not so biased skirt

Its BACK!

Season 5 of Project Run and Play has started and I am sewing along again.  I really love the competition that Simple Simon & Co have going on.  It is so much fun to watch what the designers come up with.  Each time I am surprised by their creativity.

I also love the sew-along because it makes me try new things.  And what is the fun of having a creative outlet if you don't get creative?

The first week's challenge is a pattern re-mix.  We are all challenged to re-mix No Big Dill's bias skirt.

Now that is a cute skirt and her girl looks lovely in it.  No Big Dill also has a flickr page where people have posted their versions of the bias skirt, and they are lovely too.

But, when I showed it to my daughter and started talking about different ways we could do it, she just was not into it.  We brainstormed quite a bit...

what if we did a jacket and the peplem had the bias strips?

Or,

we could ruffle the bias strips?

Or,

we could do a rainbow on a shirt or skirt in bias strips?

None of these ideas held any interest for us.  So, what if I used bias strips in a more conventional way but also in a variety of ways?  That was more like it.  I guess we are both in a clean-look kinda mood right now.  We just could not stand to have raw edges.

Therefore, I have named the skirt The Not So Biased skirt.

I designed up a high waisted yoked skirt with darts. It has a snap and zipper in the back and a gathered skirt on the bottom.  It is  made from an organic cotton twill.

I took scraps from an earlier project and made up some bias tape and also gathered up bias tape I had from more past projects.

I then used the bias tape to make stripes on the skirt.  I offered to make more, but Abi was very happy with three.

Then, I made a top.  I know, I am remixing a skirt. But I wanted a new matching top too.  I designed a dress shirt with an oversize peter pan collar and used the bias tape for both form and function.

I used the bias tape to finish the inside edge where the collar meets the shirt.

I used it to finish the sleeves.

I used it instead of a standard hem.

The back yoke is also cut on the bias for more comfort on her broad sholders (if that counts at all toward my use of bias).

I think the whole out fit is pretty ... but I might be biased.