Skirt for Penguin Shirt Part 1 {Simplicity 4044}

I am so happy. I finished a yellow skirt to go with my penguin shirt from Anthropologie. When it first came, I did not know what to wear with it other than jeans. One can’t always wear jeans, so when browsing the fabric store I came across this yellowish-gold fabric, and I knew that I had to make a simple skirt for the ensemble.

I used Simplicity 4044 as the pattern, altering it slightly to fit my height.  Other than that, the sizing was perfect with the pattern. The instructions are somewhat easy to read for a person with a bit of experience sewing. It doesn't take long to put together either.

Over the next two posts, I will be going over some of the techniques I used for putting this lovely thing together. Starting with a bit of knowledge on how I shorten patterns that I know are too long. I am short, so this happens quiet a lot. I always check the length of a pattern before I cut any fabric. For me, there is no point in wasting the fabric when I know I will have to cut it anyways.

Once I have measured myself and my dress form, and measured a second time, I turn to the pattern to calculate what I need to remove. In this case, I trimmed six inches not including the seam allowance. Check your pattern to see what the hem requirements are. Some hems maybe two inches while others are just 5/8". If you have a large hem, there may not be a need to alter your pattern.

For this pattern, I removed six inches from the original length. Measuring from the original pattern bottom, I make marks where I need to cut, being careful to maintain the original curve. Once I have the marks, I than use my hemming tool, which has a curved edge, to boldly mark my final pattern alteration. My pattern is ready to be used.

Placing my fabric on a large surface for cutting, each piece is laid out according to the directions. I am a fan of pins. I use a lot of pins when cutting clothing out. It is very easy to misshape your garment by simply cutting a line too wide or not including the correct curve. I am also very careful about my dart placement. Here I have used my hole punch to cut out the marks for the dart and then used my tailors chalk for further reference points.

One thing that I am not a fan of is cutting marks (usually triangles) for fabric lineup position. These marks are included to make it easier to line adjoining pattern pieces.  I prefer tailor chalk if I think I will have problems maintaining the proportions of the pattern. This is probably a nasty habit that my grandma taught me. I have tried to do it properly, but it always causes me more problems than solutions. The triangles never seem to lineup for me. If you do choose to use this method try very hard to cut the triangle at the exact point the pattern calls for otherwise the different sizes of triangles will misalignment.

Did you notice that the skirt in the pattern picture is the same color I used for mine?  I never noticed this unitl I was finished with the project.  Do you think this had an effect on my pattern selection?  Hmmm...