to celebrate the end of summer-freedom and the beginning of
dressing professionally the school year, i dove headfirst into a sewing project.
inspired by
this post, i picked up a fuzzy, medium-weight plaid and began creating.
step 1 -
admit that in order for this to work best i MUST MATCH THE PLAID
i am usually in too much of a hurry to wear the garment to spend time on a step like this but i am SUPER glad I took the extra time. I cut the two pieces out to ensure that the lines would be parallel to the waistband and seam to be sure that they lined up on the side seams.
step 2 -
figure out how to add pockets
pockets are fun, functional and a necessary part of a teacher's wardrobe. whether it's keys, markers, paperclips or special (extra small) gift from students, pockets are NOT optional. so i winged it. when deciding on placement i became extra glad for step 1 because i was able to easily able to align the pockets without any trouble. yay for doing things right!
step 3 -
sew!!
okay, this isn't a tutorial.
Anneliese did that for us in the above link. the only change is that i cut pockets using a basic pocket shape and stitched it to the side of each panel before sewing up the side seams.
this is a great tutorial and even shows you how to add them to an existing garment! yay for pocket love!
step 4 -
cut loose threads
remember step 1, where i mentioned it pays to do things properly? apparently i was still following that rule and i'm glad i did. now i don't have to worry about random threads hanging loose, catching on things or tempting small children to pull (which makes me think of
this song).
step 5 -
promptly put skirt ON and show your husband
okay, you might not
have to do this step, but i always like to dig through my closet and show off how my new garment goes with things i own. so despite the 80* weather, i put on black leggings, tall boots and rotated through a few sweaters and tops to show off my new fall/winter skirt
with pockets. did i mention the pockets? be sure to highlight these a
lot. it helps to put something in there before appearing in front of your audience and then dramatically pulling the item out.
surprise ending!
step 6 -
realize you forgot to take pictures of the steps and attempt to get some "finished product" shots
as i said above, the tutorial has been written, this is basically me making my dramatic entrance back into the world of blogging and showing off the new skirt, which i will be unable to wear for another month or so. that's the downside to sewing a warm, fuzzy wintery skirt in the summer. oh well :)
