Tablecloth Skirt - Hexagonal Edition

This is a long-ish post. Here are some quick links:

• Why a Hexagon?
• Creating a Large Hexagon Pattern
• Creating the Rest of the Pattern
• Cutting Out the Skirt
• Constructing the Skirt
• Pictures
• Conclusion

Why a Hexagon?

When I posted the review for my Tablecloth skirt on Pattern Review, one of the comments I received was from one of my favorite sewists, rivergum. Rivergum thought that the inspiration skirt was possibly based on a hexagonal shape, rather than a square shape.

I found myself wondering what the skirt would be like when created with a 6-sided polygon, 6 rectangular extensions, and 6 corners. I couldn't let it go, so I finally decided to try it out myself.

Obviously, creating a large hexagon is a bit more complex than creating a square, but it's really not hard. I love math, but you don't need to know math to make this work, so don't let that intimidate you.

If you have not read the basic Tablecloth Skirt tutorial, please familiarize yourself with the basic version, based on a square.

Creating a Large Hexagon Pattern

I made my hexagon using a circle with a 23" radius. Note that I felt that the completed skirt was short. I would have preferred a circle with a 25" or 26" radius, but I didn't know that until the end, since I didn't muslin this. :) (In my photos, I pulled the skirt down a tad, since the tunic is long enough.)

Supplies:

• A ruler or yardstick the length (or longer) of your desired radius.
• A piece of paper that is large enough for a circle with your desired radius. So, if you are making a circle with a 25" radius, you need at least a 50" by 50" piece of paper. I used pattern paper, pieced together. In the past, I have used the back side of wrapping paper, newspaper, etc. Just tape it together to make it big enough.
• Writing implement. I used a Sharpie permanent marker.
• A large surface to work on. I used the kitchen floor.
• Making the circle: If you have a giant protractor, wonderful. I've never seen one this size, so I used my 24" Olfa ruler. You can use a yardstick to measure out increments, or you can tie string (the length of the circle's radius) between a writing implement and a nail, or a pushpin, etc. Whatever works. (I just now googled "making a large circle" and found many useful links, including some youtube videos.)

Instructions:

• Tape your paper together to make a piece large enough. Set it on your surface.
• Mark the center point.



• Use your preferred technique to make a circle. I put the eraser from an unsharpened pencil into the hole in the Olfa ruler intended for hanging it on the wall. (I turned the pencil around for the picture - I used the eraser end which provides more traction.) I then held the marker in the center of the other end of the ruler (for a total length of 23"). I then rotated the ruler around the pencil, holding the marker in place, and walked around the center point. Voila, a 46" circle. (Again, in hindsight, I would have preferred a 50" circle.)
• This next step marks the corners of the hexagon: Make a starting mark anywhere on the circle. Measure from that mark, the length of your radius (in my case, 23"), to the next point on the circle that intersects that distance. So, I measured from the first mark 23". Where 23" hit the circle, I made a second mark. (You are measuring straight across, not along the circle's curve.) Move the ruler to the next mark and measure another 23" to the next mark. And so on. If you have done this right, you will end up exactly at the same mark where you started, after creating 6 marks, total. Isn't math great? :)



• Connect up the marks with straight lines. You now have a hexagon! Cut it out on the straight lines and you now have your basic pattern piece.



Note that I do not cut the waist circle out at this time. I do that directly into the fabric.

Creating the Rest of the Pattern

Since the hexagon has 6 sides, you will need 6 identical rectangles - one to sew to each side. The width of the rectangle will be the radius of your original circle. In my case, the rectangle was 23" by 15" (I used the same length as I used on the square skirt.) You can rip these rectangles, if your fabric allows that. My fabric, a cotton lycra, did not like to be ripped, so I rotary cut the rectangles directly into the fabric using measurements (no pattern pieces).

Again, I leave the waist construction up to you. Some folks do better with a zipper, other folks sew the skirt to knit ribbing. I prefer an elastic waist casing. Refer to the original post on the square skirt for my tips on calculating the waist hole. I used the same waist hole that I used for the square skirt.

Cutting Out the Skirt

Supplies:

• For this skirt, I used a cotton lycra woven from Fabric Mart in a giant polka dot pattern. It was a wide fabric and I used less than 3 yards for the total skirt. (My hexagon measured 40" by 46".)
• Elastic for waist. I used 1.5" waistband elastic from Pamela's Patterns.

