Patternmaker half-circle skirt finished!

Yay !!!
It took a while but finally I got this one finished off, embarrassing considering how ridiculously easy the pattern is.

At first I wasn't sure about the finished product but now I've worn it have decided its not too bad :) - in fact I like the swishy feel it has! I can say that it is highly likely I will be making this one again in the near future, especially after taping all those A4 pattern pieces together :)

You can read more in my pattern review here.

Patternmaker half-circle skirt progress

OK I know I have been sitting on this project for absolutely ages but the end is finally in sight!!
Today I added the button and buttonhole to the skirt waistband, not a big amount of sewing but more than I have been doing lately :P

This time around I actually ended up reading the section in my sewing machine manual about sewing buttons using the machine.
They suggest taping the button to the appropriate spot:
Before using the clear foot to stitch it on:

Makes sense really. Up until now I have just been using the shank without any foot on to hold and sew the button down, but having a foot on really does make it that much more stable. The only thing is that by using a foot you do have to tape it on, or the button just keeps wanting to slip right out!
Here's a test run for the buttonhole using my machine. As you can see the stitching is quite uneven on both sides and looks quite sloppy, very disappointing Janome!!!

I ended up using the buttonholing feature but restitched over it manually to strengthen and neaten the buttonhole, I think it looks much better now:

I think if I ever replace my very basic sewing machine I will definitely be looking for something that gives a much more professional buttonhole finish !

Slowly, slowly...

It seems I have succumbed to the recent malaise that seems to be doing the rounds on several blogsites; that is not much is happening. Whether its due to the current state of the global economy, or global health I am not sure, or maybe I have just made too many changes to my life recently and it has taken awhile to get them all sorted out ?
Anyway what I DO know is that over the past few months I HAVE :
-Completely changed my eating habits and diet (hopefully for the better!)
-Lost a few kilos (yay!)
-Exercised more
..And read a few good books :)
I also managed to get food poisoning and(more recently) thrown my back out :( but its all better now :)
Plus hubby and I are going on a holiday to Alice Springs/ Uluru starting next weekend so I can't complain :)
On the sewing side I finally managed to stick all those pieces of a4 paper together for the half-circle skirt I am making out of "Make your own clothes" (by Patternmaker and Marie Clayton).
This is the main skirt piece after I stuck 26 pages together and cut them out. That's not including all the extra pages surrounding it that were just filler. Having stuck all the pages together I realised the shape is symmetrical.... wouldn't it have been soo much easier if they had printed half the pattern piece with a line that you place a fold? Not to mention it would actually fit on my dining table a whole lot better- that is one HUGE piece of paper to have to wrangle around!
So I folded the pattern piece in half (just to check that my eyes were accurate and it really was symmetrical around a central line) and then cut down that line...
Voila! smaller pattern piece that is way easier to maneuver and store, plus it now fits perfectly on the table :P
What I want to know is why the pattern piece does not come like this to begin with? Surely if the Patternmaker program works it out all mathematically it could be changed quite easily?
Nevertheless I have the fabric cut out now and can't wait to see what the skirt will be like made up - if its as well fitting as my shorts (from the same book) I'll be very happy!