School Clothes - Part 2

New Skirt!

First, Dawn had a question concerning the silk dress. She wanted to know if I interfaced the zipper area and if so, with what kind. It is a very good idea to strengthen and stabilize the seam allowances where the zipper will be inserted by using strips of fusible interfacing applied to the seam allowances. For the silk dress, I did not use the interfacing in the bodice section because it was already underlined in muslin. I did use it in the skirt section of the zipper application because the zipper was only attached to the thin silk, and it wouldn't have been stable or strong enough to support the zipper and the use and abuse zippers have to bear. I used a medium weight Pellon interfacing.

Now, here's today's addition to my daughter's wardrobe:

It's from Simplicity 4897, which again, is an OOP pattern.

Close-up of the pocket detail:

We got rid of a very similar skirt from her wardrobe because it was too small, so this is a good replacement. She wore the skirt several years, and I wanted her to be able to wear this one a few years, too. To that end, I made it a bit bigger and longer that I normally would. To accommodate her small waist at present and provide room for her to grow, I inserted elastic into the waistband and put a button on either end for adjustments. If you've looked at any children's RTW pants/skirts recently, you might have seen such a thing. I didn't have any buttonhole elastic on hand, and I'm not even sure if Jo-Ann's carries it, but I made my own. This works on garments with either a separately sewn on waistband or one that has a waist facing that can be stitched down at the bottom edge, forming a casing. Also note that there's a contrast cotton fabric for the waist facing; this is because the denim has a nubby pattern applied to it and wouldn't feel to great against the skin as a facing.

Here's how to do it:

First, on the inside of the waistband or facing, make a buttonhole halfway between the center front and side seam. It needs to be large enough for the elastic that you've chosen to pass through.

Next, finish one end only of the elastic with a fabric band and buttonholes. To make the band, cut a piece of fabric approx. 4" long by 2x's the width of the elastic, plus seam allowances. Place fabric right sides together longways with the elastic in the middle, matching the ends. Stitch across the short end and down the side of the elastic, being careful not to catch the elastic in the seam. Turn the extension to the outside, tuck in ends and topstitch across end. Make as many as buttonholes as desired, spacing about 1" apart.

Next, thread elastic through waistband, try on the garment and adjust the elastic so that the garment in is the smallest size desired (usually the size the child currently is). Cut off excess elastic and finish the second end as described above.

Lastly, add buttons to the inside of the waistband and button as desired.

Parting Shot: Although Little Red Empress did not make it through the jurying process for the International Quilt Festival in Houston, American Beauty did. I received my official notification, shipping instructions and finalist ribbon today.