Burnout Tanktop

The last of my Christmas gift posts! This is a present for my sister, and also an experiment in serging. I really like burnout fabrics, the translucent quality makes for good layering effects. I like the cute vine patterns on this one in particular. :)

This was just a quick and easy tanktop patterned off an existing shirt. I made it using one of the serger machines at school. It is simply 2 pieces, serged together at the sides and shoulders. The edges were all serged and then folded over once and stitched in place for a nice clean edge.

Long Pleated Skirt

This is an original design based loosely on (late) 1930's fashion, with my own spin on things. It's a very plain skirt, mostly an experiment in pleats, which are just as tedious as I remember. Last time I did a fully pleated garment was quite a while ago... I think I've come a long way since making my Hogwarts uniform.

 This is a wool fabric with a nice weight to it. It hangs nicely, though I wish the colour was a touch brighter. I like it with the bronze-y coloured buttons. :)

I patterned the waistband to dip down in the front, but somehow managed to seriously mess up my math and made it 5 inches too big... Not sure how that happened. :/

The skirt panels are all rectangles, and there are 18 pleats. The pleats are a lot of math that I can't possibly explain. It involved deciding how many pleats I wanted, how full I wanted the skirt and then doing lots of division. All I can really say is that it is much easier to do in centimeters than inches...

Also: so much ironing. Every single pleat had to be ironed before and after sewing.

The most difficult part was that I added in hidden pockets to this skirt. They are hidden under one of the pleats, built into the seams joining the front panels to the back.

After attaching the waistband, I did all the top stitching on the pleats and the waistband.

< Here you can see one of the hidden pockets.

The last step was the buttons and button holes.

Black & Hex Skirt with Pockets

I made this skirt as a Christmas gift to my mum. This is a variation on my Adjustable Marimekko Floral Skirt, so if you are interested in how I made it, just look there for a more in depth tutorial on the construction of this garment.

Mum chose the photoshoot outfit & accessories herself! Very stylish! :D

It is very similar in design/pattern/construction as my skirt, but the pleats are different and it is not adjustable on the sides. (Obviously I don't want the exact same skirt as my mum. Hahaha) It is designed to be simple, the monochrome palette making it a versatile piece. The pocket detail stands out nicely with the contrasting hex pattern fabric.

Raglin Lace Sleeve Shirt

This is a Christmas gift I made for my sister. It is a raglin sleeve shirt, with lacy see-through sections. :D It's made of a soft stretch fabric.
It was patterned off an existing shirt of hers that was also a raglin style sleeve. The sleeve width was simply modified to be wider and also have the lace stripe come down the top.

I started by cutting out the pieces. Then I finished the edges around the neck hole. This was done with a simple roll-over.

I sewed the sleeve pieces together and attached them to the shirt. Then I finished the inside seams. Lastly I hemmed the bottom of the shirt and the sleeves.