But we'll go by the honour system, because I'm going to tell you anyway: why on earth would I make another skirt that sits on my natural waistline? Fail, fail,fail. I checked the measurement chart and traced the pattern, grading from a 10 in the waist to an 8 in the hips (which worked out perfectly), without ever pausing to consider the relatively-high-waisted-ness! Silly me.
Clearly I should have gone up a size or two in order to allow for the skirt to sit lower. After letting out some seams and playing with the closure in the back, I'm thinking I need about 2 more inches of ease for it to sit where I want it to. The only trouble is, one size up adds 1.5", and two sizes up adds 3". Which to do?
I suppose the larger, and then I can simply take it in, rather than having to mess around adding tissue to pattern pieces? Or maybe I'll like that extra inch of ease after all? Probably wise, as I don't have the fabric or patience to cut a second muslin.
Regardless, how cute is this pattern? And how fun to sew? Love it!
Wait - can't you lower the waist by taking from the top without increasing the size (it means the yoke will be narrower). I wouldn't go more than a size up. Tasia's patterns are for pear shaped women and I suspect the hips will swim on you. You might want to keep this size, narrow the SAs to 1/4 inch and narrow the waist from the top. My 2 cents.
ReplyDeleteIt did cross my mind to do that, but then I thought it would significantly alter the look of the skirt (the yoke being the main design feature). Also, to have it sit where I want I would have to cut off more than half of it, which seems a bit extreme?
ReplyDeleteI'd ideally like it to sit about two inches lower. I'm a bit unclear - do you think it will swim in the hips just because it's for pears, or is it because I'll be wearing it lower specifically? I've already graded the hips down a size. In the photo, the mirror is cutting me off near my widest point, so I still have quite a ways to go before the fullest part of my hips. Because of that, I didn't think the gathers sitting lower would be a problem, but do you disagree?
Regarding the seam allowances - I'd have to do some math and see. I can only really let out the side seams and perhaps the back (if it doesn't mess up the zipper insertion) - I can't let out the three seams in the front of the yoke.
Thanks for all the feedback! You've given me some food for thought.
I think it's a very full skirt to begin with - which is designed to flatter wider hips. That can be overkill on women who aren't pear shaped, though not necessarily. I don't think the lower sit of the gathers will necessarily produce that result. I think the increasing the size to lower the waist fit might. Check out Patty Snug Bug's post on how she altered her skirt. She did a grade up but (if I remember correctly) she did narrow the yoke because she wanted a lower slung look.
ReplyDeleteIf it were just a matter of figure-flattery, I wouldn't be concerned, as I've had similar skirts in the past (fitted yoke with full gathered skirts) that fit lower and I loved them. I checked Patty's posts but she actually talks about the importance to pears of wearing the skirt higher to accentuate the small waist.
ReplyDeleteBut I see what you're saying, that the size larger would have about 2" more ease around the hips than Tasia intended, which may be just too much fabric. I suppose the only thing I can do is play around and see! I'm curious if it's possible to grade 2 sizes between the waist and hips... or if that would mess up the angle of the slope too much? I might play around with that and see.
Hmm. I'm to a sewer, but I do know that high waisted skirts are really in style!! I personally think they look good on a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteJulie - you are right, they are definitely in style! But personally I find them a bit uncomfortable, and not always very flattering on me because I have a rather large bust and I'm short-waisted (i.e. short from armpit to waist). I think they sort of make me look a but short/heavy, rather than lengthening/slimming. (But in truth it's more the comfort thing than anything else!)
ReplyDelete