I first cut the hexagon from the fabric. I then removed the paper pattern and folded the hexagon into quarters - the corner point is the center of the hexagon. I laid my waist hole pattern onto the corner, pinned, and cut it out.

I cut the 6 rectangles and the waistband, another rectangle, from the remaining fabric.

Constructing the Skirt

I used the same construction as for the square skirt. To summarize:

• Complete the waistband.
• Hem the long edges of the six rectangles.
• Sew the six rectangles to the hexagon. The stitching for each seam begins in by the width of the seam allowance (I used 3/8") and ends before the end by the width of the seam allowance.
• After all the six rectangles are sewed on, press the seam allowances open.
• Sew the short edges of the rectangles together, again, starting the seam exactly at the point where the other seams begin and sewing all the way to the hem.
• Press the short seam allowances open. I then serged the edges of all the seams, but you can finish them how you prefer.

Voila! Skirt completed.

Pictures

Conclusion

As you can infer from looking at the diagram of the square skirt versus the hexagonal skirt, this creates a skirt with more fullness at the hem. I think I like the lesser fullness of the square skirt better. Also, the corners are less pronounced in the hexagonal version. Of course, the busy print of my skirt hides the detail a bit, but I think I prefer the square skirt version - it is a bit more dramatic, or at least more "funky" and I prefer the funkitude. :) But this creates a nice skirt too. Next time I will add paper strips around the hexagon pattern to create a larger overall hexagon.

If you create either version of this skirt, please let me know so I can include your pictures in the Tablecloth Skirt Gallery. I have gotten a big kick out of watching the creative versions that have been produced.

Ball Necklaces (or ... Where Did You Get Those Balls?)

This weekend I needed a gift for a holiday party featuring the "Greedy Gift Grab" game. After much pondering, I decided to create a necklace inspired by a RTW necklace made of resin beads. I ordered the beads and waxed linen cord.

One day, weeks later, I wandered into my local bead store with a Groupon coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I came upon some very funky brass beads and fell in love. These beads came in two colors and different patinas and were all mixed together in a bin. Resembling small-ish Christmas ornaments, I decided to use these to make a necklace for myself - I know the funkiness of these beads isn't for everyone. For this necklace, I used an inexpensive cotton cord that is quite thick, to anchor the beads in place.

I decided to wear the brass necklace to the event, along with my Style Arc Shaza pant, Style Arc Debra Zebra top, and a purchased jacket.

And what did I receive in the gift exchange? A gorgeous set of eight napkins! These napkins are impeccably made and beautifully mitered - 32 miters total. I do not have that sort of patience! Along with the napkins, I received a tube of hand cream and a bottle of Grannie's Spot Remover.

And that concludes all holiday parties for me this season!

Blogger Meetup - Meeting ReAnn!

I had the pleasure of a mini-blogger-meetup last Monday!

ReAnn, an internet sewing friend for the last couple of years, was recently visiting San Francisco and we finally got to meet in person!

It was fun, fun, fun!

We hit fabric stores, such as Stone Mountain & Daughter in Berkeley, and Piedmont Fabrics in Oakland, which had just moved up one block three days prior to our visit.

We petted (and drooled over) fabrics!

Doesn't ReAnn have the most gorgeous smile?

We did our most serious damage at Fabrix in SF, but we were too busy shopping to capture the moment. Well, one of us did the most serious damage at Fabrix. I only bought one small piece of fabric. ahem

We snoop shopped. (Well, after a quick detour to FedEx. I'm just sayin'.)

We ate and we laughed!

It was so much fun to meet another sewing soul-sister. We've talked about it for a long time and finally both our schedules coincided. It was nice she came out west. As DD1 will be attending university in Oregon next year, I don't expect to be doing any traveling for some time to come. ;)

P.S. In case you wondered, ReAnn is wearing a really cool Shapes High Five top that she made from a white crinkle fabric purchased in San Diego on a recent road trip. Her beautiful coat and scarf are purchased. I'm wearing my new Au Bonheur tee, my Au Bonheur raincoat, and my latest Marcy Tilton pants (not blogged, Vogue 8712). My scarf is purchased.

Au Bonheurs Asymmetric Tee and Thanksgiving Weekend Wrapup

Wow, I have been having way too much fun the last few days. Thanksgiving was lovely at a friend's house. I made the bread rolls and they also asked for an extra recipe of the bread dough so they could make cinnamon rolls over the weekend for their house guests. I was happy to comply and will, eventually, post the recipe over on my recipe blog (which is not very active in general).

