Hip For The Holidays- I'm Biased and Bow Tied

Well you didn't think that I'd make it through the series without a project for myself did you?  It was really hard for me to decide what to make, because I have a long list of projects that are either bouncing around in my head, or borrowed from other talented bloggers.

Some day I'll learn to take photos prior to church, that way my outfit won't
be totally wrinkled from wrestling a toddler for three hours.

For this project I decided that I'd make my life a bit easier, and follow a tutorial for this very biased skirt from Katy at No Big Dill.  You know that I love Katy and all of her sewing goodness.  She is always coming up with original projects and tutorials.  When I saw her tutorial for the very biased skirt I knew that I wanted to try it, but it was a matter of gathering the material, and setting aside the time.

 I ended up finding all of my materials at Wal-Mart.  Our local wal-mart will occasionally have sale for five yards for five dollars.  The fabric selection is always a bit random, and isn't usually carried in the store.  I found three lightweight neutral fabrics for the skirt, and some lightweight knit for the shirt.

I'm quite pleased with how the outfit turned out.  I followed Katy's tutorial fairly closely.  The shirt was my own creation, and if you are interested you can find a tutorial for the pintucks below.

I ended up making pintucks at the base of the sleeves, and just above the "hem" of the shirt. I used two layers of knit fabric because the material was a bit sheer with just a single layer.

I was tempted to create an embellished neckline, but after finishing the shirt I could bring myself to embellish it.  I like that the pintucks repeat the rows of the bias cut fabric on the skirt.  I also like that it is pretty plain, that way it can be dressed up with a necklace, or in this case a sash.

I decided to add a sash using an extra strip of bias cut material.  I have a relatively shapeless figure, and the sash is just what I needed to break up my straight waist.

Now that the shirt is finished I really wish that I would have added a third pintuck at the hem of the shirt,  I think that it would have given it a bit more visual balance.

As you can see, I didn't hem the sleeves or the bottom of the shirt. The material curls up a bit, and I quite like how it looks when worn.

Here's a close up of the pintuck treatment on the sleeves, yep that's my marking pen that still hasn't disappeared.

Want some tips on making a pintucked top?  Click read more below.

Pintuck Tips

This isn't a full tutorial for the top, but if you have questions regarding the construction of the top, please feel free to contact me.  I will however, be providing you with some tips and a brief tutorial on making pintucks.  To be quite honest I don't know if these are technically still considered pintucks (given the width of the tuck), but I'm going to stick with pintuck because the technique is the same.

For starters, I created the pattern for this shirt using an existing article of clothing that fit well.  I knew that I had to line the shirt, so I cut two front and two back pattern pieces.  I didn't not however want to add pintucks to the lining of the shirt.  The pintuck treatment was done prior to piecing the shirt together, and was done only to the outer pieces.  Knowing that I was going to need extra material  for the pintucks, I cut one front and one back pattern piece 2" longer at the hem of the shirt, than the original pattern piece. The difference in the length of your pattern pieces will be determined by the width of your pintucks. For this shirt my pintucks are created with 1/2" seam allowances.  Add one inch in length to your pattern pieces, for each 1/2 inch pintuck.

Disregard the lowest row of markings.

I set aside my two lining pieces, and then began marking my front, back, and sleeves for my first row of pintucks. I measured and marked two inches from the bottom of my hem on the front, back, and sleeve pieces.  This will serve as a guide when making the pintuck.  Use a taylor's chalk, or disappearing marking pin, as the marking will be visible. Mark on the right side of the fabric.

Disregard visible markings.

Fold the fabric, wrong sides together, along your markings.  Pin in place. Press.

If you are working with a stretch fabric such as knit select a stretch stitch for stitching your pintucks.  A good choice for this would be a narrow zig zag stitch (03), or a triple stretch stitch (02).  The stretch stitches will prevent the stitch from breaking when the garment is stretched.

I used a narrow zig zag stitch, and stitched with a 1/2" seam allowance.

Press your pintuck toward the bottom hem. Your first pintuck row should look like this.

It is now time to measure for your second row of pintucks.  Measure 1 1/4" away from the seam of your first pintuck. 

Pin along markings, and press.

Stitch with 1/2" seam allowance.  Press toward hem.  Your pintucks should slightly overlap.  This will cover up the stitching from the first pintuck.

Repeat this process on all desired pattern pieces.  When piecing together your article of clothing, take care to align pintucks so that they meet at seams.

I feel bad because I always end up cutting my face out of the pictures.  So here I am.  Can you see the pintucks on the sleeves?  I love that they are a subtle embellishment.

I'll pop in later this week with an accessory for this outfit.

Do you have an apparel project or accessory that you think is perfect for the holidays?  Link it up to the Hip for the Holidays link party. I'd love to see what you're working on.

I'll be linking up here today. Thanks for reading.  Let me know if you have any questions.

If you are interesting in guest posting during my Holiday Recipe week next week, please e-mail me.