Burda Knit Skirt

This is my fifth Burda 112 skirt from the 05/2019 issue. My first attempt at the pattern was a failure, as the skirt came out too broad, especially at the waist, and too long. Then I made two of these for Gaby, reducing the size to 34 and another one for myself.

A week ago I finished a hoodie for husband out of the big piece of knit fabric I received as a present from a friend. His hoodie is very much a repetition of my own favourite hoodie out of the same fabric, but in a male version (and obviously, using a different pattern).

In the end I was left with an almost good for nothing piece of fabric. But I am a petite person and I love using fabric to the last scraps, so I thought - why not make myself a tiny knit skirt. My initial idea was to self-draft a super simple skirt with an elastic band. But how about pockets, I'd so much love it to have pockets. And where to put them. Then gradually the form of the skirt clarified in my head and I realized that the perfect pattern for it would be my old favourite Burda 112.

 

Pattern: Burda 112 05 / 2019

Fabric: houndstooth knit fabric

Size: 36, reduced

Time to make: 5 days

I was so grateful to my former self, that after the last super successful iteration of the pattern, she had made a new copy, introducing all of the changes in the width and the length of the pieces. This time I made an additional copy, further reducing the length of the skirt, mostly due to lack of fabric, but also because I didn't need 1 cm seam allowances for the serger. Unlike my previous skirts, here I don't have decorative seams and my front yoke and skirt are made out of single pieces.

I didn't have fabric for the inside of the skirt, which is fully lined, so I used suitable scraps from other knit projects - the inner pockets are from some ponte for Alex's joggers and the inner yoke is from my favourite black joggers. The inner skirt is from an old and discarded black T-shirt.

Notes: I absolutely love the skirt and I am so happy to have been able to use all of these otherwise useless pieces of fabric. However, I think the zipper might have been redundant - the fabric is stable, but stretchy enough and I can actually pull the skirt off without unzipping it. However, if I decide to repeat this pattern with knit fabrics in the future and skip the zipper, I should consider adding an elastic to the waist, as it might quickly stretch and deform. Another note - the T-shirt lining was not a good idea, as the fabric sticks to my stockings, I might consider replacing it with a stretchy acetate or other slick material.

Purple Corduroy Skirt

Just a couple of quick and not very flattering photos of the purple corduroy skirt modeled on a cold and wet day. I was so cold and uncomfortable in my viscose shirt, that I forgot to take my hands out of my pockets, turn around or do anything sensible to actually demonstrate the fit; I just stood there thinking how cold I am and let's get over with these pictures and go home - and thus the sorry result. Better pictures come spring :)))

Overall I like the pattern and the finished skirt, and I love the color. However, I am not sure this is my style. The skirt is very trapezoid and originally it is designed very short - I elongated it by 5 cm, and I am short. However, this type of skirt has to be short, otherwise it becomes too wide at the hem. And I don't wear so short skirts anymore - thus not my style.

I managed to find the type of jeans metal buttons with rivets I was looking for and I am very pleased that I was able to install them with a simple hammer and that they suit the skirt. Now that I look at the pictures, I think I should have styled the buttoned up skirt with a blouse and not a button up shirt, but anyway. As I said, these are just a couple of quick pictures, it is definitely not the weather for short skirts outsides right now :)

Pattern: Burda 6252

Size: 34

Fabric: cotton corduroy, viscose for Hong Kong seam binding, acetate lining

Time to make: 10 days

The Chanel Skirt

 A few pictures of my new Chanel style boucle skirt:

This is a very comfortable mini skirt with interesting front panels and faux pocket flaps, which can be easily dressed up or down. I'm really happy that I saved the fabric from the failed Chanel jacket and made this skirt.

Pattern: Skirt 117A from Burdastyle 02 / 2017

Size: 36

Fabric: wool boucle

Time to make: one week

I like how the skirt combines with the burgundy blouse I made last December.

I made a small modification of the back of the skirt - instead of the exposed zipper as per pattern, I installed an invisible zipper, straightened the central line and compensated the added width with a second narrow dart at the back.

The skirt is fully lined and closes with an invisible zipper. To clean the seam allowances here I used a Hong Kong seam binding with bias tape I made out of black cotton voile.  

I secured the bias cuts on the fronts with fusible and opted to finish the many layers of fabric there (the lined pocket flaps plus the two parts of the front) on the overlocker to avoid bulkiness.

The hem is finished with Hong Kong seam binding and then hand stitched.

Plaid Pleated Skirt

The second skirt and the last item I made out of my 2 m plaid wool fabric - a pleated skirt for Gaby. I designed the skirt myself, using pattern 112A from Burda 03 / 2020 for the yoke of the skirt. The smallest size of the pattern is 36, and as Gaby is 34, I reduced the pieces of the pattern by 1 cm.

