Welcome to your July 2023 Dream Wardrobe.
UK SIZES 6-30
I really felt that my summer wardrobe was missing a great skirt. One that was plain enough it could be worn with either a simple tee shirt or dressed up with a pretty blouse. But I also wanted a great colour that would make me feel fun!
I think this month's Dream Wardrobe hits the mark! A linen skirt is great in summer, the split is fun and flirty, without being to revealing.
About the fabric:
Washed 100% Linen - Emerald Green
This washed linen has a great bouncy linen texture. It is light weight for summer, but still heavy enough for a skirt.
As always, I recommend pre-washing your fabric to remove any dressing and allow for pre-shrinking. A cool wash will be fine, just make sure the temperature you use to prewash is the temperature you plan to wash the final garment at. You don’t want your final garment to shrink.
If you have any scraps, leftover linen makes wonderful napkins. Try edging them with ric rac trim or bias binding in a contrast colour. Have a play with big dinner napkins, or if you only have small bits of fabric, cocktail napkins are great for snacks and cakes.
This fabric would also work well for:
Pattern Fantastique Vali Dress & Top
Closet Core Patterns Kalle Shirt & Shirtdress
Tessuti Esther Shorts
About the pattern:
Chalk & Notch Evelyn Skirt
The Evelyn is a high-waisted skirt pattern. View A is fitted through the waist with a high slit, side-front buttons, and the skirt is midi length. View B is fitted through the waist, has side-front buttons, and the skirt is mini length. View C includes an adjustable elastic waist with a high slit, and the skirt is midi length.
My version has been lengthened, partly because I have quite long legs, but also because it hit the widest part of my calves and I felt it would look better a bit longer.
Notions required:
- Matching thread (we have sent you a reel of Gutermann rPET thread)
- Interfacing
- 6/7 buttons
The Evelyn skirt would also be great in the following fabrics:
Marilyn Heavy Viscose Satin - Champagne
Ripley Wide Stripe Denim - Black
About your gift:
Your gift is an exclusive handmade basket. These baskets were woven especially for us in Morocco and embroidered with the word Maker. I plan on using mine in my sewing room to store my spare overlocker threads. You could also use any leftover linen to make a bright lining for your bag.
#fgdreamwardrobe
Want to share your Dream Wardrobe? Use the hashtag #fgdreamwardrobe and share your unboxing and final makes on social media.
Happy sewing, Josie xxx
Julia's Sewing Notes
Prewash fabric
There was no shrinkage when I washed this fabric but a little of the green dye did come out so wash this garment or fabric separately.
Ironing
This fabric irons beautifully and easily. I used almost the maximum heat setting on my iron and a little steam.
Cutting Out
This skirt has 0 ease at the waist (unless you’re making skirt C) and 8cm / 3 inches of ease at the hips.
I added 8.5cm (3 ½ inches) of length to the pattern. This was split as 4cm above the slit and 4.5cm below the slit. If you’re lengthening your pattern, make sure to add length to the front facing pieces too.
When cutting out, take note of how the pattern pieces should be placed. For single pieces, the fabric and pattern should both be right side up, otherwise you’ll end up with the slit on the right side of the body, instead of on the left as shown in the garment photos.
The fabric is pretty much the same on both sides so just choose one which you’re going to have as the right side and make a chalk marking onto the wrong side of all the pattern pieces. This will save a headache later on as you come to match the pieces together.
There’s lots of pieces which require interfacing so you may wish to ‘block interface’ or ‘block fuse’ where you apply interfacing to a piece of fabric and then cut the pieces that you need from this.
Transferring pattern markings
Make sure to transfer all the notches – I use a tiny snip (5mm / ¼ inch) to make the notches marking.
The button and buttonhole markings can be transferred when you’re ready to sew these.
Making up the garment
I used a size 80/12 universal needle as the fabric is lightweight.
The seam allowance on the pattern is 1cm except for the centre back seams when a 2cm seam allowance is used.
I edge finished all the seams with a 3-thread narrow overlocking (serging) stitch. This is my preferred method for overlocking woven fabrics which don’t easily fray. Simply remove and unthread the left needle of your overlocker (serger) to create a narrower stitch.
There’s a really detailed sew along on the Chalk and Notch website. Follow the link from the QR code on page 2 of the pattern instruction booklet, or click below.
https://www.chalkandnotch.com/evelyn-sew-along/
When sewing the facings in place, check the shape of the curved lined of stitching on the left front. It didn’t look right on my first attempt so I took some time to place the right side over the left and pin in place how it would sit when completed. I then traced a new line with a better curved shape and stitched this part again.
The facings are understitched to keep the facing to the inside of the garment. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can watch the video on my YouTube Channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lBlU8imcaw&t=445s
When topstitching the waistband in place, you may wish to tack (baste) this in position first to make sure that the seams all line up, before topstitching it.
Take care with the placement of the buttonholes. Only the top 3 on skirt A are cut open and the lower 3 are stitched through the keep the skirt closed at the top of the slit.
When marking the placement of the buttons, the fronts should overlap so the topstitching on the left front is just covered by the right front. The buttons should be placed 3mm from the edge of each buttonhole. I’ve made a video explaining this process, including how to correctly sew on buttons to include a ‘thread shank.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziZ_IbosETs&t=1s
More tutorials and videos on techniques can be found at www.houseofmisssew.com or https://www.youtube.com/c/HouseofMissSew/videos