Then, DD2 came to visit and we had fun cooking (made my first fudge of the season, also to be posted later), watching movies, walking, and driving. (She is about to get her driver's license and loves to just drive.) Then she went off Swing dancing so I even had some time to sew!! (Seriously, how many 16-year-olds love to Swing dance and play boogie woogie music?)

Since time was limited, I wanted to pick an easy pattern. I decided it was time to make the Au Bonheur asymmetric tee that The Amazing Dorothy made recently.

It's sad that this company is now out of business, but I know some folks do have their patterns. This one goes up to a size 46, though the finished bust measurement is 41". This is not nearly enough for my 48" bust. However, I have recently worked out that in stretchy tees, I like a finished bust of 44", or about 4" of negative ease.

I needed an FBA, as usual, and decided to try a new-to-me technique, the pivot-and-slide FBA. You can see it explained on the Sharon Sews blog. I pivoted the top 1.5". This worked well at the side seam, but had an undesired effect in the armsyce by making it too wide. I will explain how I fixed that in a bit.

As I traced off the size 46, I straightened out the extreme waist shaping, as I do not have a tiny waist, and I removed the extra hip width, as I have narrow hips.

The top features asymmetric cap sleeves, which are very cute, especially on Dorothy, but I do not wear cap sleeves. I decided to take the sleeves from the Style Arc Adele top that I recently made. This meant that I had to transfer the armscye from the Adele top to the Au Bonheur top. This took care of the unwanted width added from the pivot-and-slide FBA and also narrowed the shoulder by about 3/4". Another good alteration for me as I narrow the shoulders of most patterns.

The pivot-sand-slide FBA also did not add length to the front. I need additional length to get up and over the boobs (cause it's a mountain, not a rainbow!), so I used the same alteration that I used for the Adele top, where I sliced the top horizontally at the bust point and added 1" across the front. This extra length is eased back in at the side seam.

Finally, I shortened the sleeves by 2".

I will not kid you, it felt like the alterations went on and on and took several days to accomplish in time snippets. I think that the alterations took longer than it too to cut and sew the top. But it was totally worth it!

I raided my stash to make this top. The stripe is a fabric from Marcy Tilton, purchased long ago. The polka dot fabric is left over from this Sandra Betzina dress. The solid black is left over from the Debra Zebra top.

I have a slight aversion to raw edges, so I serged all of the exposed raw edges. The top was very fast to sew together and I was happy with the fit. I left off the overlay on the right front, for two reasons. First, I was not sure if it would lay nicely over my bust. But, I mostly left it off because there was so much going on that the top didn't need any additional visual noise.

One thing I want to point out. If you look at the pattern, it appears that the center front seam is on the diagonal. This is not the way the pattern is drafted. It is drafted with the seam straight up and down along center front.

I will definitely be making this again! Now that it's altered to fit me, I can use it over and over and may even cut it more conventionally for a regular tee.

Tomorrow I am taking my last vacation day of the year to hang with an internet friend whom I have never met in person. More on that later. :)

More Pictures

ETA. This is too funny! I just realized that the back was supposed to echo the front, with two pieces, seamed at the CB, with asymmetric hems and necklines. I somehow missed this and traced only the back with the deeper neckline and cut it on the fold. I will trace it off for next time.

Walking up the Mosaic Steps

The top of the hill.

Seam Allowance Ruler and Tablecloth Skirt Gallery

Here's a clever new tool! A woman named Claire Tharp had the idea of a french curve designed for adding seam allowances. It comes in two widths - 3/8" and 5/8". I have both widths and these rulers are very easy to use. Discounts are available if you are a member of ASG, Pattern Review, etc. The pricing and discounts are explained on her blog, SA Curve Ruler. There is also a video demonstration. Claire's Etsy site is ctharp1.

These rulers would fit perfectly into a Christmas stocking! ;) (And, no, I get nothing for this plug; mine were purchased and I think they are a useful product.)

I am currently working on a top that has no seam allowances included in the pattern so I am actually road testing the rulers.

Tablecloth Skirt Gallery

The pictures have been flooding in from folks who are making the Tablecloth Skirt. You guys are fast!

