I’m back at work! We seem to have gotten caught up quite quickly, though I am not the one responsible for checking the voicemail or sorting the mail, so perhaps I’m wrong about that. I am fairly caught up and back to normal, though.
And so it is that I’m taking the time to share with you. I have a whole bunch of posts partially written, just waiting for the appropriate photos and such to finish.
Back in June, I mocked up some copycat items. One in particular that I fell in love with (and really struggled with finding an appropriate pattern for) was the high-waisted pencil skirt.
Oh, how this one stuck in my brain for quite some time, nagging me, taunting me, making me look at my stash and dream....
Well, last weekend I went to JoAnn’s and Butterick patterns were on sale, so I bought a handful, including this one:
Views D and E... that looks like the right waist line to me!
I was pretty excited about this one. First of all, it was going to be super easy, and secondly, it barely took any fabric.
I really, really wanted to make this skirt out of the middle print here. Alas, I was a few inches shy of having enough fabric.
I picked out this bold print, “Poppy Flower” in Shadows, part of Botanical Pop collection by Jackie Shapiro, that I bought back in 2008. I had 2 yards of it, and used about a yard and a half of it. Add to that the free vintage zipper I got from 
, and this skirt cost about $10.
Perfection! (Yes, this print is really that bright. It's more bold than I usually go, but I've gotten tons of compliments on it today.)
I gave this print a go because 1) what else was I going to make with it (certainly not a dress, and it’s not really quilt-appropriate, though it is quilting cotton), and 2) I already had a shirt in my wardrobe that matched. I figured the grey top would help tone down the skirt. Did it work?
This design has a center-back zipper, which seems a bit odd - I'm used to side zips. I wish that the waist was a bit more fitted, but that's just the shape of this pattern.
This pattern (I made up View E) has front darts in a single panel, and then the back is four panels. They seams are all pretty straight, except for right up at the top at the waist, so if I were a bit curvier, it might not have fit so well.
Tucked in is not the way I wear my clothes... ever, but there was no other way to do this skirt justice. As long as I've got my control-top pantyhose on, I still have a flattering silhouette, and so it's acceptable.
I ended up taking it up about 4 1/2 inches, so I might be able to make this out of the first fabric I picked out after all (assuming disaster won’t occur if I cut the whole thing out cross-grain… I’ll have to research that a bit). I didn’t have to do any alterations to the fit at all, which was lovely. The whole thing took only a few hours (it was the last thing I made up yesterday, after making two pairs of pants in the morning/afternoon). I clearly need about a dozen more of these, especially some of the ones with waistbands (Views B&C), and I might need to try adding a waistband to this one. I almost did it to this one, but I’d already inserted the zipper. Next time….
Instead of using flexi-lace for the hem, I found this awesome ribbon in my stash that coordinates. It's fake snakeskin! I used it to finish the waist facing too. It's a bit sticky (the texture is kind of plastic-y), so a layer between the skirt and my skin is preferred. Regardless, I'm loving it!
So, how’s that for a return to normal?
Let me just say that the total crafting while I was unemployed was 5 dresses, 2 pairs of pants (one isn’t exactly completed yet, but it’s really close), and one shirt, and this skirt. I did a lot of things other than sew, too, and will slowly share that too.
I’ll slowly meter out the posts on all that crafting over the next few weeks. I think I’ll wait to share each one until I wear it out into the world. That way, the posts should get spread out, and I won’t have to do a little fashion show in front of the camera tonight. I’m always worried what my neighbors think when I do that….
[...] [...]