Make a Garment a Month - The finished skirt (Vogue 1247)

I put the last stitches in my Rachel Comey skirt on Tuesday. I have never spent so much actual sewing time making a garment before. But I did all the things required of this pattern. I bound the seams and used an invisible zip, my first ever and without an invisible zip foot. That is something I am very proud of. You are never too old to learn something new.

The seam binding is fabric left over from my Sorbetto top. I also used it for the pocket lining.

I had a few problems of my own making along the way. Added a little extra to the side seams then had to take it out again. Because of my high round tummy I also put a couple of tiny darts extra in the front. Then I kept looking at that little bulge in the back seam mentioned in my previous post,  so I unpicked it yet again and made it a bit less obvious.

Finally when it came to hemming the skirt, it was very short, even though I had added 15cm to the length when I cut it out. If I did the recommended 5cm (2") hem it would have been above my knees by a bit too much. So I did the only thing I could and added a false hem. I was down to working with scraps by this time so the pieces have a few joins but it seems to hang ok and hits about mid-knee level..

 The fabric isn't purple as it appears in the top photos. The last photo is the true colour. It is Panama mechanical stretch, whatever that is and was purchased from Spotlight eons ago. An 80cm remnant it frayed like the devil and I'm lucky the binding stayed put. It was a close call in a few places.

All in all I am quite happy with this skirt. I haven't had much luck with A-line skirts before but I seem to have solved my usual fitting problems by using my straight skirt block to check the waist and hip sizing. I have no waist and very flat hips so finding an anchor isn't easy. The slightly high waistband sits above my tummy and is very comfortable for me.  It's a nice pattern and I will probably make it again but with a few shortcuts. Overlocking instead of binding  and making it a bit longer. The pattern is very short!!

This skirt also qualifies for my October Style the Stash.

For next month I will be making a simple short sleeved t-shirt from New Look 6779 which is probably OOP now. The lilac & white stripe knit I am using is only one or two  years old. Just a baby really.

Make a Garment a Month

Stitching is well under way for my October garment. I have made the front and the back of the Vogue 1247 Rachel Comey skirt and managed to find enough fabric leftover from the Sorbetto top to do the pocket lining and the yoke and pocket binding.

As the pattern calls for an invisible zip and I have never done one before my challenge was to install it successfully without an invisible zip foot. I followed the instructions in Threads Magazine #119 June/July 2005 and it worked. I'm so pleased. The seam below the zip has a very tiny bulge which I tried to remove multiple times, unpicking and restitching to no avail. Then I realized I will be sitting on it so I am ignoring it!

Only the side seams, waistband and hem left to do. I'm hoping there is enough yellow fabric left to do the waistband binding. The sides and hem will be bound in plain black bias binding