I am having fun seeing all of these versions of the skirt. If you look at the top of my blog, there is a permanent link to the Tablecloth Skirt Gallery. Drop me a line (email is in my profile) if you'd like me to include a photo your skirt! I also include a link to your blog, pattern review, or picture set, if you have something along those lines.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving to you! I'm thankful for all of you, whether or not you celebrate. :D

Mary R was busy with gift sewing when she took a break to whip up the TableCloth skirt and send me photos. It looks great, Mary! I love seeing your projects, so please send me pictures - my email is in my profile at the top-left of the page. I am especially curious to see the seven Tablecloth skirts that neighborhood gal is going to make out of polyester organza this weekend. :)

It Seemed Like a Good Idea

I wore this yesterday when I ran some errands. I love me a funky scarf and this one is funky and fun. It's a loooong infinity scarf of rectangles made from a beefy, textured, felted sweater knit. What a great idea!

I am loving all of the crisp, snuggly weather! Yesterday, after getting my hair cut, I stopped at one of the best coffee establishments in San Francisco, Blue Bottle. I was actually there to pick up some beans as a gift, but I had a hot chocolate and a Fruit Brackle sort of dessert - it featured apples poached in brandy and a nut-based streusel.

Ah-maz-ing.

This place is very near Westfield Mall in Union Square, but a bit hidden, so check it out if you are in the area.

And now, I'm off to finish two recipes of bread rolls for Thanksgiving dinner.

StyleArc - Adele Top

First, thanks to all of you for your enthusiastic feedback on the Tablecloth Skirt. Marec (on Pattern Review) suggested a sew-along. I've never even participated in a sew along, but I'll consider running one in the new year if there is enough interest.

I have very little time to sew in the next couple of weeks, between work, kids, cooking, and visitors. In fact, I'm busy tomorrow (Sunday), so I decided that today I needed a quick project I could complete in one day. But which easy project to choose?

Several weeks ago I decided that I wanted to make a Style Arc pattern I had purchased last June, the Seaside Sue top.

Seaside Sue Top

I was planning to make some changes, namely to raise the neckline and to add sleeves. When I pulled the pattern out to work on it, I saw that they had accidentally sent me the wrong size, it was a size 10 rather than an 18. I emailed Style Arc about the error, asking for the correct size. In my email, I told them I was planning to add sleeves to "winterize" it. (I've teased Chloe in the past, asking her, what have you got against sleeves? Since then, she has been releasing more sleeved top patterns.)

They quickly responded to my email and told me that the free November pattern was a sleeved version of Seaside Sue and that they would send it to me in another week when it was available, if I preferred. You betcha!

Adele Top

(It's not the first time I've asked them for something that was already in the works. Get out of my head, Chloe!)

Materials:

• Green print rayon lycra jersey from Fabrix.
• Black viscose spandex "Annabelle" jersey for contrasting neckband from Vogue Fabrics.
• Twill tape to stabilize shoulder seams.
• 1/2" Steam-a-Seam Lite 2 to stabilize hems.

Alterations and Modifications:

• The finished bust measurement of the size 18 is approx 44". My bust is closer to 50" but this is a stretchy fabric. I held 22" of the fabric against my bust and decided that I didn't need to add width. This top is more flattering if it gently hugs the bust anyway, so I decided that the negative ease worked for me. But I didn't want the top to "ride up" in front, so I sliced the pattern at the bustline (front only) and added 1" horizontally. I did not alter the back because I just eased the extra 1" in at the side seam.
  
• The sleeve was a bit narrow, so I widened it by approx 1-1/4".
  
• The sleeve is too long - I shortened it by 1-1/2".
• The pattern instructs you to interface the neckline. The contrast neckband is optional. If you left that off, you would need to interface/stabilize the neckline somehow. I left it off and used the contrast fabric, which functions as a ribbing.
• I hemmed the top and the sleeves using Steam-a-Seam Lite 2.
• I did NOT have to narrow the shoulders!!! What the heck??? I *always* have to narrow the shoulders! Always! On the "Big 4" I often narrow the shoulders a full 2", but even on Style Arc I have to generally narrow them 3/4"-1".
• I did not modify the neckline. If you notice, it's higher than is shown on the drawing. Thanks to Sigrid for asking this question. :)

Conclusion:
Wow, do I LOVE this top!!! I LOVE the easy FBA! In fact, I think I want to revisit the funnel-neck tee and try this FBA instead of the other FBA I used.

I can easily see straightening the side seams and chopping the hem, making it a standard horizontal hem, to make this my go-to standard tee. It fits that well. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

More pictures

Closeup of side slit