Other stuff

Twinkle twinkle little star…

I’m currently working on one of my Winter sewing plans laid out in the last post.

The BurdaStyle Twinkle skirt is offered for free on the Burda site as part of a collaboration with Whenlan Chia, to promote her line Twinkle By Whenlan and her book Twinkle Sews.

For a free pattern this is quite a lovely garment. I was really quite surprised. It’s almost too good to be free!

Now that I’ve said that, I’ve got to list the things to take the shine off the niceness.

Firstly the pattern pieces. Printing at home is terrible to do when there are 10-20 pages. But this pattern had 50 pages!!! FIFTY!!

Phew. I started by cutting out the pieces on the train home from work on Friday. Best way to make my hour commute fly by…. Though you attract looks like you’re a nutter.

All the waste makes me sad. I understand from a logistical perpective you need a border to ensure the pattern pieces are matched properly. But does it need to be such a big margin?

I decided the taping of the pattern was a Saturday daytime task. I made such a pest of myself to Mr Almond Rock. Oops, apparently my butt gets in the way when taping on the floor in front of Soccer Saturday.

Matt Le Tissier looks disgusted at how big this pattern sheet is

They had to put the skirt front out in full to show the pleat instructions. I get that. But why but the skirt back and lining pieces out in full? They could have been cut on the fold couldn’t they? Am I missing something special about them? Wool doesn’t make a difference surely.

*Edit: Since writing this I tried cutting wool on the fold. It’s almost impossible! So I take back what I said about the skirt back. Burda/Whenlan you were right. I still stand by what I said about the lining pieces though!!*

Well I got over it in the end and went shopping for some muslin fabric. I wanted and still want a red wool skirt. Something not too tomato coloured but warm and bright.

I felt sure Samuel Taylor’s would have something gorgeous and perfect… NOPE. NOTHING. NOWT.

I went to the market… NADA, NIL, NONE… ZIP (had to get the sewing related  one in)

Then I fell in love with some navy wool with a sort of waffle knit pattern. But there was only 1m left and this pattern calls for 1.6m. Sigh.

Then I spotted a blue wool suiting fabric and laughed. It’s pretty much the same shade as the sample picture! Well at least I knew how it would look.

And I think it’s coming along quite similar!

I agonised over the pleats because the instructions made NO sense. The diagram in the instructions made them look like inverted pleats but the sample photo shows folded pleats. Turns out the sample photo was more helpful than the careful created line drawing.

The other problem I encountered was the sizing. There is a cautionary note on the Burda pattern page that this pattern uses Whenlan’s sizings. And it’s true they are on the 5th page of the instructions but they refer to 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 sizes….

THE PATTERN PIECES USE DIFFERENT NUMBERS!

Epic fail.  0, 4, 8, 12, 16 on the pattern? No chance of keeping it straight unless I’m a size 4… Or a 0. I struggle with American sizes already but I know I’m not a size 4.

I’ve already worked out I need to take 3cm out of the width.

*Blows raspberry*

But overall I’m pretty happy. I’ve cut out some midnight blue satin lining so it feels gorgeous against my skin and worked out the placement for my invisible zipper with the size alternations.

(On a funny note Whenlan’s instructions say “install the zipper using your favourite method”. Good job I know a couple of ways right Whenlan? Cos you’re not telling me any!)

I still need to decide on whether to hem this with a visible stitch (Whenlan calls this the “sporty” look) or use pretty lace hemming tape.

I’ve never used hemming tape before but imagine I’d get crabby about the state of my handsewing as I catchstitch it into place. I don’t think the suiting fabric is that bulky so it isn’t really necessary but I love the idea of my skirt ruffling in the wind and showing a peek.

Should I build up my handsewing skills? Should I go for the sporty look? Or can I form some hybrid using wonderweb?! All thoughts welcome.

(10) Comments

  1. Oh my…what an epic…but such a happy ending! Gorgeous skirt! I was initially enamoured of download patterns but, like you, found the waste and hassle annoying….tracing isn’t quite so bad 😉

    1. Hehe I started rambling sorry. It really is a lovely skirt, in very happy overall

  2. What a crazy project! I can’t believe a skirt is 50 pages!!! Craziness. I’m loving the way it is looking- you can do it!!!

  3. Oh dear – it’s a good job you’ve got some good sewing nowse… on the plus size – it looks really good!

    1. Thank you! Going to power through tonight while I have the flat to myself.

  4. sewbusylizzy says:

    Despite all the trauma it looks gorgeous, all 50+ pages 🙂
    Personally I would use the hem tape or the lace tape. I’ve never used lace tape, I just hand stitch. After a bit of practice your stitch length etc becomes pretty consistent.
    It’s quite a feminine girly skirt, it doesn’t scream Sporty Spice to me.

  5. Paula says:

    50 pages?!!!!! wow. you are obvs much more patient than moi! but it is looking really good, well done you!

  6. This actually looks pretty fantastic!

    1. Thanks very much! You’re sweet 🙂

  7. Gorgeous skirt – at first glance I thought I would download it too, but 50 pages, I just don’t have that kind of patience or that much sticky tape 😉

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