Turn of Events

I just finished my third Pencil Skirt, which I do believe I'll don to go to a jazz concert tonight:

This one is made from Anna Maria Horner "Turn of Events" velveteen.  As I was cutting it out yesterday, I posted a picture to instagram, saying "I love this fabric."

And as I was working on the skirt, it occurred to me:  yes, I REALLY love this fabric.  Look:

I think it's funny that I didn't realize until halfway through making the skirt that this is the third garment I've made from a "Turn of Events" fabric! 

First was my Continental Blouse, made from cotton voile in December 2011.  I still wear this fairly often. 

Then there was my first coat from February last year, made with home dec weight cotton sateen.

And now this skirt, made of cotton velveteen.  So yes, it's fair to say I love this fabric!

And I think I'm ready to move on from pencil skirts now.  At least for a while :-)  I've got two more cuts of AMH velveteen that are destined to become a couple more pencils, so it may be a short-ish break.

Pencil No. 2

I made another pencil skirt yesterday, same as the first.

I used one yard of this printed stretch denim from JoAnn's.   It has a lot of pretty colors.

I have nothing more to say.

You may now breathe your sigh of relief.

Pencil Skirt: Construction

One of the reasons I'm so proud of this skirt (aside from the fact that it's awesome) is because I put a lot of thought and consideration into it.  All too often, I rush headlong into a project without thinking things through, and then don't get the stellar result I was hoping for.  This time, at each stage I stopped to consider how to proceed.

My original intent was to make this a lined skirt, just because I usually line skirts.  But after I stopped to think about it, I realized a few things: one, this is stretch fabric, and I didn't have any stretch lining.  Also:  it's denim.  Maybe they exist, but I've never seen a lined denim skirt.  So I scrapped the lining and decided to concentrate on keeping the insides neat.

Here's a quick rundown of the order in which I constructed the skirt - it's a little different from the instructions (which I've now read).

1.  Sew darts.
2.  Apply fusible knit strip to entire center back edges.
3.  Finish back and side seam allowances on serger.
4.  Insert invisible zip.
5.  Close center back seam.
6.  Sew side seams.
7.  Finish bottom edge on serger.
8.  Fold waistband in half lengthwise, apply fusible interfacing to one half.
9.  Finish un-interfaced side of waistband on serger, removing 1/4" of width.
10.  Stitch interfaced side of waistband to skirt, then grade seam allowances.
11.  Stitch waistband edges closed.
12.  Fold waistband to inside, pin, then stitch in the ditch from outside to attach.
13.  Press up hem 2" then stitch down with coverstitch or twin needle.
14.  Sew hook and eye at back closure.

It looks like a lot of steps, but they're all easy, short steps :-)  And of course there's pressing after each step.

Now, some particulars.

I noticed that I've been getting kind of sloppy with my darts lately, so that they're dimpling at the ends.  I took extra care this time - I didn't want any dimples!  I usually don't bother with shortening the stitch length for the last 1/2" of the dart, because I invariably forget to increase it again before the next one.  But this time I did, and it paid off.

Sunni has a lot of great information on pencil skirt sewing on her blog.  In one of her posts I read that she uses fusible tape not only on the zipper edge, but all the way down the back of the skirt to give extra stability.  So I did that too.  I must say that ever since watching her Craftsy class, I've been using the tape on my zippers and it makes a big difference on how they sit in the fabric - so much more smooth.

Here's a picture of all the serger-finished edges.  I went with 4-thread instead of my normal 3 for finishing, because of the weight of the fabric.  You can also see the tape going all the way down to the hem.

All these pictures were taken after the skirt was finished, not during construction.  So I don't have a picture of the waistband in progress.  But here's how it looks from the inside and outside.  I chose to serge the bottom inside edge and stitch it down with stitch-in-the-ditch rather than folding the inside bottom edge in to eliminate bulk.  I really like how it worked out, and it was faster and easier than doing it the normal way.

Here's the coverstitched hem:

And finally, here's a shot of the whole skirt:

And with that, I think I've finally exhausted all I wanted to say about this skirt!

Pencil me in.

I have a pencil skirt!  At last!!

Like a lot of you, RTW pencil skirts have never fit me, so it's been a goal for a long time to make one myself.  This one started life as a BHL Charlotte, but I made so many changes, I really hesitate to call it that any more.

I took a lot of photos, both of my pattern changes and of my construction.  Today I just want to show off my new skirt; I'll tell you all about the rest in another post (or maybe two more).  Just let me get my shoes on first:

This skirt is made from a fabulous stretch black denim printed in gold foil with snakeskin.  I got this at JoAnn's last month specifically for this project, which may be my last for this session of Jungle January.  I LOVE this fabric!  After I finished the skirt, I said to Hubby:  "I love this fabric.  I want to make everything from this fabric!!"  And he replied, "You should.  Then when one thing gets old, you can just shed your skin and put on a new one."  That boy cracks me up.  That's why I love him so much!

I discovered AFTER I made the skirt that I was supposed to hand wash and line dry this fabric rather than machine wash cold and tumble dry like I did.  No matter though - some of the gold is flaking off, which I think makes it even more snake-like.

Not bad for an old broad, eh?  I think this skirt is so flattering, and yet, it's super comfortable and easy to wear.  As I drifted off to sleep last night, I was thinking about all the versions I could make using fabrics in my stash.  You will be seeing more of these!

I took care to match my patterns throughout, centering the print front and back.  Still, I made this from a mere one yard of 56" wide fabric, and I've got enough left over for a fabulous clutch.  You know that's going to happen!

