Ginger Skirt -The construction

Once again, Colette Patterns have not disappointed and delivered a gorgeous pattern with dead easy-to-follow instructions that anyone (and I mean anyone) can do one of these. Fair enough, it is aimed at beginners so this is to be expected but I have struggled with so called easy patterns before so I thought it's worth the mention.

For my version of Ginger, I initially though of adding piping, just like the first Ginger Sunni, from A Fashionable Stitch did, but changed my mind quickly after. The fabric is a solid, simple teal and I wanted something I could wear dressed up or dressed down, depending on shoes and accessories. I thought a touch of lace would be ideal and decided to add it to the waistband. It was a easy job to do and I followed the same rules to those when doing my Crepe dress.

The construction of the waistband and its facing is sheer genius. I will definitely use this method with other waistband facing I'll do in future. It basically allows for a extra neat finish with little effort. When I say little effort I forget the fact I understitched the facing by hand. I don't think you can do it by machine on this waistband, as the corners are too tight (if that makes any sense). If you done a Ginger and understitched by machine, I would love to hear how. Saying that, now that I'm comfortable hand stitching I actually enjoy it! For the first time ever, I used a point turner, to help create pointy edges but almost ripped through the fabric so afraid of using it again. Anyone had similar experiences?
In terms of seams finishes, I decided to trim them down and finish them with my machine overlock foot. It's a very neat finish!

The skirt ask for an invisible zipper and I don't usually shy away from them. I was keen to make it as invisible as possible, as my previous attempts usually show a bit of the zipper tape. And in this point lay the only frustrations I had with this skirt. I actually did a superb job the first time I stitched the zipper, and managed to sew very close to zipper teeth, in a consistent manner on both sides. And amazingly enough that was a problem! The zipper didn't close after, I suspect because the stitching was in the way of the pull tab. I had to unpick (which was very painful) and sew a bit away from teeth, which means it's not completely invisible.
Isn't this a contradiction? Has this happen to you? Keen to know.

The zipper doesn't lay as wonky as this on me. My dress form needs adjusting .

All in all, this was a brilliant project, that can be done easily and quickly. Thank you Sunni for hosting this sew along!

It's a Ginger party...and Sencha is invited too!

Head over to the Ginger party at A Fashionable Stitch to see the array of gorgeousness done by Sunni's sew alongers.
I also joined the bandwagon and did a Ginger. But the thought of modelling it on its own depressed me so after winning a Colette Sencha pattern in a giveaway by the lovely Ashley I decided to make one to go with it. And the below is the result!

There was drama in parts and not all went according to plan or smoothly enough, but in the next few days I will share some construction process in a separate post for each piece.

Colette Patterns Ginger Skirt

Not long ago, Colette Patterns launched two brand new patterns aimed at beginners. One is Violet, a gorgeous blouse with a cute peter pan collar, and the other one is Ginger, a cute simple A-Line skirt. I initially resisted getting these as I have way too many patterns on my stash, but a couple of weeks ago I gave in and order them from M is for Make. I also ordered the Beignet Skirt. I already had the fabric selection in mind for all these, some from current stash and some that I bought in Hungary ( a post of my fabric finds still to come), but hadn't planned to sew them straightway.

Then, I had a string of mishaps with my jacket and other projects and decided to halt them for some time. This still stands. Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and suggestions, it means so much to me to have them. Some of you suggested turning to other crafts or doing something simple and as I was reading some of the comments, I stumbled across the newly named A Fashionable Stitch, by the lovely Sunni and discovered she is about to lead a beginners sewalong, using the Ginger skirt. Need I say more? I know I'm not a complete beginner but an easier project is what I need now and I do love sewing along with others.