I have been told, via books and blogs and TV, that as a pear shaped woman, I should steer clear of straight fitted skirts. I do that, but then again, sometimes I wear shop bought straight skirts, and sometimes it fits me ( maybe 1 in every 50 I try on). You would think that making one for myself that fit would be easy right? I thought so too, and ended up here
Why can it not look as smooth as it does on the model. True I know that my hips are all over the place, but still.....I cut a size 14 at the waist, and graded out to a size 18 at the hips.
The result of that little pattern play left me with excess fabric between the widest point of my hips and my waist.hmm.
Maybe you can just take the waistband off and add darts?
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'd try, anyways - just try it on on the wrong side after you've taken off the waistband and pinch out the excess fabric, mark and sew darts ... but I'm hardly an expert, so not guarantee that will work :D
I'd go darts or making the waist band lower so the hip point is in the right place rather than too low which may be causing all that fabric to pool above?
ReplyDeleteOh, and for the tummy thing post baby? I recommend spanx for fitted styles! The world will never see my stomach again post Boy lol!
I think you're onto something with the waistband-- it looks like there's too much length between the waistband and the hip point, so lowering the waistband should work (and taking a horizontal tuck out of the pattern piece).
DeleteHmmm... what about finding a pattern with more seams, like whatever a princess seam dress would be called once it's a skirt! Then you could make a really well-fitting muslin by putting it on inside-out, and pinning it all to fit? I think some extra darts would probably help with the cute skrit you've got on the go, but maybe a new pattern would be easier to fit next time!
ReplyDeleteTry Drafting your own pattern for a skirt. It's quite easy,that way you can make sure that the fit is great. I'm pear shape and usually opt to make a waist facing rather than a band, and have it sit about 4 cm below my natural waist, as it means there's less of a difference there to accommodate in the pattern.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to make my first attempt at a pencil skirt from the Amazing fit 2475 pattern because like everyone said I think we need more opportunities to take in the excess fabric used to cover our hips at the waist. I also agree with the lowering of the waistline.
ReplyDeleteHi Dibs, this looks to be perhaps a grading issue, ie you've taken the smaller waist size and jumped straight upto the larger hip size, but the high hip measurement doesn't need to be as large as you have cut it. Do you have a fench curve ruler? I am pear shaped also, and when grading between sizes from waist to hip, I use this ruler to get a smooth curve between the 2 measurements.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid it looks like you will have to remove the waistband at the side seams and redraw the curve, taking out the excess fabric, then reattach the waistband at the sides, as you won't have altered the size of the waist. That inside out trick that twistedyarns suggested works for me when I can't get stuff to fit correctly.
Hope this works, as I love the fabric
I rather like the sunray pleating you are doing with your fingers - you could make it fan out from one side for a spot of trendy assymmetry?
ReplyDeleteOr how about using a stretch fabric and making a size that falls in the middle of the two sizes and darting out the excess towards the waist? I agree it would be easier without a waistband too.
Do you have a ready-made skirt you could copy?
Good luck!
You are talking my language Dibs. As someone with a size 12 to 14 waist and size 18 to (cough cough) hips/thighs I can truly sympathise! My way round it is grading the top of the skirt piece a size below the hips and take out the rest of the excess with darts front and back to match up exactly with the much smaller waistband piece. Pretty much what everyone else has said. But I have to admit I love an a-line! :)
ReplyDeleteI reckon you should try draping your own skirt sloper -
ReplyDeleteDrape a Skirt Sloper
. Let me know if you wanna try it - happy to help with the draping process :)!
Hello there (hope you enjoyed Millinery today - yesterday was excellent!)
ReplyDeleteI'd try drafting your own as my hip/waist ratio is totally not normal.
I'd recommend 'Sew What skirts' - it's really basic, but pretty effective results.
You mention that you have shop bought skirts that fit. You have probably thought of this already but, if you have any of similar construction, have you tried tracing a pattern from it? There are quite a few on-line tutorials on this. I use kitchen greaseproof paper to do it as it is cheap and easily available from a supermarket (don't use the non-stick kind) but I can only get it in 37.5 cm width so need to cellotape it together for wider patterns.
ReplyDeleteI met you in the Goldhawk Road at the end of June when I was fabric hunting with a group and have been addicted to your blog ever since!