First things first, as will see in ALL the following pictures, there is a new addition to our family. His name is tikiki and he is a 4 months old beagle who will not let me stand in the garden without trying to chew on my shoe :
Going back to sewing, as said by one of the stars of the sewing community, when you don't know what to make, make a pencil skirt... Or make two!!
For both skirts I used the same Lekala made to measure pattern as my base, namely Lekala 5268. I considered using the free pattern 5088, but I find that a single dart in the back and a more centered front dart gives a more modern look. I know that especially if you are pear shaped, double darts are recommended but there is something that really feels dated to me.
Both skirts are made from left overs from stash, zippers and interfacing were also from stash. So apart from the 2 dollars from the pattern, they ended up being "free" projects. Yay!! You can recognize the fabric I used for this linen dress and my archer shirtdress.
Regarding the pattern, I converted the front into one piece with a dart instead of a princess seam. The hem is tapered 1"on each side seam which makes a total reduction of 4" so I drafted a vent. The waistband is a simple rectangle that does not overlap as I wanted the invisible zipper to reach the top of the waistband. The fit came out perfect with 0 adjustment. Double yay!! I added the seam allowances (3/8 at the waist, 1/2 at the sides and 1 1/2 at the hem.
The construction is pretty straight forward, they are both unlined so I finished the seams with my serger and used my usual invisible zipper technique. Despite the result, I did try to align the prints at the center back seam of the floral skirt, obviously something went wrong...
One thing that I wanted to try was a mitered corner for the vent. The pattern adjustment is easy, you just chop the corner at a 45 degree angle, leaving a 1/4 seam allowance.
I took some pictures of my sewing process for that mitered corner, as you can see I interfaced the hem on the floral skirt to give it some body. My linen did not seem to need it. I believe that the pictures are quite self explanatory but I can give more explanations if needed.
This post brings me to almost the end of my blogging backlog. If you follow my instagram you know I just made a nettie dress and I hope to take pictures quickly!! I also have a pair of linen twill pants as a WIP and need to work on 2 more pencil skirts for the fabric I got in Mood during my trip to NYC in March. But for those pencil skirts, I have a special project and a treat for you!!By the way, I cut and sewed the skirts at the same time. 2 skirts at the end of one weekend feels really good! Almost as good as a sexy Nettie Dress made in one afternoon !! As I have been looking into streamlining my closet, pencil skirts and skinny jeans combined with shirts have imposed themselves as a daily uniform. And since I do not make my own skinny jeans, this means you will see a lot of pencil skirts. I created a pinterest board for the special pencil skirt project, I hope that I will be able to share with you very soon!What about you ? What do you sew when you are wandering helplessly in your sewing room ?