Little Red Skirt

 I (Major Moma) have continued to sew for me!  It has been so much fun to add to my wardrobe.  But, I am now also working on an outfit for my littlest one, so it has not been all adult sewing.  And there have been a lot of non-sewing activities going on.  We have been visiting Weihnachtsmarkts, (which are German Christmas markets) playing family games, and engaging in various family Christmas activities.  It has been very nice to spend more time with the kids.

But on to the sewing!  This another of my Grandmother's patterns.  It is S-T-R-E-T-C-H & SEW #425 and consists of two variations of a gored skirt.  One has four gores and the other has a bunch ... really, it depends on your waist sizes so I can't tell you how many little gores you would make.  I made the 4-gore skirt.

 I made it from a thick double knit (bought at Le Fabriques) that has a nice weight for a winter skirt but not a lot of stretch.  But that is just fine for this style of skirt.  It has an elastic waistband ... I am not usually a fan of elastic waist bands, but this fits and looks nice.  The elastic is just enough to pull over your hips but does not gather the skirt.  The skirt sits at the natural waist and I hemmed it so it would swing just above my knees.

 Speaking of hems, I followed the instructions and used a stretch lace to assist with the hemming.  What it calls for you to do is sew the stretch lace on the raw edge of the good side of the fabric using a zig-zag stitch and stretching it as you go along.  Then, you press up the hem, and the lace will have caused the circular hem to gather just enough to lie flat when sewing the hem.  I have never done this before but rounded hems have been tricky for me.  This completely solved the problem! I totally recommend this technique for all your rounded hems.

I sewed the hem with a small zig-zag stitch using a thread matching my fabric on top and white underneath so that it would not show but have some stretch, if needed.