Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Pencil, fixed.

I did let out the Pencil Skirt.  I have to say, although it feels much more comfortable to wear now, I think it lacks its prior VaVaVoom.  Here's a "before and after" collage:

On right:  with yet another faux-fur collared sweater!

I ended up letting out the side seams by 1/2 inch each (1/4 inch front and back) - all the way to the serged edge.  I did this even though  I knew I'd have to take the right hip in again - I just wanted to see how much leeway I had.  I did end up taking in the right hip again by about 3/8", so almost back to where it had started.

As I was analyzing the fit, I discovered something interesting:  although the two front darts were the same length, the right one appeared to be significantly shorter, because my pelvis is quite tilted, with the right side being higher.  I ended up lengthening that dart by a half inch to make it appear to be the same length as the one on the left.

I think I can call this skirt wearable now, even though the fit isn't perfect yet.  I'm still getting poufing at the bottom of the right hip dart, and I've still got some diagonal drag lines on the bum.  I need to look this up again to find out the fix for it!  But I think I've done all I can do to this skirt without compromising the fabric.  And my sanity.

Oops!  Off center!  Also, not my best zipper installation.

I'm not done exploring this type of skirt on me; my plan is to do the next one using the pattern from Gertie's book, since lots of people have been raving about it.   In the meantime, I've been making things I'll actually wear in my daily life.  Fancy that!

Oh!  And I wore my one and only pair of vintage clip-on earrings with this outfit!  I've had them a gazillion years (I bought them when I was in college!) and never had anything to wear them with.  Because you can't see them in the pictures above, here's a close up:


Aren't they pretty?

14 comments:

  1. You have serious patience woman, to be able to go back and rework a sewing project, I admire you. Isn't it interesting/horribly annoying how not symmetrical we can find ourselves to be? One of my ears is slightly higher than the other, so when I got them pierced they had to adjust the holes because I LOVE long earrings, so it looks funny when I wear studs. The earrings are so unique, and match the skirt perfectly!

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    1. My ears are goofy too! Well, the majority of my body is! You never really notice that stuff until you try to fit something.

      I have to admit I did procrastinate a little about fixing this. But I made myself do it, because the whole point of this skirt was to learn about the fitting involved in doing it!

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  2. Love the earrings ... and I think your revised skirt still has a ton of va-voom!

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    1. I had a really hard time getting a good picture of it. It does look less frumpy in person, I think!

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  3. even though i hate going back and fixing things, it always feels so good! i wonder if maybe you only needed extra room through the bum and not so much at the hip. i only say this because i think that would fix my own fitting issues. since i hardly ever make a slim skirt i haven't really worked it all out yet...

    i hope you get lots of use out of this skirt, it's really beautiful!

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    1. I agree - most of my "fullness" is in the rear, LOL! I've been trying to fix it at the side seams, but I think the answer is probably to be found in more sever darting. Ah well, next time!

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  4. Hey, your butt wrinkles look like my butt wrinkles! lol!
    I made a muslin of the Colette Meringue (still haven't blogged about it- it's been abandoned for now).
    If I find the solution to butt wrinkles I'll let you know. And keep me updated if you do! :)
    So far I've been advised to add width to the CB and increase the darts to accomodate my larger rear end, while keeping the waist the same size!

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    1. Hehehe! Butt wrinkle sisters!

      That is a good suggestion, and I will try that the next time (see above!). I'm going to try out Gertie's pencil skirt pattern and see if I get any more joy with that one.

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  5. Snazzy earrings indeed!
    I'm sorry if it has lost a bit of oomph in the re-fitting. It still looks very smart and I bet you will wear it more often now that it is comfortable.

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    1. You're probably right. I'll just have to settle for not being sexy!

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  6. Aw man, I get those same diagonal lines! Weird! I'm sure you're sick of tinkering with this skirt, but you might be able to pump up the sexy a little bit more if you pegged the hem a bit to make it a little more wiggly! I've done that a few times with a project I felt meh about and it makes the silhouette a little sleeker.

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    1. Hehehe - I am sick of tinkering with this one, but I'll keep that in mind for the next one!

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  7. Super pretty earrings - love! You are so patient.

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    1. Thank you! I hope I get to wear them out in the world one of these days!

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