Tennis Skirts

A couple posts ago I talked about Sewing with Knits and some tennis skirts I'm making for my mother's tennis team. In this post I'll go over how those skirts are actually made.

To make the patterns for the skirts most of the ladies gave me a skirt that they liked and I extrapolated the necessary measurements from the skirts. But they all follow similar ratios that can be used to make a simple tennis skirt for most women. All you need is a waist measurement (or measurement for where you'd like the skirt to sit) and a desired length.

Materials needed are:

1/2 yard of 60" spandex or lycra (swimsuit fabric)
1 yard of 3/4" elastic
Twin Stretch Needle

The length of elastic needed is the waist measurement + 1" for overlap.

The rest of the skirt will be two trapezoidal panels. The top of each panel will be half the waist measurement + 2" for stretch + 1" for seam allowance. The side lengths I've worked with range from about 13" to 17" depending on where the skirt is worn (waist vs hips) and how long (or short) you want the skirt to be. You'll need to add 3/4" for the waist band and 5/8" for the hem. The bottom of each panel can range from 5" to 9" more than the width of top the panel.

Below is a diagram with the measurements for the panels for a med sized tennis skirt (29" waist):



Cut 2 panels from the fabric.

With right sides together sew up the sides (angled sides) using either a serger or a zig-zag stitch. Overlapping the ends by 1" sew the elastic into a band. Pin the elastic to the wrong side of the fabric with top edges even and distribute fullness (I like to half, then quarter each and mark with pins). Serge the top edge stretching the elastic to fit the waist of the skirt.



The waistband should look like this once the elastic is attached:



To finish the waistband, fold the elastic under, pin in place and sew from the right side of the skirt using a twin stretch needle stretching the elastic to even out the skirt fabric. You can use the elastic as a guide since you can't see the edge that's being hemmed. Since it's a 3/4" elastic I like to line up the top edge of the skirt with the 5/8" line on my sewing machine face plate to account for the needle offset.



The bottom of the skirt is hemmed the same way, except that you don't have the handy guide of elastic so you need to mark where to fold to get a 5/8" hem. Pin the hem and then sew from the right side of the skirt using the twin stretch needle (for the 5/8" hem I align the edge of the skirt with the 1/2" line on the face plate.

Ta da! Tennis skirt (or bathing suit skirt).

Turkey Pesto Waffle Sandwich

Tomorrow, August 24th, is National Waffle Day - YAY!!!

Two weeks from now is Waffle Week, so there's lots more waffle excitement to come. Consider this a preview of wonderful waffleness yet to come!

Tonight for dinner I made a Turkey Pesto Waffle Sandwich. It was awesome. To make such a culinary delight you take two frozen waffles, spread pesto on one and top with turkey and provolone (or your preference of cheese). Sandwich with the other waffle and butter the top of the sandwich. Heat butter in a frying pan and put the sandwich in buttered side up.



Press the sandwich with the back of a spatula and flip occasionally cooking until the cheese is melted and the waffles are golden.




Yum yum yum yum yum.

The sammich can also be made with ham and cheese and Dijon mustard.

Sewing With Knits

I am currently working on a job for my mom's tennis team. They will be going to Nationals in Indian Wells, CA in october and wanted cute, matching, Hawaiian print skirts to wear while competing. My mom asked me awhile ago - while I was overwhelmed with Wedding Singer costuming - and I agreed knowing that I'd be working with a fabric that would be new and different and potentially very, very challenging.

Fashionable tennis skirts these days - well on Maui at least - are really more like bathing suit skirts. Pretty simple, made from lyrcra or spandex. But while the patterns are very basic, the fabric can be tricky to work with.

Sewing with knits, or any fabric that stretches is different from sewing with regular fabric because regular seams don't stretch. So, you need to use stitches that do stretch.

The best thing to use for sewing with knits is a serger. It creates that fancy overlock stitch that is found on all commercially produced clothing. I have a serger, though I use it mostly for creating a strong covered edge for regular seams - it helps to prevent raveling.

The next best thing for sewing with knits is a twin needle, specifically a stretch twin needle. A serger creates an overlock so it requires an edge. To get a nice edge it is equipt with a knife that cuts the edge just to the right of the inside of the seam. This means that a serger really doesn't work for hemming.

To get a stretch stitch on a regular sewing machine the easiest thing to do is use a zig-zag stitch. The zig-zag will allow for stretch. However, a slightly better, more professional looking seam comes when you use a twin needle. This is two needles spaced apart by a couple millimeters with a crossbar and a single end that goes into the sewing machine like a regular needle. You need to thread the sewing machine with two threads and thread each needle with it's own thread. Nothing changes with the bobbin. Because of the two needles the bobbin thread gets zig-zagged between the two and this creates the stretch.

