Simplicity 4496 View E Plum blossoms

Yes, another skirt!!

This one was inspired in part by my phone's skin,  and a bunch of blossoms from a fruit tree (plum I believe).  These photos I took in 2007 in the beginning of April from the ones lined along the town streets, so, great, Crown Land!



Flowering Ornamental Plum Blossoms



On closer inspection

Yep, there we have it!  There is snow on these spring blooms!  Although I didn't use snow on my blooms in my project, I got the right colour of perle thread to use anyway.

I believe I ended up putting 53 blooms on my skirt.  I wanted this to be a quick project and I did this entirely with only 3 types of stitches

Detached Buttonhole-flower petals
French knot-flower centre
Stem stitch-branches

The work isn't depicting real life-like subjects by any means but it got the job done. I usually do it as real life as I can but the time involved for this project wasn't needed as much.  I might have done that on a different scale on a purse or tote bag.

So, for the construction:

Using pattern Simplicity 4496 View E which is probably discontinued (bought it in 2003?).  But any pattern can be used that has a full flowey skirt without loads of gores.



Scanned picture

Also, this is one thing I don't like about bought patterns.  I almost never follow their applique ideas directly from the patttern itself because I often don't like the look it gives.  Therefore, I just go for what I want.


The front halves.  I put the branch on the right side this time



Close up on branches

I wanted this project to be more 3D and bulky so I chose a No. 5 perle thread from Presencia in colours 1975,8080 and 2240.


Now, I know that a plum tree would actually have 5 petals per bloom but the bulk of the thread and the space allowed room for four.  And, like I said, this was a quick project.
**Make sure when you install the zipper that the waistband seams actually line up from both sides**

It is easy to make this mistake without even thinking because I have done it, so a good thing to do is mark the zipper tape on both sides, then the waistband halves will line up when the zipper is closed

If you mark the zipper tape on both sides, both halves will line up on both sides
Makes it easier and less work in the long run

I have actually made this mistake of misalignment and when I closed the zipper the waistband seam actually was out by a centimetre, which looks terrible!  So, I do it this way and it matches up!

Finished skirt consisting of 4 pieces. No gores.

I know this is a quick, more plain and less detailed than what I normally do, but this skirt will always remind me of the fabulous spring blooms I look forward to every year.

But, I realize that there are as many ideas to work on as there are cards in a Hallmark store.  It never ends.

Anyway, onto the next project!!

Bye for now!