I am so stinkin' happy with this skirt! I think it looks quite upscale and does more so in person when you see the yummy linen up close. Since this is the same pattern I reviewed in the last post I am going to focus on what I did differently.
Fit:
I followed Lorrie's advice and my gut instinct and took three inches of ease out of the area of the skirt above the zippers. It looks so much better and more flattering now. All I did was take out 3/8ths of an inch on each seam = 3 inches. I tapered to nothing above the pocket zippers. I am really pleased with the fit now.
Construction:
First, my apologies to Mrs. Charisma/Smith. Yes, I whipped out the simple black version on an afternoon but this puppy took me all day, 9-5, and I loved every minute. What took so much longer?
The zippers! Why? I didn't do them as the pattern suggested. The pattern has you put the right side of the lower side of the zipper to the right side of the pocket top. Then you make a seam . Turn over and topstitch. What I didn't like about this is that both sides of the zip were being treated differently. I wanted both sides to have the same look, whatever that was. So I serged the top edge of the pocket and pressed in a small hem. I placed the zipper bottom edge ON TOP of the right side and top stitched with a triple zigzag stitch. That stitch gave the white garment a bit more casual interest. When it was time to put the pocket on the skirt I simply laid it on top of the side front and stitched the top edge of the zipper in the same way.
Those were the pocket zippers. Now I had to do the back zipper. I figured it wouldn't hurt me to look at a few videos and tutes so off to the Web I went. There are MANY "exposed zipper tutorials" out there. None had the look I wanted. There were some real good ones as far as installation but they all had the two bottom "legs" of the zipper folded under and topstitched. I wanted something with a bit of a cleaner finish.
I was able to slip the zipper legs behind the fashion fabri and still have the zipper fully exposed and stitched for the rest of it's length. It was a bit involved to do this and I will have coming up a separate post on how to do it. It took LOTS of pictures.
This back CB zipper was also triple zigzagged to secure.
This zipper LOCKS and that rocks! It actually clicks in and is very secure, love it. I love the vertical line this adds to the design as well. You can't see it here but the bottom of the zipper, on the beige linen, it is also triple zigzagged. I am on some sort of triple zigzag binge. Don't know what that's about!
Another addition to the construction, which you can see above, is that I topstitched the top edge of the waistband. I think that is always a more professional finish to an elasticized waist. I did that after the top edge was serged and turned down and pressed. Then I put in the elastic under the fold and simply stitched in a casing.
At this point, the back casing area was looking pretty nasty. So before I closed up the casing I went digging and came up with some beige silk dupioni. That was wrapped around the end of the casing and stitched in place when the casing was stitched. The top edge you see is the actual selvage edge of the dupioni. It is so much prettier now.
Again, all seams were sewn, serged, pressed to one side and topstitched.
I think you can see why this one took a full day to finish but finished it is and ready for the warm weather.
Fabric:
This linen is much heavier than the black linen of the original effort. It is what I would call a Home Dec Linen or bottom weight. For some reason, this skirt is heavy. The pockets I thought were a little too "Marcy" for me, I now love. The pockets are big but big means lots of fabric and lots of weight. That keeps the skirt from ballooning out and looking silly. I really like the way they affect the drape of the garment and the weight they add.
This pattern has now been given the sacred status of
I love that. Highly recommend......Bunny
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Do you think I may have worn out my IDT, aka, walking foot? I can get it to work just fine with this bull clip!..........Bunny
Hahaha! Hey! I spent all weekend on one pair of pants! :-p
ReplyDeleteI love the skirt. It is absolutely beautiful and I wish I could put my grubby paws on that linen!
Looks great! I have that pattern and actually have some linen that I was thinking of using to make a skirt. Now if only I can squeeE out some time.
ReplyDeleteGosh I love that look. I have some heavy linen with a floral in it and had half a mind to make a skirt with random pull ups on it but I think I like this better, I am feeling inspirated! :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE it! You've given us so many helpful details, but I hope you don't mind me bugging you for 2 "extras" - what finished ength did you make this, and what brand is that locking zip? We are the same height and I struggle with determining a flattering length on this kind of skirt. I just think it's perfect. If I were going to a desert island...yep, I'd take this skirt!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Bunny! I just went back and read your earlier entry and found the info on the length. I always think of you when I make all my petite changes because you're the one who taught me to change a collar, a pocket, etc., to get a more flattering scale. Thanks!
DeleteEveryone's proportions are different but I find if I take out one inch below the knee and two above for a total of three, it works for me. Of course that depends on the look as well. This comes a few inches above my ankles, below mid calf.
DeleteThe zip is from Coats and Clark at Joanns. It's a jeans zip, seven inch. It locks tight and you can actually feel it click into position. No need for any other hooks or such.
DeleteVery sharp!!
ReplyDeleteLove your skirt, Bunny. The zips and pockets are a great touch. You may have convinced me to try a Marcy Tilton pattern!
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic, Bunny! I wish I could see it in person :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone for your kind comments and suggestions. It was a fun project. Now I need to work on a few tank tops to wear with the two skirts. I have gobs of one yard pieces of linen. Not done with that fiber yet!
ReplyDeleteI love this skirt, Bunny. I didn't think I was going to like those pockets either, but I really do. I bet you'll get lots of wear out of this skirt.
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love it, I actually have that pattern, but alas, it is packed away in a storage unit.
ReplyDeleteThe skirt looks great Bunny. I hope that you will do a fashion shoot soon so that we can see the skirts on you. When I made exposed zippers in a seam, and there are very few tutorials on this I found Tany's tutorial on putting an exposed zipper in a seam without any of the edges showing. I made a silk organza facing, like the magic window bound button or welt pockets. It worked well. I am going to assume that you did something similar. I love how you put in the zippers. Very chic.
ReplyDeleteI did!. I remember those wonderful zips on your leather jacket, quite fabulous!
DeleteWe still have over a foot of snow on the ground and single digit temps in the morning. I'll have to plan on a massive shoot of all my summer constructions when it all finally changes over to our wonderful summers.
What a great looking skirt. Good job on the zippers. I'm planning to sew this skirt for the wardrobe challenge on PR and am eager to read about everyone's experiences with the pattern.
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful - I can see many renditions of this skirt. I love the triple stitching on the zips - as you have used the same colour stitching as the skirt fabric, it ties things in nicely.
ReplyDeleteThe skirt looks like the ideal garment for when it's hot & humid and you don't want to wear anything that binds or clings anywhere but needs to look nice. I look forward to the tutorial on how you did the back zipper - it's a clean, neat finish.
ReplyDeleteThe Zipper! Love that back zipper!
ReplyDeleteHi there Bunny,
ReplyDeleteLove this version and the zipper insertions...........beautiful.
I look forward to seeing the tutorial on your way of completing an exposed zipper. I had thought I didn't like them; until yours!
As always, a beautifully thought out garment, perfectly executed.
Enjoy wearing it.
I agree that the zips (and the pockets!) really make this skirt. You have done a beautiful job with them. Well done - great job!
ReplyDelete