Panels, Patterns, and Persistence

Lately, I've been sewing a lot of skirts. A while back I was looking around for some sewing projects and saw this cute skirt that became my "inspiration". It was a paneled skirt but instead of it being made out of the same kind of material, it was made out of all  different coordinating fabrics. So, Mom and I went to Joann Fabric's and bought four different fabrics. After the panels were cut out (I used a pattern that Mom had made for me a while back), I started sewing them together:

I sewed four panels together two times making a front and the back:



The next step was sewing the side seams:

                                              

                                                

The casing is next (I iron it down and then sew it):

Once the casing is sewn, and the elastic put through, it is just the hem left...

...and ta da! It is finished!

                                            

We had some problems with this skirt fitting me, so mom had to change the pattern a little bit. After she had it completed, she said that I should make another skirt to see if the pattern is the right size. I decided that I should make a jean one, but when I went to look through the scrap box, I realized that I didn't have a big enough piece of jean fabric for all eight panels. All I had was little scraps that could just fit one panel on them. So I decided to try something different (Mom helped me come up with the idea) and just make the skirt out of different kinds of denim. I even found a flower that was on a old jumper that I cut off and sewed onto my skirt. Here is the finished product:

So after this skirt was done, what else would I want to do than make another skirt? Yes, I made just one more. I used an old pattern that I had from a sewing class I attended awhile back. It was a very basic skirt but instead of doing elastic at the top, I did button holes and drawstring. This was stressful as Mom and I it was good to learn something and  I like the way the skirt turned out!

(The wind is kind of blowing it)

Lily helped me sew some of the side seams on my skirt and is slowly creeping her way into the sewing room. Right now she is working on making a patchwork quilt. We got her a thing that is kind of like a pizza cutter and it cuts a lot easier than scissors. She gets a lot of scraps of material and cuts them into squares. Eventually she will sew them to make a quilt.

Well, I think that for now, I will take a break from sewing for myself and start my dresses up again. I am very excited because I now established a consistent way to get the dresses to Loving Shepherd's. I also received some more material from my Great-Grandma, so I'm all set! -Faith