Hey Look At What I Made: A Little Fall Sewing Featuring Simply By Ti Fabrics

Today is 85 degrees and 1000% humidity. The PERFECT time to share the first of my fall sewing with you, right?

The Fabric

This is the Coral Sweater Knit and Olive Faux Stretch Leather from Simply By Ti. I did not purchase them together, but as they sat percolating on my SBT stash shelf (Yes, I have a stash shelf devoted to Simply By Ti fabric... 99% of it purchased before joining the Ambassador Team), I decided I wanted to pair them together and see how it works.

Is olive a Pantone color for this fall? 

It doesn't matter. I fell in love with Olive last spring and my crush is still going hard. This Olive Faux Stretch Leather is one of several colors carried by Simply By Ti. It is a light weight, knit fabric with a leathery-looking surface treatment. It is nice and stretchy, about 50%, but has really good recovery to maintain its shape. Like leather, you need to be careful about pinning, so as not to leave holes. However, this fabric is fully washable, going though my machine on cold. I also dried it, which I shouldn't have, but it didn't seem to damage the fabric. Repeated drying may, so I'll have to be sure to hang my finished skirt in the future.

Coral is another of my long running favorite colors, mostly for the lovely things it does for my complexion. I've had my eye on this sparkle Coral Sweater Knit since it was a pre-order, finally picking some up last April during the huge Simply By Ti Birthday sale. This fabric has approximately 110% horizontal stretch. It contains enough spandex to ensure a beautiful drape without being saggy, but it is not enough to be a supportive fabric. I really should have cut my hip band a bit smaller, or used some clear elastic in the seam between the band and the bodice. The sweater knit is just slightly transparent enough that I am wearing a nude-colored cami underneath for modesty. 

This picture is mostly garbage, but look at that sparkle, YO!!

The Patterns

If you've been keeping up with me on Facebook this summer, you know that I've really had a thing for stretchy pencil skirts and knit tops this summer. I really don't see any reason why I shouldn't carry that through into fall.

Most of my summer skirts are variations of the Lindy Petal Skirt, a free knit skirt pattern from Itch to Stitch Designs. To keep things fresh and less boring, I thought I'd give another free knit pencil skirt pattern a try: Pirate Pencil Skirt from Patterns For Pirates. This sexy number was an amazing fit right out of the gate!

I chose the knee length version, only needing to shorten it 1 inch. That's pretty incredible for a free pattern, I think. As I mentioned above, the Olive Faux Stretch Leather has a surface coating to give it the leather-look. If the fabric is stretched to it's max, the coating pulls apart and can look a little strained. Because the Pirate Pencil Skirt is drafted with a fair amount of negative ease, I decided to size up and minimize the pull on my faux stretch leather. 

To provide just a little extra support for my faux stretch leather, I decided to line my skirt. The pattern doesn't come drafted that way, but it was very easy to cut a second front/back from swim lining 1 inch shorter than my skirt and then stitch the waistband onto both at the same time.

 I also modified the waistband to include elastic, as it was not part of the pattern. I used my favorite elastic from Fashion Sewing Supply and just zig-zagged it into the back side of the waistband before sewing it to the skirt. I stitched at both the top and the bottom of the elastic, which prevents it from folding or distorting with washing and wearing, but also keeps the front of the waistband nice and smooth.

 Because I wanted my hem to be as smooth as possible, I opted to catch stitch it by hand. 

To layer over top of my new skirt, I picked up Pumpkin Spice Dolman, also from Patterns For Pirates. 

I thought the slouchy over-sized cut would help balance the super slim skirt. Between the band, sleeve and bodice I had to remove a whopping 5.5 inches! It was worth the muslin work, as now I have a terrific relaxed knit top that I can make many times over in lots of fabrics.

The Coral Sweater Knit is really well behaved. It does not curl, and it does not slink around too much. The hardest part was inserting clear elastic at the shoulder seams. The instructions for Pumpkin Spice Dolman don't include anything about stabilizing the shoulder seams, which I found disappointing. Fortunately, I know enough about garment making to understand that knit shoulders, especially as long as those on a relaxed dolman, must be stabilized or they will stretch and sag and look sloppy.

Final Photos

What do you say I give you what you came here for?
Here are pictures of my pretty Simply By Ti outfits!

Patterns For Pirates Pumpkin Spice Dolman in Coral Sweater Knit from Simply By Ti

Patterns For Pirates Pirate Pencil Skirt in Olive Faux Stretch Leather from Simply By Ti

Itch to Stitch La Paz Jacket in Burgundy Stretch Twill from Simply By Ti

Sinclair Patterns Macy Top in Paisley Floral Rayon Spandex from Simply By Ti

 
Itch to Stitch Plitvice Top in Floral Rayon Spandex from Simply By Ti

Have you started your fall sewing yet?

If you'd like to see what other's are making with Simply By Ti fabric, come check out the Simply By Ti Fabrics Facebook Group!