Sewing for Competition, Semi-Finalist: Karyn Heidenreich

Continuing with the IPCA PLARS garment entries, this week begins the Semi-Finalist. When sewing for competition, all other things being equal, the one thing that will set your project above all others will be adding in special details and the quality of sewing. With this group, as you will soon see, all were beyond average.  This weeks entry is a skirt made by Karyn Heidenreich using the Sew Chic Spin Skirt pattern, #LN1209. She has sewn for many years, learning the skill first in high school. She enjoys making ladies apparel and sewing for her family. The following is what she wanted to share with you about her entry:

Semi-Finalist: Karyn Heidenreich

I bought the fabric because of the colors and print pattern was something I know my daughter-in-law would like.

 There was just about 5 yds in the clearance area of the store.
The main scroll motif was not centered and side patterns did not match.
I had to do some creative piecing to get the motifs to be situated properly.
I had just enough fabric to center the motifs on each panel the way I wanted.

 I knew I wanted to make a gathered tiered skirt of some kind.
I'm glad I saw an ad for the various pattern companies in a sewing magazine.

Ideally, wanted to make the yoke with a coordinating fabric, but couldn't find any that worked.
I wanted to do the ribbon trim with two cotton twill tapes.
I couldn't find any in the colors I needed, so I had to use synthetic grosgrain and satin ribbon.
I used the satin ribbon shiny side down.
I wasn't happy with the texture of those two ribbons, but did the best I could.
I used the lines on the underskirt pattern as a guide for ribbon lengths.

 Believe it or not, I used 3 needles to make the skirt.  That ribbon was really hard on the needles.

 I made an attached petticoat modified from the underskirt pattern and modified the ruffle pattern for the tulle.

I added purchased gathered trim to one petticoat layer and a purchased flower trim to the other.

I went back and forth about entering the skirt in the contest, because of time issues.
I got the pattern the end of March and only had 2 weekends to work on it to make the deadline.

In general, I'm glad I did.
If I get judging comments back, those will be very useful for future projects.

I am going to make another skirt with the same pattern in an above the knee length for my daughter in an Alexander Henry fabric.  No deadline for it this time! I'm going to take the time to  get just the right yoke fabric and cotton twill for it.

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I'm glad she entered too! Here is the pattern she used:

Get your pattern here: http://www.sewchicpatterns.com/spin_skirt.html