City Stroll revisit

I made the City Stroll skirt for myself (twice) years ago but I under-grew it (is that the opposite of outgrew?)

Time for another!

I recalled that it could be made with a 1m cut of fabric, so I picked up just that much of this great mustard yellow denim from Fibresmith

It took a fair bit of puzzling to work out how to layout the pattern pieces and I was just about to go and hunt through my photos as I'd definitely snapped a pic of the final layout, when I figured it out anyway.

And then, what do you know, the very next day my phone did that "on this day" thing and showed me a photo from five years ago of the skirt pattern pieces laid out on a 1m cut of fabric!

My previous makes of this skirt had been a size 14 and a size 12. The 14 was always a bit big because I'd actually made it incorrectly and bound the raw edge rather than using the binding as a facing, but it worked back then. Here are the first ones and a link to an Oliver + S guest post showing what can, and can't, be done in a wrap skirt :)

The 12 was the one I'd kept and had under-grown. Thankfully I had traced off the size 10 when I was trying to find some way to make a skirt out of another remant piece of fabric (which turned out not to be possible!)

It's a really nicely shaped skirt with darts at the back, and it truly does behave better than any other wrap skirt I own.

It even works for cute kids: When 4 year old A wanted a "skirt that goes flat like yours" I made her one too by altering another pattern. I should revisit that idea!

I've added 1 inch of length to the size 10 here and the fit is perfect.

And it has pockets!

The pattern intends for you to close the wrap skirt invisibly. Buttons facing inwards are sewn to the outer wrap and buttonholes on the inner wrap.

As I had done on my first one I chose to use some of my snaps. These are a brass snap and looked perfect with fabric. Easy on, easy off I figured...

Only the snaps are so stiff i can't just pull on the fabric to undo them for fear of ripping the snaps right out of the (interfaced and reinforced) denim. So I can only get undressed with the aid of a butter knife! :)

Details:

Pattern: Liesl & Co City Stroll Skirt

Fabric: Denim from Fibresmith

Size: 10, with 1" extra length

Mini City Stroll Wrap Skirt

As I was getting dressed or undressed, I forget which, in one of my City Stroll Wrap Skirts, my daughter was watching me.* She was fascinated by how my skirt unwrapped and became a flat piece of fabric.

"I want a skirt that goes flat like yours Mummy" she declared. And that got me thinking....

* Please assure me there will come a time when I can get dressed or undressed in private again!

The girl needed a Mini City Stroll Wrap Skirt! I had a think about what skirt pattern would be the right base for the alteration. The Sunday Brunch skirt by Oliver + S ticked all the right boxes. Small angled pockets, flat front with elastic back and a narrow A-line shape. Yep, this just might work, I thought, and quickly made the Barbie skirt as a test run.

 

I traced the skirt off again and this time traced the front pattern piece double. On my tracing I marked a vertical line half an inch beyond the point where the pocket meets the waistband. On that line I marked a point about half way down and then drew a curve from there down to the hemline at a point about two inches past the midline.

 

That created the front pattern piece. The back pattern piece is almost identical to the Sunday Brunch  except that I folded the kick pleat bit out of the way and cut the skirt directly on the fold. The only other change was to adapt the pocket pieces a little to turn them into two separate pockets rather than one that crosses the centre midline.

 



The construction was then closest to the City Stroll Wrap Skirt, just minus any darts and with an elasticised back waistband. I added some piping to my pockets.

As well as piping the pockets I used the same thin floral fabric for the facing, which, in hindsight I think I cut way too wide. There was just enough of the pale green lining fabric left over from my plaid City Stroll skirt to line this one too.

The facing was attached with a half inch seam, and since the Sunday Brunch skirt has a one an a half inch hem allowance this skirt is consequently one inch longer than the Sunday Brunch. I hadn't really planned that, but I think the slightly longer length makes it look more like a mini version of my skirt.

The dark blue snaps aren't quite the perfect colour match, but they're close enough and since she can do snaps up herself with ease, they're perfect after all!

This little skirt has gone through all the same rigorous testing as my big version. It's performed very well for bike riding, jumping, skipping about and all manner of four year old girl activities.

If you've got to the end of the blog post and you're thinking: "Where's the link to Oliver + S blog where she shows us exactly how to modify the pattern?"... Well, there isn't one. Seems we weren't the only ones thinking little girls need wrap skirts and there may be a pattern in the future. Which would save you the hassle of altering one you've already got! - and save me having to do it all over again when I need to size up.

City Stroll Wrap Skirt - Road Test

A little while ago I made myself the new Liesl & Co City Stroll Wrap Skirt and I've been wearing it a lot! The skirt and I have been getting along very well and I'm over on the Oliver + S blog today showing what you can, and can not, do while wearing a wrap skirt.