I'll post pictures as I go.

Wedding Singer - Pictures

The show is over, but here's some pictures. Yay!



This is the end of the opening number "It's Your Wedding Day." It was my wedding day. I am the bride at the top.



The band, "Simply Wed."



Glen Guglia in his "Delorian"



Linda leaving Robbie a note at the alter.



Robbie and Julia try to convince themselves that it's "Not that Kind of Thing" while shopping with some iconic couples: On the right is Han Solo and Princess Leia, in the middle (half hidden) is Sid and Nancy, and on the left is Baby and Johnny (from Dirty Dancing). There was also an Iconic T-shirt couple with "Frankie Say Relax" and "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go."



The bridge and tunnel crowd in New York City.



In a "Material Girl" sequence Holly realizes that the one that she wants can often be "Right in Front Your Eyes."



Robbie contemplates being "Single."



Robbie recruits some celebrity impersonators to help him find Glen and Julia in Vegas. From left to right: Ronald Reagan, Robbie, Mr. T, Tina Turner with Billy Idol behind her, Imelda Marcos, and Cyndi Lauper in the front.



The Finale.

Crafty Wish List

Since I've already posted my Crafty To-Do list I thought I'd post a more theoretical list of things I would like to do or would like to learn how to do:

1. Home renovation/interior design: I am in the process of buying a new condo. My lovely 1-bedroom condo isn't big enough for my sewing stuff so I'm trying to get a bigger place with a room just for crafting (mainly to contain the chaos and to separate the crafting from the rest of my life). I just made an offer on this great place up the road from the theater but it looks like it hasn't been renovated since the 70's. Everything's in great condition, it's just not a style that's to my liking. So I see big projects in the future involving cheap upgrades to my (potential) new home.

2. Blog more: I would like to blog more, the problem is I usually forget to take pictures of my craftiness as it's happening. I will try.

3. Knitting/scrapbooking: I've been avoiding these two things because they seem to be too big of a fad right now. Everyone is knitting or scrapbooking and I try to do things that are a little more unique. Still, because of the popularity of both I keep finding awesome things to do with both so it'd probably be worth learning to do.

4. Sewing classes: UH - Maui College (formerly MCC) has a fashion technology associates degree and it has some clothing construction classes that I would love to take. Most of my sewing skills are self taught so it would be nice to learn better ways to do things.

That's just a start because I keep seeing things that I'd like to learn how to do but probably never will (yarn lei-making).

Crafty To-Do List

Now that Wedding Singer is open and I have no required crafting projects to do, I have been reflecting on all the things I've wanted to do but haven't had time for, and the things that are coming up that I should start thinking about. So, here is my Crafty To-Do list:

1. Tennis Skirts: This is actually a job I have coming up to make skirts for my mom's tennis team that is going to Nationals in Indian Wells, CA in October. I'm not quite sure how many I need to make, but they should be pretty simple to do.

2. Zombie Costume: Thriller is coming up again and since this is the third year, I feel like it's time to make a new zombie costume. While I love my Zombie Ballerina costume, I think it's time for something new (I'll probably let someone else use the costume since zombie ballerina is usually a popular choice that I've always had dibs on). This year I'm thinking Rockabilly Zombie. I've got a great pattern and fabric picked out and I just love dyeing and distressing things.

3. Dress for Lexy's friend: For Lexy's birthday last year I made her a sundress and now one of her friends wants one too. Pretty easy to do, just need to get the fabric.

4. Quilt for Annie: Annie graduates from college next May (she'll be a Doctor of Pharmacy) and I'm planning on making her quilt since Lexy got one for her graduation from high school. I've started it (Lonestar Quilt) I just need to finish it.

5. Other: I'm sure other things will come up. I also should start using up all the extra fabric I have - that might be an interesting challenge.

6. Waffle Week: I don't know what I'm gonna do, but it's coming up in less than 2 months!

Wedding Singer - Shiny Dirndls

One of the few well planned out costumes for Wedding Singer were the waitress uniforms for Julia and Holly (the script actually calls for a third waitress, but we cut the part and gave her line to a wedding guest). I found this picture online while researching 80's costume ideas:

So, I drafted (for the first time since college) what I wanted to do for the waitress uniforms:

In the end I decided to go with fuller skirts because of movement. I made black satin skirts with a wide elastic waistband. Sewing onto the elastic was tricky and I did it wrong - I used a zigzag stitch which didn't work out wonderfully because the zigzag function on my sewing machine isn't working right. After some research I now know how to do it right (double needle) to avoid stretch issues the next time.

The director thought we should have different colors for the different waitress so Julia's is gold and Holly's is pink (I also bought a turquoise for the 3rd waitress - I still have the fabric).