Susan Bischoff and I went shopping a LONG time ago and bought everything I needed to make a skirt and blouse for my first (in a long time) sewing project. I got around to cutting out the material a few weeks ago. Today, since I’m on vacation, I’ve had a whole day to work on my sewing. How is it going? Well…maybe not too bad. I have the under skirt finished. But the lace overlay is giving me pause. I had to cut six inches off the skirt because I’m short and the skirt was much longer than I wanted. Now, I have a problem because I can’t cut off the lace (haven’t cut the material for this yet) since it has a scalloped edge. So that means I’ll have to cut off the top of the skirt instead of the bottom. Maybe this won’t be too much of a problem since the skirt is fairly straight. I guess it will be gathered just a little more. I decided to make the overlay separate from the underskirt so I can maybe mix and match later, sometimes wearing the skirt without the lace.
On to the blouse, which is what I’m just beginning to work on now. This pattern is supposed to be “very easy”, but I say nay, nay. Only because I had no idea how to use bias tape. However, thank goodness for YouTube! The way the pattern showed using the tape was confusing, but the video showed exactly how it’s done, plus an even quicker way to do it. (This is double fold bias.)
Okay, I know I’m boring the non-sewers to death. In fact, those people probably have already stopped reading. LOL. Anyway, I was just wondering. Have any of you ever used YouTube to figure out how to do something? If so, was it helpful?
lauralynnelliott.com 
I look up all kinds of stuff on YouTube. And it’s great for when you want to show someone else how to do something. Link!
On shortening your skirt: on the pattern there should be a line that says “lengthen or shorten here.” Fold the pattern on that line. You can draw another line, parallel to that one and six inches above it (take your tape measure or ruler, measure six inches up, make a mark; do that two or three time across the pattern, draw a line through all your marks). Fold your pattern again by placing the first fold on your drawn line. Tape or pin in place and smooth it all out. You’ll need to smooth out the cutting lines on each side when you go to cut (because folding it up with make a jog in the line as it slopes down). This method of shortening maintains the top and bottom width of the design.
However, if you’ve just cut off the bottom of the pattern for the underskirt and you’re happy with the way it fits, you may want to just do the same thing for the overlay so they match, the bottom edge of the overlay doesn’t wind up a lot bigger, and the two skirts don’t have different…slopes.
Thanks, Susan! I knew there was a place to shorten the skirt, but I didn’t think about drawing the other lines to shorten it even more than the original allowance.
I didn’t actually cut six inches from the pattern. I didn’t realize how long it actually was until it was hemming time, so I cut the six inches off the material. However, i would have to cut (or fold up) the pattern before cutting the material so I would know where to line up the scalloped edges.
The blouse was a disaster. The worst part is that I must have caught the material wrong somehow at the top of the sleeve, and I’m going to have to rip that out. And the sleeves were the hardest part. Also, I had a lot of trouble with some loose stitches, like they would go along fine, then there would be a loop. That didn’t happen with the skirt, so I wonder if I should have used a different needle with that softer material. Or I wonder if my constant stopping to take out pins did that. I used to sew over pins with my old machine, but I was afraid to do that with this machine…didn’t want to break or bend the needle.
When I had real broadband (lol), I used YouTube instead of google. Anything we needed to know, no matter how random or bizarre, and we were off to YouTube.
The things I’ve learned. 😀
YouTube is awesome.
I don’t know anything about sewing, but I have used You Tube to learn how to do something, mostly working with GIMP. Most of the time I use You Tube to track down songs I like but don’t know the song to so I can find it on iTunes to buy. LOL
YouTube is great for so many things!
Well done. I can’t remember how to even sew a button back on a shirt.
I hope my frustrations with it doesn’t make me stop sewing. Especially since I bought the sewing machine.