Sunday 2 February 2014

Gather - phus phus skirt

I'm using my favorite gathering method - which is 2 lines of basting stitches on top of seam allowance and one below.

For full steps to create phus phus skirt goto phus phus skirt steps.
1. Before we start to gather press the waistband tube in half.

Follow the gathering tutorial if you need detailed steps else continue here.

Mark the center and quarter points like we did in the tutorial marking a little beyond the seam allowance.
 2. Run the 3 lines of gathering with contrast colour. I'm using here different colours for front and back but you don't need to. I'd actually run out of yellow so used blue and then realized it is much easier to pick the threads and gather if they are of different colour.
Make sure the sewn long tails are out of way.
 3. Using pull push method gather the front and back. See that the skirt is wrong side out. You don't have to be perfect as we will do that later. I like to gather a lot and then ease out as required.

4. Now wear the waistband to the skirt (literally like wearing).  Read it like
both wrong sides are looking at you. OR
right side of waistband to wrong side of skirt.


5. Now pin the markings of center, quarter points and the side seams of waistband to skirt. (front or back will do - there is front or back yet for the skirt). When pinning the side seams make sure the seams that you pressed open remain open.



6. You'll notice that the in certain areas you have gathered more and certain areas its way too gathered. Now is the time to straighten it or perfect it. :). If I pin first and then gather I take way too much time because spreading or pushing the gathers after pinning takes much longer. In the gathering tutorial however it was smaller piece so didn't feel the pain. I'll change in the tutorial as well.



7. After it is straightened out meaning the breadths of waistbands to match that of skirt put more pins (2 in between each pins you have already put).
8. Now turn the skirt inside out so the right side faces up or faces you (its just easier to sew without gettings puckers and angles).

9. Right side up.

10. Set to stitch length normal. (2 here) and put the bobbin and thread to matching colour (red here).
 11. Remove the storage box so you can loop around to sew.
How to gather skirt for perfectly even gathers
 12. Sew at your seam allowance ( 2 in my case) with matching thread. Remember that the side seams pressed flat remain flat while sewing. It just looks neat that way.
 13. This is how it looks.
 14. Now cut the top of waistband at the 2nd sewn line from top.

15. Remove the gathering stitch below seam line by just pulling it or if it doesn't come out you will need to use the seam ripper.

Thanks
Preethi.

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6 comments:

  1. Hello Preethi,

    at first a big thank you for this tutorial!
    What I don't understand: Do I have to pin front OR backside of the waistband to the skirt or the whole waistband? If that's the case I don't know how to attach the back side of the waistband to the gathered skirt piece as it is longer than the front side. How do I know that the waistband fits right in the end? I'm a bit confused...

    Thanks!

    Julia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Julia, The back side of the waistband is longer than the front side.
      The back of the skirt will be both gathered and elasticised - this is to avoid bulk. If it is only gathered it will be very bulky and you'd need some type of fastening (buttons or zip) to get it through.

      Coming to your specific question - Do I have to pin front OR backside of the waistband to the skirt or the whole waistband? Yes, you'll be pinning and sewing all through the waistband (Only at the finishing stage we would finish the front first and then the back - http://widicreations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/sew-waistband-phus-phus-skirt.html). The front which has been interfaced will be sewn onto the skirt which is very gathered and the back will be sewn onto the skirt which is not so gathered.
      At the end of this step the skirt will look like http://widicreations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/gather-and-pleat-poltam-skirt-with.html except that it will gathered in front rather than pleated.

      If you have sewn so far and stuck pls send pictures to widicreations@yahoo.com. I'll be very happy to help.
      Thanks for reading.

      Delete
  2. Thank you for your quick answer. I think I understand better now :) It was important for me to know that the back is less gathered than the front. This is the first real skirt I'm making and I still have much to learn.
    But I already inserted the elastic and everything seems to work out alright.

    Thanks again! :)
    Julia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Julia, Happy that it has worked. :) I'm also planning to upload a mini tutorial of the phus phus skirt for anyone wanting to sew it second time.
      I'd love to see what you have created. If possible please upload to flickr - http://www.flickr.com/groups/2549198@N23/. Thanks.

      Delete
  3. I don't understand why the front and back skirt pieces are exactly the same size, but the front and back waistband are different sizes. Should the back skirt part be wider too like the back waistband to accommodate the gathering up with the elastic waistband? Thanks! Love your blog and thanks so much for sharing your tutorials.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so sorry for not replying earlier. By now you have either completed or given up. Really sorry.
      1. why the front and back skirt pieces are exactly the same size, but the front and back waistband are different sizes - Yes you are right the front and back skirt pieces are exactly the same. The front skirt pieces is fully gathered onto the front waistband. The back skirt piece is lightly gathered onto back waistband. This is because of 2 reasons: A - The back is elasticized and B if I full elasticize the back it looks very bulky. That's why the back is both gathered and elasticized.
      I hope it makes sense?
      2. Should the back skirt part be wider too like the back waistband to accommodate the gathering up with the elastic waistband? - No because the back is both gathered and elasticised.
      If you see this photo http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ucum0HjFpE/Uu_ZB45A7sI/AAAAAAAAA5o/0zJsj0I5KnQ/s1600/sq+red+back+with+text.JPG you maysee that the back is both gathered and elasticised

      Delete

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