I am very fortunate that my lovely daughter can be patient when it comes to waiting for me to finish a project for her. Case in point: I made this skirt muslin for her last year, but dragged my feet on making a wearable skirt. She encouraged me to make this interim version out of corduroy, and it she liked it a lot (and still wears it often). But I was loathe to cut into the $40-per-yard wool cashmere I had bought to make the final skirt for her.
Fine, she said. I'll buy another test fabric and you can make a wearable muslin out of that. So she bought some feels-a-lot-like-wool cotton flannel, and I rummaged in my stash for some suitable lining. And, at last, I finished the skirt last night.
Just in time, too: the temperature is starting to drop and she really wanted a warm winter skirt!
It's a pretty difficult fabric to photograph, but it looks like a very fine blue and black herringbone.
Of course, it needed pockets.
The original skirt idea called for large applied patch pockets, but she decided she preferred inseam pockets instead.
It's got a nice twirl to it.
The buttons are from Joanns. And can you see my mistake?
I'll give you a minute.
See it yet?
I'll tell you about a little mnemonic I learned from Jim Suzio when I took one of his classes at the ASG Conference in Philadelphia back in 2012. "Women are always right, and men are always left over."
When I put the skirt together, I accidentally put the buttonholes on the left skirt front, rather than the right, so it overlaps "wrong." To which Diana replied, "Big whoop."
Here's why it's not such a big deal:
Only the bottom two buttons are functional! The rest of the button placket is sewn shut, and the buttons and buttonholes are just for show. The real closure for the skirt is a back zipper!
Overall, I'm happy with how the skirt came out. However, I am now worried that I don't have enough fabric to make the cashmere version as flared as this one is. For this skirt, I ended up having to cut out the gores in both directions in order to get it to fit on the fabric. Fortunately the fabric didn't have a distinct nap or direction! I'll have to see how many yards of the cashmere I bought... but I fear it won't be enough. We shall see.
And it looks like my prediction of finishing the final skirt by Christmas might be a bit optimistic. Still, there's always hope (and a bit of nagging from Diana...).
Fine, she said. I'll buy another test fabric and you can make a wearable muslin out of that. So she bought some feels-a-lot-like-wool cotton flannel, and I rummaged in my stash for some suitable lining. And, at last, I finished the skirt last night.
Just in time, too: the temperature is starting to drop and she really wanted a warm winter skirt!
It's a pretty difficult fabric to photograph, but it looks like a very fine blue and black herringbone.
Of course, it needed pockets.
I'll give you a minute.
See it yet?
I'll tell you about a little mnemonic I learned from Jim Suzio when I took one of his classes at the ASG Conference in Philadelphia back in 2012. "Women are always right, and men are always left over."
When I put the skirt together, I accidentally put the buttonholes on the left skirt front, rather than the right, so it overlaps "wrong." To which Diana replied, "Big whoop."
Here's why it's not such a big deal:
Overall, I'm happy with how the skirt came out. However, I am now worried that I don't have enough fabric to make the cashmere version as flared as this one is. For this skirt, I ended up having to cut out the gores in both directions in order to get it to fit on the fabric. Fortunately the fabric didn't have a distinct nap or direction! I'll have to see how many yards of the cashmere I bought... but I fear it won't be enough. We shall see.
And it looks like my prediction of finishing the final skirt by Christmas might be a bit optimistic. Still, there's always hope (and a bit of nagging from Diana...).
It's a lovely skirt and I can see that it would be ideal for your chilly winters (I think I'd find it so for our considerably less chilly version). I'm with Diana as to which side things button. These days, so many clothes are unisex that you just deal with buttons on whichever side they are and, really, who does care?
ReplyDeleteA very pretty skirt! Maybe make a straight skirt with a godet? Or one with a pleated panel in the back (instead of a kickpleat)? I'm sure it will be beautiful no matter what you do. :)
ReplyDelete