I cut this skirt to a 24" length, which for me is just at the bottom of the knee.  Even though I didn't add a back vent on this one, I still have room to walk normally.  In the future I'd like to make at least one midi length version, and that will require a vent.

I guess you can tell that I really love this skirt.  It hugs my curves perfectly, but not in a way that makes me feel exposed, like my first pencil skirt did.  I think that partly has to do with using a stretch fabric this time.  But it's mostly due to the fitting changes I made, because the muslin I made for this one was done from a non-stretch and it fits just as well.

I'm pleased to say I think I've finally cracked the pencil-skirt-fitting nut, for my figure at least.  And because it makes me feel sexy and fabulous, I leave you with this:

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?

HB Pencil* Skirt, or Burda 7175

*HB = Hips and Buns.  In other words:  this skirt is too tight!

I finished it last week, but didn't have the time or inclination to take pictures until yesterday.  Also, I have a lot of things I want to say about this project, so I've spent some time getting my thoughts in order, as opposed to my usual stream of consciousness.  I made an outline and everything!

Let's start with the pattern envelope, so you can see the lines and style of the garment.

This Burda pattern (7175) is listed only as "retro" - no year is given.  But the style looks to me like early 1960s.  I love the whole ensemble, and while I traced the pattern pieces for both the top and the skirt, I decided to start out by making the skirt only.  This is the first time I've used one of the Burda patterns that comes in an envelope, so this project was as much about testing the pattern company as it was about testing the garment.  I did a couple of searches, and haven't found any other examples of this garment or reviews for this pattern, so I wanted to include my two cents here.

The Burda patterns that come in the envelope have the seam allowances already included, unlike the ones from the magazine, so that's a plus.  One thing I liked about the tissue is that the finished hip measurement was clearly shown on the skirt piece.  Something I didn't like so much is that the sizing information is also printed on the tissue, rather than on the envelope.  I found it tedious to have to unfold the tissue to figure out what size to make, and then refer back to the envelope back for the fabric requirements.

I did my usual alteration of grading out to a larger size for my hips:  size 38 at the waist to 40 at the hips.  According to those finished measurements on the tissue, this should have been sufficient, giving me about an inch and a half of ease.  The true story though, is that from my initial basted fitting, I could tell it was too tight, so I did 4/8" seams rather than 5/8" - and it still wasn't enough.  So I would say that unlike the Big 4 pattern companies, the Burda patterns do not include excessive ease.  If I'd been really smart, I would have actually measured the pattern pieces, rather than taking their word for it!

The rating on the front of the envelope calls the pattern "easy" and I'd say that's accurate - IF you've ever sewn a skirt before.  The instructions are sketchy in some places, and the vent is rather strange.  I haven't made a whole lot of skirts with vents, but the way this one deals with the vent seems like a cheat to me:  you attach a square of fabric to the inside on the lining, so that it looks as if you'd done a small inverted pleat there.

I had a few reasons for making the skirt as given.  I trusted (perhaps wrongly) that this really was a reproduction of a pattern from the '60s, and I wanted to make something that fit as a lady would have worn it back then.  Also, since it's probably impossible to find a RTW pencil skirt that would fit my curvy frame, I don't have a whole lot of experience with how one is supposed to fit!  As I said, when I tried it on as I was making it, I already knew it was too tight, but decided to finish it anyway.  Interestingly, once I had the lining in, it seemed to fit much better!  The lining made the lines of the skirt much smoother than they had been.

Another factor in the poor fit of the skirt is probably my fabric choice.  This is a wool blend gabardine, chosen for its beautiful eau de nil color (and also its cheap price).  Of course, in the face of this gorgeous shade, I completely forgot that there's absolutely no give in gabardine.  In a fabric with some stretch, I could probably get away with using these pattern pieces.

I think the pattern cheats at the waistband too:  it's just a long rectangle.  I think this could have benefited from a more shaped waistband. 

This project was all about experimentation for me, and I'm still working on it, as I think it's got potential.  One of the things I tried out that I love was my new blind hem foot.  Check out the photo on the right above:  you can barely see where the hemming stitches poke through to the front of the fabric!  I've gotten fairly good at blind hems over the years, but this foot makes it incredibly easy to do it perfectly.  Well worth the few dollars I spent on it.

I do plan to let out the side seams a little, but I went ahead and took some pictures yesterday anyway because I had a little free time.  I also think it's good to see the drag lines in the photos - they really do show where the garment needs to be adjusted.   If I can't let this skirt out enough to make it more presentable, I may make it again in the same fabric, because it goes with a lot of my other me-mades!

With one of my Sencha blouses.  As you can see, all the drag lines are at the hips.  Although on a skirt, I guess there's not really anywhere else they would be!

With the 1940s reproduction silk blouse.

With a sweater I've had for years, but have nothing to wear with.  That nifty faux fur collar is part of the sweater.

And now for an admission:  I love that last outfit, and that sweater is the main reason why I want to make the skirt work.  When I first put on the two together, I thought, "The only thing I need to make this the perfect outfit is some leopard-print pumps."  I've been looking for the perfect pair for about 3 years, but never found anything that matched what I had in mind.  Until last week, when I was picking up a few things at Target, and I spied these beauties:

 

Exactly what I'd been looking for, and only thirty bucks!  (The uppers are even leather!)  So, for the first time in almost a year, I've broken my Seamless Pledge.  But I don't even care - they're perfect!