Vintage maxi skirt in Balinese rayon batik

Hey guys! I have an exciting project to share with you today. Hubby and I came back from the beautiful island of Fuerteventura earlier this week, where we enjoyed a much needed relaxing break. 

Although my holiday wardrobe is already full of handmade outfits (what can I say? I have a soft spot for holidays and holiday sewing), I couldn't resist but squeezing in a little project before we set off.  

And it was a maxi skirt! Remember my first ever maxi skirt, ever? This is a prime example of how sewing has changed my life. Until 3 years or so ago, I had never owned a maxi skirt, because I thought that us petite ladies couldn't pull off the maxi look. This was not helped by the fact that most of the maxi skirts that I dared to try on in shops were dragging on the floor, unless I put on heels that I was not able to walk in. Yet here I am, feeling great in a flowy maxi that I made ;) 

Yep, I was feeling proud ;)

The fabric is an amazingly soft piece of rayon batik, from my Bali trip last year. I loved the bright colours, and the different layers of dye, and knew instantly that I wanted to turn it into a maxi skirt. 

If this skirt looks familar, it is because I used the same pattern as the one for the first maxi, Vintage Butterick 5884. I did make a few changes though, following all the great advice received to my bumpy side zipper problem:

• I cut it on the grain, rather than on the bias. The fabric is really soft and drapey, so I didn't want it stretching out of shape;
• As a result, I cut the front piece on the fold, rather than sewing together 2 pieces at the centre front; 
• Specifically to prevent the zipper issue, I took the belt and braces approach by:

1. Moving the side zip to the centre back, where there is less of a natural curvature;
2. Interfacing the seam allowance;
3. Handpicking the zipper.  

And if I may say so myself, it worked perfectly! 

Here's a close-up of the handpicked centre back zip: 

On the topic of finishing touches, I also finished the side seams with French seams, and also hand stitched the hem.  

P.S. rolling it up really helped minimise the creasing when it was packed in my suitcase. Who wants to be ironing on holiday? 

I'm absolutely in love with this maxi skirt. It's the perfect holiday skirt. 

Let me finish this post by showing you a completely different side of Fuerteventura. It is one of the best places in Europe for stargazing, so I'll leave you with a view of the stunning night sky. 

My first maxi skirt - a vintage make, and help please!

Hello my dear readers, I hope you are having a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. I'm flying off to NYC on Friday for a quick weekend break, before heading to Houston for a week on a work trip. I'm super excited about NYC, not to mention the fabric shopping in the Garment District all day on Saturday (I'm writing a long list, and bringing my big suitcase), and am pretty happy about the work trip - it will be a nice change.  

I have something a bit different to share with you today. I made my first ever maxi skirt! It's not just the first maxi skirt that I've made, but also my first maxi skirt altogether. It's not that I don't like maxi skirts, in fact I love the look, but I was never convinced that I could pull it off. Being a petite person I didn't want to be drowned in it, but lately I've decided to be brave, mainly as they look so damn comfy, and I kept seeing them in fashion magazines right, left and centre. 

So here is my version: 

Although I really like the look of fuller maxi skirts, I didn't think they would suit my small frame. Instead, I opted for a slimmer silhouette, and used a vintage pattern, Butterick 5884, as a base. Marie-I hope I'm making you proud ;)

I was lucky enough to win this pattern from the Sew Grateful giveaway on Gloria & Me, and I am very grateful indeed! Isn't this a beautiful pattern? This is actually the first unprinted vintage pattern that I've worked with - in fact, I had no idea they even existed until I saw them on the Great British Sewing Bee, so you can imagine my excitement when I laid my hands on this little beauty!   

Here's the instructions to de-code to the secret language, and they were very helpful! 

As you may have worked out by yourself based on the above, the skirt is cut on the bias. The main alteration I made was to lengthen the skirt by 8 inches or so, to make it a maxi length.

I'm sitting in front of a 13th century bridge, 5 mins walk from my house. Doesn't it look incredible for its age? This was the starting point of a beautiful riverside walk, and I love taking a stroll there on a sunny day, even if I felt a bit overdressed for it! 

And this is the Common Meadow that follows: 

What's the fabric, I hear you ask? You may remember the little tale that I told you last week in the Jamie shift dress post, and this is indeed the matching blue viscose that was the other side of the equation. It is even more drapy when cut on the bias, and not to mention really comfortable to wear. 

I even made French seams on the inside for the delicate fabric, and I love how neat it looks on the inside. The other good news is that I finally feel happy with working with viscose, after some puckering issues in the past. To sum it all up, I think the tricks are:

1. Use a smaller needle - I used a size 70 this time, but switched to a 90 (normal) when sewing more than 2 layers of fabric together.  
2. Larger stitches - I increased the stitch length to between 3 and 4 on my machine
3. Very loose tension - I turned the dial down to almost 1, and I suspect this was the main reason behind the puckering issues previously as I only used to turn this down to around the 3 mark, as my machine manual suggested. But this time I thought, what's the point of having the scale all the way down to 1 if I wasn't going to use it? and it worked! 

With the beautiful drapiness there came problems, though, and for this, I need your help! 

Can you see the bunching around the zip on the left side seam (right on the photo)? And here's a close up from the side:

And from the front:

Not attractive.  The worst part is, I saw this whole thing coming. The fabric is quite a thin one, and as the pieces were cut on the bias, it stretches out of shape easily. So before I inserted the lapped zipper, I strengthened the seams with some grosgrain ribbon to prevent this... and it hasn't worked, even after unpicking and re-attaching the zip 4 times :(    

So, any help you could offer either to help me fix it or prevent it from happening again would be very much appreciated!   

Despite the issue, I am pleased with how the maxi skirt has turned out, and teamed with a cropped top (the top I'm wearing is not actually a cropped one, I just tied it at the front for the effect), I don't think it shrunk me any more than my "normal" clothes... I think I will be able to look past the bunching issue, and wear this skirt again. At the end of the day, who stares at your hip when you walk past anyway?

  

That's all for now folks, and as always, it would be great to hear from you!