A skirt cut out and a new quilt project

The skirt first

Hello and welcome to my latest venture into making a skirt using used Japanese kimono fabric. 

Last week I shared a couple of photos of a simple, gored skirt that sits on a yoke, which rests just below the waist line. This week I have been able to choose a fabric and cut out the pattern pieces. It's okay to be slow. Winter sticks around for the next few months. The fabric is a fine wool, in Japanese fabric. The fabric is having a second life, because it was a kimono, until I unpicked it. I've laundered the fabric in a wool wash. I use Lux flakes. I don't know if it is called the same name overseas, but here in Australia, we have packets of Lux flakes, which is a pure soap. You need to dissolve the flakes in very hot water first of all, it becomes frothy, then cool the water to luke warm for wool. It irons out quite beautifully. Iron that fabric when still slightly damp, if possible, to make it quite wrinkle free. I'd really like to know if you've ever made a skirt from used Japanese kimono fabric. Please write me a comment and share.

The 5 pattern pieces, cut out.(Skirt front, cut of fold, skirt back, cut 2, skirt side front and side back, yoke, and tabs.)

I find laying pattern pieces on Japanese fabrics a pleasant task, because there isn't much effort to align the grain with the selvege.

The only pattern adjustment I had to the cutting out for this pattern was in the yoke piece. The fabric is too narrow to cut it on the fold (at just 36cm (14" wide ). Therefore I have added some extra length (about 12mm or 1/2"), so I can sew the pattern pieces of the yoke halves together.

The skirt front is not quite wide enough to cut to the exact pattern (it's cut on the fold). However, this skirt is quite generous in the hem, and I figure the few mm I miss out on will not be missed,so, I've tapered the cut.

NEXT STEP in next instalment: overlocking the side seams, interfacing (and more, if I get there).

A NEW QUILT

This quilt is a long time coming. It is years since I've made a silk quilt. Weekdays at work are so busy, and weekends come and go so quickly, including days out at markets. However, today I've started a new silk quilt. I am the queen of magazines - I must have hundreds. I do not deny it - I love them. I am a publisher's delight. I have numerous patchwork and quilting magazines and books. (If I remember, I'll share later in the week the books that arrived in the post in the last couple of weeks.) 

I have been inspired by a quilt in the May/June 2013 McCall's Quilting magazine. It's called "Boho Gir", featured on pages 34-36, made by Melissa Kelley. It states the skill level as Beginner (the mag types it in bold, so I did too.) The reason why I chose this pattern from the thousands of patterns I probably have at my fingertips, is that I immediately noticed the large blocks of fabric it features. Japanese fabric patterns are often large and I had a couple of kimonos I'd unpicked for reuse in my shop collection. The large pieces are cut in rectangles 10" x 13" (25.5cm x 33cm). 

For me, cutting out Japanese silk for a quilt takes a lot of patience. In this case, it was one piece at a time. I was 'fussy cutting' in a sense, making sure I had maximum pattern featuring for my cut. I'm not a follower of 'make it in a weekend'. I don't care how long it takes, so long as it gets done. I have deadlines to meet in my teaching job all day, this is my play-time, so I work at my pace.

I've just started cutting the 65 rectangles that measure 4" x 5" (just over 10cm x just under 12.5cm), however, I need to go and search my scrap stash for appropriate other fabrics. More on that next instalment. 

I'm looking forward to learning if you have made quilts using Japanese silks and I hope you will be willing to share your experiences/links. Many thanks.

These blocks are 10" x 13"

Bamboo leaves and stalks in Rinzu silk. Some pieces also feature gold thread couching.

Big feature print in this Japanese silk from a kimono, probably from the 1960s. I think the mustard colour has not been popular, when you look at a single piece of fabric. But cut up, I think the mustard will add the 'oomph' or 'kapow' factor a quilt needs.

Showing the two patterns together. These two fabric prints will take care of the 21 rectangles that are 10" x 13".

Ben Lomond, Tasmania and the winter solstice.

map from http://www.brandtasmania.com/show.php?ACT=Public&menu_code=2000.500

Most of the people who have visited my Etsy shop live overseas or interstate. I think it is time I introduced you to the little island I've called home since1990. It's Tasmania. It is the southern most part of Australia. Tassie, as it is affectionately known, boasts a ski field. We've just had the winter solstice pass by and winter has definitely arrived. I went up to Ben Lomond National Park on Saturday, with my husband David. Legges Tor is the second highest mountain in Tasmania, standing at 1,572 metres and it is in the Ben Lomond NP. It takes about an hour to drive there from our home in Launceston. It's a ski field that doesn't get the snow it used to. The last 20 years have seen a definite hit or miss whether there will be a ski season or not. However, these pics show there is a snow base and July and August may deliver enough snow to enjoy skiing over a few weekends.

Getting the pommer lifts ready

Here comes another pommer

A summer skirt

One of the pleasant things in life must be to make a simple summer skirt. Often when I am tending my market stall I have a conversation along these lines.
Customer:  "But how do you use such narrow fabric? You can't make clothes out of it."
Wise kimono fabric seller (that's me)...seams can be sewn.

I have a lot of responses to this question above and for an unknown amount of time into the future I shall address it by illustrating what I am up to in my sewing room. During a recent conversation with an Etsy customer, I realised I have been very remiss in not sharing my own sewing experiences in Japanese kimono fabric with people. I am including a couple of photos of summer skirts I've made using a New Look pattern, 6345. I've had a look in their online catalogue, but it looks like it is no longer available. The only pattern adjustment I did to this skirt, which comprises a yoke which rests on the hip, was to add a centre front seam. That's it. I made view C without the flaps or pockets.

Photo 1 (above): This skirt is made from a 1950's silk fabric. The colour is a bit washed out in this photo, though. I've worn it heaps and originally made it to wear to a friend's summer garden wedding. I hand-wash it. I've lined it with a used haori fine silk lining fabric.

Photo 2 (above) This is the same skirt pattern, this time made up in an indigo cotton fabric from the 1960s. It is one of my favourite skirts because I can wear a variety of tops to go with the colours in the skirt. I have lined it with a blue silk from the lining of a kimono.

Photo 3 (above). The Pattern I used was New Look 6345, view C. To add a Centre Front seam, I added a 1.5cm seam allowance at the centre front on two pieces. There was no shaping to do. 

In my next installment, I'll get you to follow along while I make version E or F (the bottom pics and the pink skirt illustrated). I'm going to make it up in a wool, for winter.