersey but hadn't plucked up the courage to sew with it as it curled terribly. I even tried the cornstarch trick but that didn't even help enough.

However, with quick and minimal handling between cutting and overlocking, and a fair few pins and an equal amount of patience, the t-shirt came together really well and was well worth the effort.

Hollyburn Sew-Along - Sew-Along Participant's Skirts

So, today marks the last post in the Hollyburn Sew-Along, where I share the beautiful skirts that the sew-along participants have made. If you haven't finished or even started your Hollyburn skirt yet, don't worry, the posts aren't going anywhere, you can access a list of them all in the sew-along tab along the top of the page on my blog.

But onto the excitement of today, the fabulous skirts created by the sew-along participants! Click on the picture or link below the picture to be taken to their blogs etc.

I really hope I haven't missed anybody out, but if I've somehow managed to miss you, first massive apologies and second PLEASE let me know and I'll update this post to remedy the situation.

[SewSquirrel]

[BusyLizzie]

[JennySews]

[SakePuppets]

[Mindy]

[SqueezeTheUniverse]

[TheaInSewingLand]

[Sharon (for her daughter)]

[CraftAsTherapy]

[SimpleFibreLife]

[Kyri]

[SusieHomemakerMD]

[GigglesInTheSun]

[BimbleAndPimble]

[Gindrella]

[ChrisLucas]

[Petra]

What a lovely collection of Hollyburn skirts! Everyone has done a truly amazing job on their skirts! Thanks for sharing everyone.

Thanks for joining in with my first ever sew-along, I'm very grateful for the incredibly warm welcome it received. If you decide to follow along with the sew-along in the future, I'd love to see your skirts, so shoot me an email or leave a comment on the blog.

Hollyburn Sew-along - Finished Skirt No. 2 (and Bonus Pendrell)

As promised, today I'm sharing with you the other Hollyburn Skirt that I made as part of the Sew-Along. As it's a plain black skirt, to make this post slightly more interesting, I will also share with you a new Pendrell that I finished the other weekend (Long weekends of sewing rock!). I promise I really do wear my Hollyburn skirts with other tops too!

The Hollyburn skirt is a lovely fabric that I bought from Tessuti. I don't remember what it is, but it's lovely and spongy, and I'd love to go back and buy a whole bolt of it. It was lovely to sew with and even nicer to wear.

The blouse is made from a chiffon that I was gifted along with a heap of other fabric eons ago. I'd put off making a blouse from it for ages because it was quite a large piece so thought it should be a dress instead. But then I decided a blouse I would wear is waay better than it staying a piece of fabric forever, even if there is some waste.

A burn test on a scrap after cutting the fabric suggests that it is silk chiffon (as opposed to poly). How quickly it creases while wearing also supports that conclusion. I have decided that I am definitely not against polyester in certain circumstances, and chiffon is one of them. My first chiffon pendrell is a cheapo poly chiffon and that one hasn't needed ironing since I bought it, this silk one was creased after wearing it for 5 minutes.

Just like the first chiffon pendrell I made, I did view B with just the outer ruffle, which gives a cap-sleeved effect. I also again did french seams throughout, making the inside of the blouse as beautiful as the outside. I really am a massive fan of french seams.

Also, another new thing you can see in my pictures today, my new camera remote. Hopefully it will make taking blog photos on my own a bit easier.

Don't worry if you haven't finished, or even started, your skirts yet. The posts aren't going anywhere, and the list of links to them all will stay on the Sew-Along page, which is linked along the top of my blog below the banner.

 But remember, you need to send me a link or picture of your skirt by the 11th of Feb if you want your skirt included in the round-up post for the Sew-Along participants! I'm looking forward to seeing all your skirts.

Hollyburn Sew-Along - Finished Skirt No.1

As promised, to round off the Hollyburn Sew-Along I need to show you the two skirts that I made. Today I'll show you the pink linen version, which was actually a gift for my mum (hence the extra effort of making the insides look super lovely).

Above is the skirt laid out, which is a really good way to show how flared it is - just imagine it doubled and that's what portion of a circle it is. And below, you can see that it's lined (the fabric wasn't see through or anything so didn't need to be lined, but my mum requested lined, so thats what it has).

And here it is on my mum:

 

Doesn't it look fabulous! I love the print, and the drape of the linen is just beautiful!

Don't worry if you haven't finished, or even started, your skirts yet. The posts aren't going anywhere, and the list of links to them all will stay on the Sew-Along page, which is linked along the top of my blog below the banner.

But remember, you need to send me a link or picture of your skirt by the 11th of Feb if you want your skirt included in the round-up post for the Sew-Along participants! I'm looking forward to seeing all your skirts.

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.

Hollyburn Sew-Along - Finish the Waistband and Extras

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)

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.