eye spy with my (pink) eye

Tuesday 27 July 2010
Well actually it's not me with the pink eye, it's Anna. She's picked up conjunctivitis from her daycare centre, so I'm home from work looking after her until it's cleared up. She seems happy enough despite having manky stuck together eyes, although getting eye drops in her eyes is a bit challenging! Jodie, I would love to be able to say that her sleep issues have been resolved, but no she is still waking frequently through the night and pretty much sleeps in our bed all night every night because that's the only way to stop the screaming. However, I have resolved to stop fixating on it - I fear I was becoming a dreadfully whingy bore always harping on about how she never sleeps. There are worse things of course, like this incredibly sad tale of a sick little girl and her amazingly strong mother, so that helps me put it all in perspective.

There are many good things about being home in the middle of the day, including being able to snare some daylight time during our currently very cold and overcast winter weather to get a photo of my new skirt on me. And here it is:

I've been looking for some smart casual clothes to wear on my days off work, clothes that would work equally well in the playground as well as swanning around cafes and shopping. After a bit of snoop shopping, I found this skirt over at ModCloth which I used for my inspiration:



I figured this would be a good choice because it's not so tight fitting or restrictive that I can't bend down or crouch down at the playground, but it's also not so full skirted that a breezy day wouldn't cause me grief. With a bit of tweaking to a basic pattern, a now OOP Vogue 9615 - adding extra width for gathers at the front and adding some faux pocket flaps, I managed to get a pretty close knock-off.

I used some red herringbone pattern wool fabric from the stash, and because this fabric was picked up from an opshop I only just had enough fabric to cut out the skirt pieces, so the gathered section in the middle is actually a separate rectangular piece cut against the grain because I didn't have enough fabric width to cut it with the grain. But the change in pattern isn't overly noticeable, and sort of looks like a deliberate design feature:

The vertical seams for the centre panel are visible, but oh well I managed to get what I wanted out of the fabric I had, so I'm happy with it:


For the lining I just made the a-line skirt as per the pattern, which I hope prevents that problem of gathered and full skirts bunching up between your legs when you walk if you're wearing stockings or you're walking into the wind (or I am the only one that happens to?).

Even though this is a pretty bright red colour, it surprisingly matches well with other clothes already in my wardrobe and I'm glad not to have made an orphan skirt for a change. In fact the only problem I have with casual skirts is what shoes to wear with them, because I always wear heels with skirts otherwise I don't feel properly dressed and my legs look stumpy, but of course heels aren't the best option for the playground. Hmmm, sounds like some shoe shopping is going to be required soon!

Thank you for all the tips on the overlocker problems, I will definitely try them out. I have been using the big cones and not the little spools, but they are just Birch threads and not expensive thread because that's the only type of overlocker thread for sale in Spotlight. Same with the needles, I think I was just using some universal type needles, so I will look into whether there are specific Toyota needles I should be using. Sherry your tip of winding the thread around the dial twice sounds bizarre, but I shall try it since you've had success with it. I shall report back soon people!

21 comments:

  1. That's a very pretty skirt. Best wishes to your little one, and someday, mommie will get some sleep!

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  2. Good job on the copy. Looks cute. Don't worry about Anna, she won't want to sleep with you when she is a teenager...she will grow out of it. For now enjoy her cuddles in the middle of the night :)

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  3. I really like the fabric! I'm hoping you get some sleep =) I know the feeling!

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  4. I totally agree with Vicki. They do grow up and sleep and get toilet trained and do all the things they are "supposed" to do. And if it's not sleep to worry over, it's something else. I remember thinking that my child would NEVER sleep through the night - and he didn't until 4 or thereabouts....and then every night since then.
    Hang in.
    Beautiful skirt - too bad about the pink eye.

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  5. I love this skirt, and the "design feature" is inspired!

    The baby book for my son has one page that says "All I want is for you to sleep". Kinda sad, but in fact he doesn't sleep now either...and he's 26. But at some point he did move to not sleeping in his own room...and now his own house.
    This too shall pass. :-)

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  6. Adorable skirt! It does look very practical. I never know what shoes to wear that aren't sandals or boots. Regular "shoes" just don't appeal to me at all!

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  7. We had problems with our 28-month old sleeping by himself & through the night, too. I put a day bed in our bedroom a couple of months ago & put him to sleep in it. We've had sucess with that. He gets in our bed to snuggle before bedtime & then he climbs into his bed without (much) of a struggle most nights. After he gets in his bed, I put his music on for him & he falls asleep listening to his music. It's worked well for us & the hubster & I can sleep without a head or feet whacking us in the gut! I used to worry that my kiddo would sleep in our bed into his college years, but there's light at the end of that tunnel! Hope that helps you.

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  8. I love this skirt and the color. Great job copying the Modcloth skirt!

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  9. Your skirt looks great! I really need more clothes for 'everyday' like you describe - I have too much that is dressy and too much that is covered in paint, and nothing much in between!
    By the way, I didn't mean wind it around the tension dial twice, just the little metal loop above, before it feeds into the dial!
    Re kids and sleeping - break the 'rules' if you need to - we slept with our boy a lot, and he was much happier and so were we!

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  10. Great skirt, will look fab out and about.

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  11. Do you know I bought a length of this same fabric in a slightly darker shade from an op shop in Mullumbimby! I wasn't sure what to make with it and now you've inspired me! I love this skirt.

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  12. Hello! Coming out of the lurking wilderness to say how much I love the new skirt - and the colour! I know from your older posts that you love your monochromes, but that colour suits you so well!

    Hoping Anna is on the mend.

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  13. Love a great op shop find. Hope machine problems are solved soon - best of luck with the sleeping - People keep saying to me, "your children are your best teachers," and I keep thinking "on how to go mad?"

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  14. Kristy - I think a pair of nice mid- heeled boots would look ace with that skirt.
    I'm just about to head to the sewing room to finish a wool skirt myself. It's an op shop find fabric (my first success in op shop shopping - yay!), a orange wool plaid straight skirt cut on the bias, featuring faux pocket flaps with button just like those on your skirt.

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  15. I agree with Paola - boots would be great with the skirt (and I love the colour!) as would any sort of flat pumps that look like Mary Janes.

    As for the sleeping, anything that works for you three is good. Adopt the mantra "whatever gets you through the night..."

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  16. Great skirt. The way you had to lay out the fabric looks intentional, in-other-words looks just like it was planned that way. I love it! You really nailed it with the RTW inspiration.

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  17. Red always looks good with gray...Y'know what I mean! ;)

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  18. Such a cute skirt. Makes me eager for fall here since it's been so hot, hot, hot. I can't wait for it to turn cold and be able to wear wool.

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  19. Sounds like you need a pair of wedges! I love the skirt, both the design and the colour.

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  20. I love the skirt, and agree with a previous commenter that the horizontal grain in the center panel looks like a design choice.
    On your serger - I don't know how long you've had it or if you've replaced the blade recently, but a dulled blade can cause stitching problems too, that might not show up unless you are stitching a more challenging fabric. Especially if the knit in question has some lycra content, the blade will need to be good and sharp to trim it to the right width for the stitch. When I replaced mine last month, I was surprised to see actual nicks in the old blade from catching pins, and it sews much better now.

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  21. Sorry to hear that little one had to go thru the "pink eye" stage...
    You can tell her to shut her eyes... and put the drops in the corner of her eye and it will spread when she opens them! It works wonders... even on my DIL who hates to put drops in her eyes! And she is in her 30's!
    Your skirt turned out cute.... sandles would be good with that skirt... with a short heal... or flip flops?

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