Large and bulky sewing work needs a change now and then.
This time I took out my boxes of sewing leftovers and decided to make something from them. No design, no calculating, no planning. Simple, small, pleasant sewing.
When I have leftovers, I do not stuff them into some bag in a crumpled heap. I cut them into strips or squares in the sizes I use most, depending how big the leftovers are. Then I sort them into the relevant boxes.
For log cabin patterns, for instance, I mostly use 5 cm wide strips, for the smaller patterns of children's quilts 4 cm, and for finer patterns even 3 cm strips. I have certain favourite sizes for squares too.
Today I decided to make a skirt for the new doll. By the quick technique.
First I picked out strips 4 cm wide in tones that go together. I sewed them into two pieces of five strips each. In one picture there are 6 strips; that happened by accident 🙂
When fitting the strips together you should make sure there is no symmetry across them. The top and bottom strips should not be of the same fabric, for instance.
Next I cut these into trapezium shaped strips. The narrow end is 3 cm, the wider one 5 cm.
If you now place these strips so that the narrower side is at the top (towards the waistband) and the wider one at the bottom, the skirt begins to take shape. I cut the second piece the same way and alternated the pieces from the two.
When sewing the strips together I folded the seam allowances to opposite sides at each seam and pressed them. Then the sides together.
I turned the top edge in by 0.5 cm and sewed in 2 elastics with a small gap between them. I sew elastic to fabric with a step zigzag, holding the elastic taut as I go. At the bottom edge I added a frill.
The fabric is a thin cotton, but such a tiny skirt still came out relatively stiff. Sewing a skirt on the same principle for my own little girl would certainly be softer and hang nicely.
When I have finished a white blouse for the doll as well, I will put up a picture of her in her new clothes.
