More Doo-Dads, A Self-Drafted Skirt, and News

I have been working on summer clothes, and last weekend purchased some gray linen with a white pinstripe to make a pair of drawstring pants. I had wanted to make the drawstring pants #144 from the June issue of Burda Style. They are a from the plus section:


I really liked the gathered paper-bag waist and thought they would look nice in linen for summer. Except, I am not very observant and the linen that I bought for them was not 60 inches wide. When I went back to the fabric store today, I could find brown with gold pinstripe, beige with white pinstripe, but no gray with a white pinstripe was left.

So, I decided to make a drawstring skirt with a paper bag waist. I didn't use a pattern, I just cut a giant rectangle, serged the edges, and started sewing. To make the paper bag waist, I folded the top edge under 1/2 inch to hide the raw edges, then folded a second time making a 2 inch casing. I then added two button holes for the drawstring, and then sewed the casing with one seam at two inches from the top edge and another one inch from the top edge. Here is how the waist turned out:


For the drawstring, I just cut a strip of fabric from selvedge to selvedge, serged one edge and then turned it by threading the serger chain back through it. I didn't hem it because it has the selvedge ends on it and looks fine, if a touch rustic.

I also added a kick pleat to the back, and machine hemmed using white thread:


I had wanted the pants (now skirt) to match another shirt that I made from the Hot Patterns Weekender Sunshine tops, and again loaded with Anthropologie-like doo-dads:


I decided to use multiple colors of fabric for the roses, since it looked nice in the Anthropologie version:


Here is a closeup:


Since I did not add the band to the bottom of this one, I started by cutting it to the line indicated on the pattern (see photo above) but then decided that that was overly long, and cut 3 inches off...essentially shortening it to the length of the first shirt, before the band was added:


I am seriously thinking about adding a big cargo pocket to the side of the skirt...but don't know if this would just be too much. I will wear it once and think about it. I still have enough fabric to make a bellows pocket.

In other news, my desire for drawstring pants is unabated. So, I picked up some beige linen with a white stripe, to go with a white shirt:



And also a super-preppy seersucker embroidered with anchors and ship's wheels to go with a navy blue shirt:


Hopefully they will go together super-fast and be super-comfy for summer.

In other news, this blog now has 100 followers. How awesome is that??? That there are 100 people that find my ramblings useful simply floors me. Thank you to each and every person that follow, that read and comment, you all make me feel fantastic!