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Sunday 28 February 2016

A trio of (modified Mabels)

After the raging success of my modified Mabel Skirt I jumped right in to the stash and decided to finally sew up my BELOVED teal butterfly ponti that I've been hoarding for about two years. Of course, because I love the fabric so much it turned out less than perfect.

This one should have been a #woohoomake but sadly it's more #meh due to wonky hems (the hem became totally wonky when I overlocked it, like I was drunk sewing - so the whole thing is now uneven), dastardly overlocking of the waistband (overlocker is still not stitching over the elastic at the seams very well) and it not being pegged in enough for my liking, plus I'm thinking the waist is a smidgen too big (cannot seem to get the length of elastic needed quite right). On this make I also increased the length by 3cm which I think is a bit long.

All stuff other people won't notice but I know so I'm not enjoying this as much as I'd hoped too - which is gutting as the fabric is beautiful. Nevertheless I am still wearing and I could remove the elastic, and fix up the hem too at some point.


Next up we have a simple black ponti skirt made for wearing to work. It's WAY too long, as I still kept the 3cm addition to the length but other than that it's OK.  I also wish it was more pegged in.  The elastic waistband is comfortable though the overlocker is still playing up here (I think it's the needles, they don't seem long enough to handle the elastic at the seam - any thoughts people)? The good thing about this skirt is that there's always black ponti out there, so I can remake this as some point to better suit my tastes - but for now, it'll do Pig.



And lastly! I've been desperately scouring the shops for a pull-on denim skirt to replace one that I have that it's getting a bit ratty. Of course when you want something, you can never find it. Nor could I find jegging-like denim in the fabric stores -- stretch denim that I've found just does not have enough stretch to work for a Mabel.

After a quick Google search I found some "denim ponti" online from Emma One Sock (an online store in the USA). I ordered 1.1 yards which was way too much, and with postage it come in at under AUD$40 which is OK I think.

Image from Emma One Sock

For this skirt I removed 1.5cm off the length and pegged the bottom in a tiny bit, 0.5cm off each pattern piece. I think the shape is much better BUT this skirt is super snug - I just cannot cop a break with this skirt can I? It's still wearable, but with a longer top - but I've ordered another length of fabric to make another that fits better. I think this fabric must not have enough stretch as my other skirts; and the fabric has a rayon content, not cotton (like most of my other skirts) so I guess that's affecting the stretch too.

I'm telling myself it looks like a denim skirt but Dave thought I'd made the skirt for a suit. Sigh.


I still have two pieces of fabric in my stash for two more of these, but I think I have Mabel fatigue at the moment and I think there's about 10 of these in my wardrobe now and that's enough.
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Pattern: "Mabel Skirt" by Colette Patterns
Size: XL, sewn with 3/8" seam allowance
Modifications: 5cm elastic waistband (added 10cm to the pattern to accommodate for this), 16.5cm added to length, pegged in the bottom by 0.5cm at each seam (so 2cm in total).
Fabric: 4-way stretch rayon blend ponte from Emma One Sock
Changes for next time: none.

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