A Few Neckline Ideas

Recently I sewed these dresses and  thought of posting these necklines. Might be of some help to you and if it does, please do tell me.

Squared neck

Collared Neck with Yoke

Grid Tiered Skirt

After having tried A-line skirts, my daughter now moved on to sewing a tiered skirt this time. To make the skirt look more lovely and beautiful  she thought of making a grid tiered skirt. the finished skirt measures around 24" in length and 25" at the waist. She used three different cloth materials for this purpose - a brown colored one(i'll call it C1), a pink one with a floral pattern (C2) and a sky blue tie n dyed one(C3). 

 If you too wanna make this skirt by yourself, lets begin with the instructions.

1. First, for the top tier which measures 40", you need to take 4 pieces of cloth (of any color combination as you may like) each measuring 11"(10" length + 0.5" each side for seams) X 9.5" (6" actual length + 0.5" seam on the bottom side + (1+1)" for elastic + 1" for seaming elastic).

 2. For rest of the tiers, you can 6 cut pieces measuring 11"(10" + 1" for seams at left and right sides) X 7"(6" + 1" for seams at upper and lower sides). You can think of combining the different colored pieces of cloth in any way as you can think of. What i did was, i took the C1 in all the tiers alternating with the C2 and C3 alternatively as you can see in the picture showing the completed skirt.

3. For the third tier, cut 8 pieces of various colors having measurements similar to the pieces you cut in the previous step. For the fourth and final tier, cut 10 such pieces.

                           

4. Join all the pieces assigned for a tier individually. Now, lets move on to the next part. Now, stitch the second tier over the first in a frilled manner as done here. Go on and do the same with all other tiers.

5. Next, seam the lower edge. We're now left with the waist band. Sew at the upper side of the first tier with a seam length of  1" so that you can conveniently insert your elastic in that gap. 

Finally the skirt would look something like this! Great. Its done! Thumbs up!

A-line Skirt

Hello everyone. Today my daughter sewed another skirt. This time for herself.

She took a piece of cloth measuring her (hips + 2) inches at the top. Sewed those pockets, different from the ones in the previous skirt. Attached a waist band to it. Inserted an elastic in it.

And finally she added white piping at the lower edge. Now, this skirt also came out to be lovely like the previous one!

Skirt By My Daughter

Hello everyone. My daughter's exams got over just this week. She has been watching me sewing since she was a kid. She has been learning all throughout these years without me teaching her particularly. Yesterday she thought of sewing a skirt for her cousin. Here's how she made it.

I was just amazed at her work. she sew with such perfection that i just cudn't believe. No one would believe this skirt's been sewn by a novice, a beginner, one who has never ever sewn anything.

She started off with a rectangle piece of green cloth. she cut it into two, added the polka dot orange piece on both sides of the two pieces.

 

Then she added a dark green waist band. The measurement taken for the waist band was that of the hip. She also sew the drawstring.

 

Next was the bottom where she added the green piece again. Now to make it more beautiful she added a strip of the orange cloth.

 

And finally she also sewed two pockets out of the orange cloth.

So that was her first attempt and it turned out to be really good. I hope if she goes on like this, she's soon gonna be a sewing pro!

How to make your own Churidar pyajamma

Churidar is an ethnic wear worn by most Indians and Pakistanis. Its length is more than the actual length to fall into gathers at the ankle. It fits tightly from below the knee to ankle. It is looks excellent with a tunic, kurta or a sharwani. It is better to cut the fabric on the bias to get a stretchy and nice fit below the knee.

Bias cut churidar 

In this method the pattern is cut on the bias (45 degree angle). You can draw the measurements     directly on the cloth (see fig. 3)  or you can make a paper draft  first and then place it on the cloth in bias (See fig 2).  Blue color indicates the pattern.

Measurements needed:-

Seat (hips) width.
Waist to floor ( length)
Thigh
Crotch
Knee circumference.
Ankle circumference.

Pattern Drafting:-

Length                  =           actual length (waist to floor) - 6 inches for belt (another piece)  
  
0- 6                         =           length + extra length for gathers
1- 3 , 6-10, 7-11    =           mark   1/2 the ankle circumference and draw a horizontal line 
6 -1                         =           for bottom folding 1" inch
6 - 7                        =           mark 10" or 12 "  inches for gathers (or as much as you wish)
0 - 7                        =           length (belt 6 inch excluding)
0 - 9                        =           1/4 of seat  + 4 inch (crotch)

8                             =           mid-point of  9 (crotch) and 7  = knee point
8 - 12                     =           half of circumference of knee
9 - 4                        =          1/4 of seat  + 4 (thigh)
4 - 2                        =          1 inch towards the inside
2a - 2                      =           vertical line                   

Join 3, 10, 11, 12, 4 & 2  shape out as shown in the fig.A.


The outer blue line shows 1 inch for seam allowance, that is 3 to 5

   For waist belt : hip measurement + 6 inch as width and length 8.5 inches (6 inch + 1/2 inch seam allowance + for casing to insert the drawstring or elastic).

                              fig 2

 The above fig (3) shows how to fold the cloth and how to mark the measurements on the cloth. The red lines indicate the folding of the cloth on bias.The green lines indicate the edges of the cloth. The space between blue and violet color lines indicates the seam allowances. Cut along the violet colored line.

We'll talk about the cutting procedure in my next post. 

Spiral skirt

Thanks to Janel who provided this free pattern. My daughter loves spiral skirts and she wanted me to make  one for her. But I didn't know how to draft a spiral skirt. One day I found this free pattern on Janel's blog. I immediately took a print out and sewed this one. You can get this pattern here: www.Janelwashere.com.

I stitched  this skirt with eight gores, one gore contains two pieces. I cut the pieces 1 and 2 separately and then joined the pieces to make a gore. Now, the gores are to be attached as done in the above fig.

Then I sew the curves with a 1/4 inch seam. Lastly I attached the first and the last one.

And then I sew the waistband and left an opening to insert the elastic.

The elastic has to be inserted with a safety pin and the end of the elastic is to be pushed through the opening, the fabric is to be scrunched on the elastic and the elastic can then be pulled into the casing. This has to be continued until  the elastic comes out the other side. Now the ends are to be overlapped and sewed. What remains is closing the opening. That's what you see in the above fig.

And Yoohoo! the skirt's ready!!!

How to make Leggings

Draft a  leggings pattern according to own measurements and sew for you or others.

It is very simple and does not take much time for cutting and sewing. I hope this tutorial will help you in  making your own leggings. you can sew for your kids also with their measurement. This  is simple legging.

Pattern Draft 

     

 The measurements that you need :-

  

   Seat -  (width)

   Length 

  Circumference of the ankle

 AB = CD = Seat/4 + 1.5 inch  or 2 inch

 AC =  BD = Length + 2.5 inch

 AH  = 3/4 inch

 JG =  Seat/3 ( Crotch )

AJ  = BK = 1.5 inch ( for belt )             

 CE =  BD = 1 inch ( for folding )

 DI = Half round of the ankle measurement + 1/2 inch (ankle)

 These measurements are along with the seam allowance. 
If you want little gathers you can add 4 to 5 inch to length.

Cutting 

Fold the cloth twice so as to obtain 4 layers according to the width and length measurements.

Mark the crotch length , from crotch point. Draw a line to connect to AB  which is marked 3/4 inch inside that is  "H".

Mark the ankle measurement and join the crotch to ankle by a curved line.
Cut along HG and the curve GI. After cutting, you will obtain a piece somewhat like this.

 .