Circle Skirt from Saree and Sorbetto #4

A few months ago I went on a little fabric overload shopping trip.  I bought 3 polyester crepe sarees to chop up and use.  In the shop, I thought this saree was a wedgewood/periwinkle blue and beige pattern. When I first saw it in natural light, I was very disappointed: the beige was actually celery green.  :(

The funky paisley part at the end is the pallu: the fancy end of the saree which falls over the shoulder

In the end, the blue color won me over and I decided to make another version of New Look 6899.  This time I made the circle skirt since I had plenty of fabric and circle skirts are notorious fabric hogs.  Prior to hemming, I let the skirt hang for at least a week and it was a wise move.  The parts on the bias stretched over 4"!!  I enlisted a friend to help me mark the hem.  The saree fabric has great drape, is very floaty, and absolutely does not wrinkle!!  See:

When the skirt was on the cutting table, I needed to figure out what top to make to go with it. I downloaded a new wrap top pattern, but after a major muslin "oops", I put that aside and decided to bring out the old standby: the Sorbetto. It is made from a rayon-poly blend called "Busy Lizzie". After 4 versions of the same top, there's not much to say. However, now that I look at these photos, I see weird wrinkles from the boobs diagonally down to the side seams.  Odd.  Am I standing up too straight?  Are my darts too short (I did shorten them)  Any insights about that one? 

Here is the final ensemble:

and a closeup of the fabric:

A Simple Saree REBORN!

Back in October, I was out shopping for a Diwali saree for my maid and I wound up buying a few for myself as well.  Not to wear as sarees...but to cut up and USE!!  The first saree I did this to was turned into my "Think Pink" skirt, and the 2nd one has found a new life as a Simplicity 2638 Maxi dress.  

The saree was cobalt blue print with an odd geometric/floral/stripe section for the front pleats on the saree.  The blouse piece was a matching blue with a simple and more subtle wavy line print.  This is a terrible an atrocious job wrapping the saree, but it gives some idea of what it was meant to look like.

The first thing I did was cut the blouse piece off the end, and then I chopped out the funky printed "pleat section".  I had plenty of the less crazy print to cut out the dress.  I decided to use the blouse piece for the midriff section to highlight the waist of the dress.  This was my initial trial to see how it'd look:

I started off great.  Flying along even.  I had some cobalt blue fabric on hand to use as the bodice lining, everything was good.  When cutting out the pattern I made the bodice slightly larger than a size 14, just in case.  Well, I shouldn't have.  The armholes gaped, the backed gaped.  Silly me, didn't check the fit before I sewed the bodice onto the midriff OR the midriff onto the skirt.  (I will file that info in the: "don't do that again" folder of my brain)  What a pain!  I didn't want to completely take the midriff off, so I unpicked in pieces and took the bodice in under the arms and along the center back.  Once I got that squared away, I had to take in the entire center back seam about 3/4" all the way down.  

Rather than struggling with an invisible zipper, I used a center lapped regular zipper and I think it worked well.  The color of the zipper was perfect so if it does peek out here and there, it's no big deal.  I wound up hand stitching the bodice opening above the zipper because due to my post-assembly alterations it was impossible to turn in inside out to sew normally.

I am very pleased with the end result:

A peek at the back:

At first I was planning on not hemming the dress and keeping the selvage edge from the bottom edge of the saree.  Eventually I decided to NOT be lazy and to NOT introduce another pattern into the dress, and therefore NOT make people say "huh?" when they look at my hem.

Another big bonus was that I found cobalt blue shoes...in my size...on sale for 499INR = $10 US!  Yay me!!

Hello My Lovelies, Welcome to my Stash!

I went grocery shopping the other day and afterwards popped upstairs to the new shop that sells sarees, dress materials, jewellery and more.  I went in looking for an inexpensive saree to cut up and make a new pool coverup.  I came out with that, and so much MORE!!  I bought 3 sarees (yes, 3) and 4 sets of crepe dress materials: 2 coordinating fabrics (2.5m each) and a chiffon scarf/dupatta/chunni/stole--whatever you want to call it)

Lets discuss:
Set #1 caught my eye while I was looking at sarees:
Brown and purple:  Ovals and Pixy Stix designs:

Next: Turquoise blue leaf print with coordinating diagonal stripe:


Next: An Un-Indian subtle beige/seafoam green/coral print with a plain (gasp!) coordinating fabric:


The one that made me say "OH! I love this!":

Let's not forget that I did buy what I came in for: sarees.

• The first was a bright pink with a navy squiggle pattern all over.
• Next was a coral and maroon print
• The last one I picked out had an allover print in beige and wedgewood blue.  Once I got it home, it wasn't beige, but more of a celery color.  This one might turn into a gift.

So did I go a little bit overboard?  Maybe.  In my defense I have already made my pool coverup from the turquoise diagonal print, and I have plans for a skirt made from the brown and purple "Pixy Stix" fabric.  So I may had added some bulk to my stash, but I'm hoping they won't stick around for long.  :)

McCall's 5591: From Saree to Skirt

I went out shopping for a Diwali gift for my maid, and found a good inexpensive saree shop not far from my house.  I came home with 3 sarees for my maid, for upcoming holidays, etc...and 3 for me!  I had no intention of wearing them as sarees, but instead I wanted to cut them up and make something new from them.  A saree is 6 meters long, and for the pink one I used to make McCall's 5591, I paid 7 $US.  A pretty good deal, especially since I have 3 meters left!

Pattern Description:  Mid-knee length, pleated skirts have faced yoke and back zipper closure.  Skirt A has slash front pocket with band and contrasting lower band.  Skirts B and C have side seam pockets.  Skirt B has carriers and sash; Skirt C has ribbon trim at lower edge.  I made Skirt B without the carriers and without pockets.

Pattern Sizing: (14-22) I cut a 18, but should have cut the waistband smaller.  The size of the waist is actually printed on the pattern pieces!

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes!

Were the instructions easy to follow? No problems

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I like the box pleats of the skirt, it's the kind of skirt that has a lot of volume, but doesn't add weight to your bottom half.  Win-win!

Fabric Used: I used a polyester crepe saree, and have about 3 meters left to make something else.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:  The saree fabric has a printed border along the bottom edge, which I kept.  Since it was on the selvage, I didn't even bother to hem it, which sped up the time it took me to sew!  I also omitted the pockets and the sash and carriers.  For the yoke lining, I used a pink cotton shirting to give some more stability to the yoke.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?  It is a cute skirt, and yes, I would recommend it to others and sew it again.

Conclusion:   A nice addition to my wardrobe.