I made this skirt for the Sew Mama Sew Community Sewing Match. I followed the Design & Sew An A-Line Skirt course on Craftsy and loved it. The instructor breaks things down and makes them very easy to follow. I struggle with picking the right size on patterns and I always have fitting issues due to that. This course really helped me understand my measurements. The biggest bonus for me is that since there was no pattern to follow, I really had to go outside of my comfort zone and figure out exactly what I wanted to do with my skirt. As the instructor was talking I was thinking, "Oh THAT's how people do that!" It made me realize how I can customize other patterns to my liking. I can't recommend the course enough. It was my first Craftsy course and I've got two more in my queue!
Why did this skirt take me forever? A combination of things. First of all, I am an incredibly slow sewer. Maybe it has something to do with having two year old twins at home or maybe it's just how I work. I would like to produce more but I'm not going to stress out about it.
It also took me awhile to decide what I wanted to do. I did an initial skirt pattern. Then I fooled around with slashing and spreading to make a fuller skirt. I browsed Pinterest for ideas and found an A-line skirt with a front pleat and decided I would do that because I had done a pleat like that on a shirt previously and liked the look. Then it occurred to me that I had the pattern but no fabric. I wanted to work with wool crepe and add a silk lining because I had not worked with either fabric before. The initial dark plum wool crepe I picked at Mood was out of stock after I placed my order so a couple of days later I had to pick again. I have to say that had I known "poppy" meant "incredibly bright orange to the point of almost being neon" I would not have picked it. I didn't buy enough yardage to return it so I decided to forge ahead. I do not wear skin tight camis in public. The reason why I am wearing one in these pictures is because anything bulkier shows right through the fabric (and not in a good way). I'm not sure how to style the skirt.
To make the pleat, I moved the edge of my original pattern away from the center 3 inches and then sewed down 3.5 inches at the original center mark. I thought about just adding the yoke without the piping. However, whenever I see piping I think, "I want to do that" but then I never do. This time I decided I was going to no matter what. It wasn't challenging and I enjoyed how it turned out.
Somehow the piping matched on the first try when I added the invisible zipper. I was nervous about that.
This butterscotch silk crepe de chine is not this yellow in real life. It started out as a lining and since I have no idea what I'm doing with linings it somehow ended up as underlining. Arg. After that I went straight to Amazon for a book on how to add linings. I think my issue was that I followed the course instruction and sewed the yokes to the main pieces first and then attached them down the side seam. I wonder how the lining would have turned out had I sewn the main pieces and yokes together separately and then attached them together with the lining. I did enjoy using the crepe de chine. It wasn't challenging at all.
I used a facing with the poppy fabric. I also had to use sew in interfacing because I could attach the fusible interfacing without the wool shrinking horribly.
Another thing I've wanted to try is Hug Snug seam binding because of a post on Lilacs and Lace. It also added to the length of time it took me to finish. I chose a generic color prior to this project to see if I liked it. The color clashes but I did enjoy using the rayon seam binding. I thought I would like it if I used orange thread on the bias tape. I don't. Too late now!
Even if the color is way too bright, this was a great project for me. I practiced several new skills and used wool and silk for the first time. I'm counting it as a success!
