Tags
Astoria, clothing, Garibaldi, Newport, Oregon, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Rockaway Beach, SCRAP Tri-Cities, Seasonal Sew Wardrobe Destination, sewing, travel
A beautiful September day on the Oregon coast.
I haven’t posted in a bit, because I have been busy!
First, I have 3 of my 8 projects finished (!!!) for my Destination challenge, so my sewing has been moving along.
My first item was my circle skirt, which I made when I taught a circle skirt class at SCRAP.
Not a great picture, but the best I could do.
The fabric is a mystery synthetic with a nice drape and a soft, brushed finish. I am most definitely not a fan of synthetics, but you know those light, drapey polyester fabrics with the beautiful, bright colors? They are pretty much perfect for a circle skirt. I made several skirts in preparation for this class, and had two persistent problems: a circle skirt gives you a HELL of a lot of fabric around your hips (just where many of us don’t want it), and all of that fabric can weigh a TON, especially if your skirt is long like mine. I made one that I really liked, but found that it was kind of a pain to wear, just because the cotton knit was so heavy. I’m enjoying this one much more because it just doesn’t have the bulk or weight of a natural fiber fabric.
When I developed the class, my goal was to come up with a way to make these skirts without math. Personally, I think being able to actually USE PI IN A SEWING PROJECT is super way cool, but I know a lot of folks would prefer to avoid math as much as possible. So I use the waist template found here; you simply fold your fabric (at least 55″ wide fabric, unless you are a very little person who wants a mini) in quarters, then place the template at the fold. (In other words, cut the skirt according to the instructions in the tutorial.)
My other goal, though, was for my circle skirt method to work equally well for knits and wovens, but not involve gathering (which nobody likes, admit it!) If the waist of your skirt can go over your hips, and your hips are bigger than your waist, then you’re going to have extra fabric at the waist. So I used the bias tape waistband method from this tutorial.
I threaded 1/4″ elastic through the waistband, stitched the ends, and sewed the bias tape closed.
Since I had some fabric left over, I also added a band of fabric to the bottom of my skirt to make it a little longer. I haven’t hemmed it, though I’ve decided I will, as the unfinished edge is just bugging me!
The other stuff that’s been happening here, besides sewing? Vacation!
My honey and I have been feeling a little restless, since we didn’t travel much over the summer. So we decided to take an impromptu trip to the Oregon coast. And I brought back photos!
We started in Astoria and worked our way down the coast. This is the bridge that extends from Astoria, crosses the Columbia, and goes all the way to Washington state. Yes, it’s supposed to dip down in that rather alarming way.
Astoria reminded me a bit of San Francisco–very hilly with many grand Victorian houses.
So many beautiful beaches! And so very different from the beaches in southern California, where I grew up. Very few people out there, even though the weather was beautiful. And the water’s super cold, so nobody gets in it (which seemed very odd to this California girl).
We rode a steam train from Garibaldi to Rockaway Beach and back. Half an hour each way (to go four miles!) with a half hour layover, long enough to get an ice cream cone for the trip back.
We saw puffins (oh, and some other stuff, too) at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.
And we flew kites, and ate fish and chips, and just generally had a great time.
Back soon with projects #2 and #3!
STH
