Riding Skirt: Prototype 1

So I've made my awesome quarter sheet (that I have a few additions still left to do, namely a tail cord and maybe some weights so it actually stays centered on Gwyn's butt) and with temperatures now in the single and negative digits, I decided I can't put this off a year and need to get moving on making a riding skirt.

I've seen one website linked a couple times from different horse friends of these awesome riding skirts made by a woman owned business in Alaska. These things look spectacular and there are a couple different kinds for all sorts of weather. There's one made out of what appears to be a sleeping bag or heavy duty winter coat material, a wool one, a duck canvas one and a lighter one for rain.

I really want all of them. But my bank account says NONE.  They are seriously so expensive. But I do already have a sewing machine and a serger. And JoAnn's has fleece for 50% off like every day (just mark it down to that price, silly capitalists!)

I figured I could make a working muslin of a riding skirt with cheap fleece and once I perfected the pattern, go and snag some decent winter jacket material from Seattle Fabrics so I have a REALLY warm one!

Image Heavy Below this link! 

So Tuesday night was the night. I was gonna get started. I drafted my husband into helping me math.

"With a waist size of x inches, can we make a circle skirt with the fleece I have?" Answer: no

Math math math math

 After figuring out that a circle skirt wasn't going to be possible, I had an epiphany of an idea and quickly drafted up my pattern to cut out of my fleece. To note, this is with a yard and a half of fleece and if you have a pattern, it will NOT match up (as you'll see with the patterned fleece in my pictures). If you have solid colored fleece, it'll be okay.

I know what my waist measurement is. So each of those 'w' lines will add up to my waist (with some rounding to account for seam allowance. The hem length will end up being the total length minus those Ws. (This is something that I might modify later) Once the pieces are cut out, I also cut the fabric on the fold which gives me 6 pieces of fabric. I also cut off the selvage with a rotary blade.

I marked out my lines with a sharpie and straight edge, then cut the pieces. Then I rearranged the pieces so that the waist pieces were oriented with one another and the hems were together.

Half of the skirt

 Shown above: Pieced together to show how it will be attached. Notice that the stripes don't line up. That's due to how the pieces were cut from the fabric. It wouldn't have been an issue with a solid fabric or a pattern with no stripe. This is a muslin prototype, so I am trying REALLY HARD to not care. LOL.

 Then, I matched right side to right side and pinned in place.  Shown above: NOT right side to right side, lol. I did pin it and sew it correctly.

 I still need to rethread my serger so I just used my regular machine with a zig zag stitch, since I'm sewing along the stretch. I've got a dark grey thread.

 The right side of the seam. Looking great!

 Shown above: The settings on my machine. I used the ones I have for knit. Zig zag is setting 2, stitch width is 2, length is a 2.

 Shown above: Both halves of the skirt prior to joining. Also, this makes the colors look much more primary than they are. This is seriously rainbow fluorescent.

 I am not sewing the whole thing together. I sewed the back and the next step is adding in an elastic waistband and a zipper to the front.

 Modeling my creation.

The back is sewn, now to do the waistband and the front!

Wednesday Night:

This is why I need a riding skirt right now.

 I started by figuring out how much elastic I wanted in my waistband and how much stretch I wanted in the elastic.  I used too much elastic. In fact, the final product is slightly too big for my preferences however it will likely fit perfectly over my winter coat so I'm counting it a win. It doesn't have to fit on my bare waist, it needs to fit with all my winter gear. So in the end it's not a big deal.

Even so, if I make a rain sheet type version, the elastic is getting shorter. Plus, that way I can actually stretch the elastic onto the fleece. There's not much actual room for stretching in this case. I may go back and do a zig zag to reinforce the seam where the elastic meets the fleece in case the straight stitch pops.

But, this is a prototype, and it is a vehicle for learning lessons. I've learned a big one here.

 I did baste stitch the skirt fully together after watching a video on how to sew in a zipper but after seeing how the waist band came together decided to seam rip it and attach the skirt to the zipper separately.

I sewed the zipper to the elastic first (hurray for a zipper foot)

 I had a bit of extra length at the top end of the zipper and folded that over. It unintendedly provides some resistance to that top zipper going down.

 Next up was attaching the zipper to the fleece. My original plan and seam allowance was FAR too small, so I opened the skirt back up and just attached each side to the zipper individually. This wasn't that bad, but I think it was necessary for the material versus the nice crisp cotton that the lady used in the youtube video.

Final stopping point for the night. It was after midnight and I do have to work during the day. CURSE YOU JOB.  The hem line is currently uneven. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that tail of zipper you can see.  I have not used it while on Gwyn yet.

Initial Thoughts and Changes I want to make:
1. Actually look at a circle skirt pattern. While the ease of cutting it out the way I did is nice, the hexagonal shape means part of the skirt is dragging on the ground when I walk. I can probably change this after the fact and will change it when I hem, but I'm not fully happy about that.
2. Get a shorter zipper next time. I'm not sure if I can get a two way zipper in both fun coordinating colors and a shorter length, but I'll try.
3. Don't use a bloody pattern. Next up is a solid purple. LOL.
4. Add pockets?
5. Add snaps to hold it up and out of the way while mounting (re: fancy bells and whistles on the super expensive riding skirt from that alaskan company)
6. Add snaps as a wrap around legs for more warmth.


Goals
1. Order fabric swatches from Seattle Fabrics for outwear fabric
2. Refine pattern with second prototype. Things should go much faster now that I know how I want things constructed.
3. Potentially open up ordering to friends, set up a table at a tack sale to sell to local horse people
4. TRY IT OUT ON GWYN!!!!!  I promise I'll post pictures when I do!