The original Burda skirt has an invisible zipper on the side, but I though a fly front zipper would be more appropriate for the style I was going for with this skirt. This is my first ever fly front zipper and I am very, very happy with how it came out. I watched two video tutorials and followed them step by step to make mine.

I also decided to add two small decorative pockets to the front, to add a bit of interest to the skirt.

To make the pleated part I measured the width of the yoke at the hip, tripled the length and cut a rectangular piece of fabric of the calculated length and about 30 cm in width. Then I carefully folded and ironed each pleat, basted it in place and then heavily ironed the whole pleated part again and left it to sit basted for a week, to fix the pleats.

The inside of the skirt. The overlocked edges make garments look so much more professionally made, I'm pretty happy with my work on that skirt :)

Pattern: Pleated Skirt, self-drafted, partially using #112 from Burda 03 / 2020

Fabric: wool with elastane

Size: 36, reduced

Thread: black polyester

Time to  make: 3 days

Skirt 112 Burda 05 2019

 I had 2 m of the wool with elastane fabric and I managed to make not only the pair of pants I showed you here, but also TWO skirts - one for me and one for Gaby. This is the one for me - my fourth skirt #112 of Burdastyle 05 / 2019. This is a very comfortable sporty style of skirt, which I like and intend to wear a lot and make again in other fabrics as well.

My first skirt 112 was size 36 and was too big, especially around the waist. So to cut this skirt I used the pieces of size 36, but reduced the widths by 1 cm (a total of 4 cm) and additionally reduced the waist by 1.5 cm (total of 6 cm). Now it fits me like a glove!

The pattern features a double yoke, pockets,  an invisible zipper at the back and lots of decorative stitching, which I decided in the end to make in black. My plaid fabric is busy enough with horizontal and vertical lines, so additional obtrusive decorative lines seamed a bit redundant.

A few shots with the sweater tucked in, to demonstrate better the construction of the skirt.

Pattern: Burda 112 05 / 2019

Fabric: wool with elastane

Size: 36, reduced

Time to make: 2 days

As for the lining - the pattern envisages lining only for the yoke, I had initially added a full lining, made out of acetate lining fabric, but it was too tight and messed with the fit of the skirt, especially when I tried to adjust it around the waist - the lining kept peeking out above the waist line. So in the end I removed it and added cotton lining only to the yoke, as per pattern. However, I believe full acetate lining, but properly fitted, would be better, as the wool does stick to the tights and I know wool garments benefit from lining. So, in the future, I might reconsider adding a lining to the lower part of the skirt as well.

Chequered Skirt 112 Burda 5 2019

Just a few modeled photos of the chequered skirt #112 Burda 5 / 2019, which I blogged here, the denim backpack - notice that I added a small leather "Handmade" label and changed the string with denim string, blogged here, the gradient necklace, blogged here and the earrings, blogged here:

Isn't it the perfect spring outfit! If only we weren't under quarantine :(

Pleather Skirt

After a few days of true spring winter is again back (crazy times, crazy weather!). Which is good, given that we are under more and more cruel lockdown and people have been severely fined for walking along Vitoshka - our main city street, a pedestrian zone. Not being able to go out hiking, this weekend I sewed a new skirt, my first pleather clothing item.

The pattern is skirt #112 of Burdastyle 05 / 2019, a pattern which I have been practicing  to sew a couple of times already. The pleather was a piece, gifted to me by my sewing friend, one of those many pieces of fabric I received from her last year. Unfortunately the pleather turned out to be very old and of very low quality. I had much trouble finding enough fabric without defects to cut out my pieces from, and soon after I started sewing it the supposedly defect-free pleather began ungluing and bubbling.

This pleather is also very, very sticky and as I don't have a teflon foot for my machine, I had to sew the skirt sandwiched between packaging paper to make the fabric flow through the machine. Given how complicated the pattern is, with all the decorative seams and pockets, and how fragile the pleather turned out, that was a challenge!

Last night's view from the balcony

The skirt is fully lined. I used a piece of acetate lining fabric, also included in the gift package.

To finish the hem of the skirt, I applied Hongkong finish to the edge, using a ready-made bias band, and then sewed the edge to the skirt. I tried first stitching it by hand with invisible stitches, but the pleather wasn't behaving like normal fabric, so I abandoned the hand stitching and did a normal hem seam on the machine.

I sewed the lining, using french seams all along, but I left the edges of the pleather raw, as it does not fray at all. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with myself and the final product I was able to achieve, although the low quality of the skirt renders it unwearable. Gaby might put it on once or twice, until the upper bubbled layer brakes (or it might happen sooner, I don't know), but I definitely learned quite a lot about sewing with pleather and I am going to buy a teflon foot (and a couple of other specialty foots) for my machine soon.

Is this nature's idea of a joke for the 1st of April?