Hot Patterns 1011: the Red Tree skirt
I had to take a brief time-out from my 1940s streak to fill a gaping hole in my wardrobe: the basic fitted skirt. Believe it or not, I have never owned one — partly because tomboy habits die hard and partly because RTW fitted skirts don’t come in my size. I have a 26.5″ waist and 34″ hips. Anything that fits my hips won’t do up at the waist, and anything that fits at the waist has two sad little pockets of airspace at the hips.
Enter Hot Patterns 1011! I’d read rave reviews about HP1011 over at Pattern Review — one woman loved it so much she made it up in six different styles — and decided the A-line skirt in black stretch cotton twill would make a great wardrobe staple.
Despite the fact that the instructions gloss over tricky bits slightly, this would be a great first garment for a beginner. The skirt design and construction really could not be simpler; what took all the time was fitting it to my problematic shape (and the fact that I am the world’s slowest sewer). Fortunately the little bit of stretch in the fabric allowed me some margin for error.
But basic black was just a leetle bit boring. The skirt needed some embellishment, and I had just the thing.
I love Shaun Tan’s books. The Red Tree was my first and favorite. (I even own a print from it.) The red leaf on the cover floats through the pages of the book as a little emblem of faith and hope — often nearly hidden, easily overlooked. I decided to use it as a motif for the skirt, even though my colleagues will probably interpret it as a statement of rampant Canadian nationalism.
I opted for a reverse applique, using this simple tutorial and a remnant of red corduroy. Because I am totally inept at drawing, I found a suitable image on the internet, ran it through Find Edges in Photoshop and printed it out. Then I just sandwiched the paper, the skirt fabric and the applique fabric together, pinned them in place and stitched around the outline of the leaf, tearing away the paper afterwards. I cut away the skirt fabric inside the stitching to reveal the corduroy. Easy!
Here’s the finished skirt. Nothing showstopping, just the kind of thing I can throw on without thinking and dress up or down as the occasion demands.
Why have I never bothered sewing useful clothing before? My drawers are full of stuff like Victorian chemises and Regency corsets and dresses covered in rockets, yet I wake up in a panic most weekday mornings because I have nothing to wear to work. I have worn this skirt to work twice now, and despite its alarming tendency to work itself up around my waist, I think it’ll stay in heavy rotation for the foreseeable future.
Lessons learned:
- Pick your pattern to flatter your shape. This skirt was designed to look good on curvier bodies than mine and threatens to transform my figure into a shapeless oblong. I can just about get away with it by wearing a figure-skimming top over it to conceal my lack of a defined waist… but only just. If you pick a pattern that doesn’t suit your shape, all the fitting in the world won’t fix it.
- Trim, trim, trim those seam allowances. This skirt has a shaped, faced and interfaced waistband, which means sewing through five or six layers at the side seams. If the SAs aren’t clipped and graded to within an inch of their lives, the result is a couple of really unsightly lumps right on your hips. Ugh.
- Do not leave a project out overnight if you have cats. Or they will give it lots of love. Furry, drooling, litter-flecked love.
Get out the lint roller!
Love the applique and boy, did your cat love up on that skirt!
Fabulous skirt!
BTW, Every time I view your skirt I wonder what fabric you used for it? Thanks, Kitty
I love Shaun Tan. The Arrival is my favourite, but The Red Tree comes a close second. What a great source of inspiration and what a great result! Oh, and that last picture did make me laugh!
I forgot to say: I’ve noticed that if a skirt is too small in the upper hip area it will creep upwards until it finds the proper ease and then hang out there.
Ah. That must be it. I don’t put very much ease in skirt waistbands and hips, mostly because a snug-fitting skirt is such a pleasant novelty for me.
1. bad kitty!
2. I can really recommend the “advanced pattern alterations” in the Vogue sewing book. I use mine whenever I make any kind of a fitted pattern because I am basically a deformed person masquerading as normal (large rounded upper back, curved shoulders, large bust adjustment, low bust point, “vintage” waist-to-hip ratio, poochy belly, waistline higher in back than in front, AND long arms and legs, etc, etc, etc). It’s taken me a few times to get the hang of it but now I know in general where I need to adjust things depending on the cut of the pattern and it goes lots faster now. And things fit better to the point that I don’t bother buying anything tailored off the rack, because it’ll fit better if I sew it myself. I only buy knit tops and blue jeans (ok, and underwear).
3. I totally hear you about the sewing practical things instead of, oh, corsets. So I have mostly tshirts and blue jeans. Sigh.
Great skirt! re riding up, is it lined? Sometimes a slippery lining helps the skirt kind of fall back into place. You also could try wearing it with a slip.
I love that appliqué!
I have to agree about the shape of the skirt not being completely ideal (although it looks great on you). I don’t have a very defined waist either, and I find that the skirts that work for me are pencil skirts. I don’t wear a-lines or even skirts that go straight down.
Very nice – I’ll have to have a go at an applique skirt soon. Oh and your cat is gorgeous!
LOVE the skirt! The applique looks great (I will have to check out both the book and the tutorial). The pictures of the cat are fantastic…hehehehe…he is so loving the skirt!
Hi, I think your skirt is a show stopper. I think a contasting applique like that stops most eyes. Good going.
I have an idea that a half inch or so more around the hips and maybe some adjustment at the top, lowering or raising the waistband might help that problem you mentioned with the skirt hitching up. A skirt can’t do that if it doesn’t cling somewhere. I used to have problems with mine hitching up in the back and found out I had high hips that were pulling it up. those sorts of fitting problems are the hardest for me to figure out, but I read somewhere that the wrinkles point to the problem so that has helped me a little bit. Now I draw the sides higher by a half inch and it does seem to help. hope you get yours figured out. If you’re like me you’ll copy that pattern and make them from now til the end of time in every fabric you can think of.
Thanks for the tips — I will play around with the pattern! You’re right, it looks like it could be incredibly useful with a little tweaking.
I love Shaun Tan books too, and I think that red leaf on your skirt really lifts it, and makes it much more interesting. How clever to use the corduroy like leaf veins, it looks great!