What I'm also doing is fraudulently passing myself off as someone who has "style" and indulging in one of those "How I Wear It" posts. Yep, seriously. No, I didn't remember to brush my hair and there's definitely no manicure or lipstick involved, but I did manage to get possibly the first ever photo of someone cycling in a skirt onto the Oliver + S blog! Go Check it out:

Here I'll talk more about making the City Stroll Wrap Skirt rather than wearing it. I've been on a bit of a bender recently for "one evening sew patterns". That is, a pattern that once you've got it traced off and cut out, can then be sewn in one evening. Now, I'm not quick, and some of those evenings become late nights or even into the early morning, but they still count as one session sews.

This skirt is certainly do-able in an evening. I sewed the first version the night before the kids and I went to the ballet to see Cinderella. Here we are in a low quality phone shot enjoying our ice creams at intermission, all completely dressed in clothes sewn by me.

I bought this cheap cotton plaid from Eliza fabrics ages ago with plans to make another Continental skirt but never got around to it. It was shifty fabric and I knew it needed lining. Partly in order to wear it with tights and boots during winter, but also to stop it from warping out of shape.

 

The pattern has the option of finishing the curved edge with a facing, or using bias binding. I liked the idea of bias binding for what is effectively a blanket skirt. The lining should have been as easy as making a second skirt, putting both under the waistband and then binding the hem. I got it into my head that the skirt and lining needed to be attached at the side seam to help prevent sagging of the main fabric. If only I'd thought about it before hand I could have used Nicole At Home's fabulous tutorial for a Hong Kong finish.

 

Instead I sewed the skirt darts and the lining darts, then joined the skirt and the lining together with 1/4" seams (half the seam allowance) turned it right side out then joined front to back with 1/4" seams. It works as a nice, neat finish and holds the skirt in shape well, but the seams are a little bulky compared to a proper Hong Kong finish and don't lie as flat as they should due to being so narrow. Next time I'll try to remember to do it properly and do it Nicole's way.

 

 

If I hadn't baffled myself with my dodgy lining by this stage then I might have properly understood the closure instructions.

 

The skirt should have an invisible closure with buttons sewn on the inside of one overlapping waistband and the buttonholes on the underneath waistband. It was late and my navy button were looking pretty similar to a navy size 20 snap so I saved myself the task of sewing buttonholes and went out to the shed and popped four snaps in. Done in a few minutes. But done back to front and the wrap is technically the wrong way.

 

Size: 14 with 1" extra length added. Over the course of a day it starts to feel a bit stretched out and loose. Probably more due to the fabric, but I decided I wanted another, and this time went down one size.

 

This one is size 12, again with 1" extra length and is a firmer, neater fit. The fabric is a kind of shot denim if such a thing exists. It has the weight of a lightweight denim, a small amount of stretch, and is navy with this lime green sheen and underside.

 

 

To show off the green, I finished this one using the facing. Curiously though, the skirt almost never flaps open like regular wrap skirts do. It would take a strong wind, or a particularly spectacular leap for the Frisbee for anyone to see the inside of my skirt anyway.

 

 

I'm loving the pockets!

 

 



And the back darts had this size fitting me just perfectly with no adjustments (that I don't know how to do anyway) needed.

Because the waist was fitting nicely I did get this one to wrap in the correct direction and put some sew in metal snaps and a skirt bar and hook in for the closure. I'm very happy with this skirt and when summer eventually comes I can imagine I'll wear it as much with bare legs as I'm wearing the other one with tights now.

I'll tell you more about my tops another day, but check out how nicely my bicycle co-ordinates with my outfit! And yes, I probably have enough bicycles that I could colour match on almost any given day of the week! Handbags on the other hand are a choice of two, either black or brown. Priorities my friends!

 

Edit: It's just occurred to me I made a mistake with my first skirt that probably explains why it was a bit big.

 

The skirt is meant to be hemmed with the facing or bias binding. I realise now that the bias binding should be stitched with the given 1/2" seam allowance then turned to the inside and stitched down, as if it were a facing. The instructions probably explained that and I didn't look?...

 

I was in automatic mode and thought "I know all about sewing bias binding after knocking off that Little Things To Sew book" so I bound the edge. I wanted the binding to show so it was a design choice, BUT I forgot to trim off the seam allowance.

 

That explains why the waistband was a bit big. It's technically an inch (1/2" at each end) longer than intended. Also my skirt will be 1.5" longer than the pattern rather than just the 1" I'd added. If I'd sewn it correctly the size 14 would probably have been perfect. The 12 is a tiny bit too small at the waist and I couldn't quite comfortably line up the waistband with the pocket edge when closing it. A couple of kilos off the frame by summer and it too should be perfect!