Another One?

As soon as I saw this fabric at a quilt shop in Tuscaloosa, I knew it had to follow me home. I'm a sucker for a red/lime green combo. I listened quietly and heard the fabric whisper "make me into a circle skirt". "Another one?" I whispered back. (I usually do one a summer). But here it is, another Summer of 2011 circle skirt:

The skirt:
Warning: there's a lot of green in these photos. My sewing room is a spring green with a huge red poppy wall art accent. It is not the scary green shown in the background of these photos. I took pictures with/without flash and could only manage to get the true colors of the skirt and top to come out right by sacrificing the color of the background a bit to do it. I should have scooted the dressform over to a white background but was too lazy. :)

The lining:

After finishing the skirt, I discovered that I had no sleeveless tops in the right color to go with it--I wanted of course to pick up the burgundy red of those hummingbirds.

So here's the top, made from some silk chiffon that I had in my stash with an "undertop"-- a simple tank top in burgundy knit.

The top with an obi belt:

The whole ensemble--the skirt, the top, and the obi belt:

Patterns:

Circle skirt: self drafted pattern generated from my measurements fed in to this website. I referred to this site and showed the pattern in this recent post.




The top: McCalls 6069, View A (no reinforcing strap across the upper back) shortened to mid-hip length





The tank top "undertop" : self drafted pattern of a simple tank top.

Obi belt: Self-drafted

Fabrics:
Skirt: Michael Miller Flora and Fauna Hummingbird Fabric, purchased in Tuscaloosa, AL, but available from fabric.com, among other places.

August 14th: Edited to add: I notice that the fabric in the colorway I used is now sold out (it sold out within a day of the original post). Fabric.com has it in this colorway, which is pretty as well. You can find it at other online vendors by googling"Michael Miller Flora and Fauna Hummingbird fabric", if you're interested.

Top: iridescent burgundy silk chiffon from stash

Undertop: burgundy single knit from stash

The backstory (there always is one):

Actually, I wanted to make the top using this Koos van den Akker pattern for Vogue, #1244:
I cut it out of the iridescent silk chiffon, along with the knit lining, which was stitched to the cowl neckline according to the pattern instructions. I tried it on, and it was HUGE! Tons of fabric at the shoulder and neckline and huge deep armholes, past my bra sides. I cut out a size 8 at the shoulders and armholes and size 12 at the bust, with 1 inch side seam allowances. (I always cut 1 inch allowances when sewing on bias. )

Because it was bias, so I expected a bit of pulling with the weight, but that armhole depth was ludicrous. The armhole in this top is over 2 inches (!) deeper than in the McCall's 6069 pattern which I ended up using, cutting on the same multisize pattern lines as I did for the Vogue top.

I didn't have much chiffon left, and I wanted to save it for the obi belt, so I unsewed the entire top, understitching and all, and placed the McCalls 6069 pattern on the reclaimed pieces. I had plenty of fabric to work with, especially in the cowl area.

That McCall's pattern is designed for knits, but I made no changes in it, since I figured the bias chiffon would stretch every bit as much as a knit would.

It was a bit hair raising to unstitch a lined and understitched bias silk chiffon top but somehow it all worked out.

A few sewing notes

Side seams in silk chiffon top:
For the side seams, I sewed the mini-french seams that Kenneth King describes in his book, Cool Couture. They are so tiny and kewl! The method is described here.

Armholes in silk chiffon top: In Issue 145 of Threads magazine (November 2009), Susan Crane wrote an article about using a very narrow bias binding method on armholes for fine fabrics such as chiffon, silk, and lightweight cotton. The purpose is to provide a neat edge without the bulk-adding facings and also without the seam-weakening clips into the seam allowance. I was intrigued by it and decided to try it with this top.

Essentially, the method has you cut a 2 inch wide strip of bias and press a curve into it. Then you sew it to the armhole. You trim the seam allowance to 1/8 inch (!) and wrap the bias strip around that seam allowance and stitch close to the seamline, thereby stitching the tiny seam allowance to the bias wrap. Next you trim the excess bias strip away, turn the tiny enclosed seam allowance, and topstitch from the right side of the armhole.



Bra strap retainers:
I used 3-inch lengths of the selvedges, doubled, and sewed the "outy" part of a tiny snap onto one end. I handsewed the other end of the length to the shoulder seam and the "innie" part of the snap to the shoulder seam as well. This piece slides under the bra strap and snaps onto the shoulder seam snap half. It helps keep the shoulder seams in place so I didn't have to use that strap across the upper back shown in one view of the McCalls 6069 pattern.

Sewing with silk chiffon:
To help manage the wiggly silk chiffon, I dipped it in Palmer and Pletsch's Perfect Sew and allowed the fabric to thoroughly dry before pressing and placing the pattern pieces. I used a greatly diluted solution, so the fabric was not stiff at all, but had a tiny bit more of a hand to it. I thought it made the chiffon easier to sew. I have not rinsed it out yet, so the photos in this post show how drapey the chiffon remained even though it had been slightly stiffened. All in all, I liked the product. I first learned about it in ReAnn's post on Stitcher's Guild. Thanks, ReAnn!

Things I would do differently:
I wouldn't change a thing about this project, especially now that I have the top figured out. I love the look and fit of my new ensemble and will be wearing it this weekend, once I get the top rinsed out and dried.