Perfect First Try

The one party outfit that I kept coming back to was a flippy skirt with a soft sweater only, in my vast and extensive stash of fabric, I did not have a bottom weight fabric that went with the purple sweater knit. Except black. And - as strange as it may seem - I rarely wear black to a party. Most women will and as I said yesterday, I love to stand out just a little bit.

Sunday afternoon, I went to Fabricland looking for the "perfect" skirt fabric and came home with crinkle taffeta bought 70% off. I threw it in the washer and then the dryer and only later read in Sandra Betzina's book More Fabric Savvy that taffeta is dry clean only unless you want to create an interesting, pebbly appearance that can hide puckered seams. LOL - I wasn't planning on having any puckered seams however, pebbly sounded perfect especially since the fabric was already crinkled.




I know a lot of people dislike cutting out the pattern. It's not a step that bothers me. I enjoy the potential of the pile, the possibilities it represents, and the act of bringing the pieces together. Maybe that's romanticized but it's better than resentment since, if I hated cutting out, I'd never get anything done.




The pattern is Vogue 7937. I can tell already that it's going to be a favourite. It fits fabulously and I love the prissy front with the flippy back. It has attitude and sass. I was intrigued that the reviews on PR all featured the straight back and not the flippy one. I never even considered those views. It was totally the flip that attracted me.




Here's the front on Millicent. This is before I pressed and finished the seam allowances. Surprisingly, I didn't need to adjust the seams at all. Before cutting out the pattern, I made a 1" petite adjustment to shorten the hip depth and another 1" adjustment to shorten the overall length. After that, I stitched with 5/8" seams and it was perfect. That doesn't happen too often. How nice.

I wasn't sure if the taffeta would have enough drape for the back. It was a gamble, one that paid off. The fabric could just as easily have stuck straight out. Instead, it'll be wonderful.

The pattern is drafted with facings. I decided to line the skirt instead, seaming the fashion fabric and the lining together at the waist. This navy is from the bunch of lining I bought back in September when my friend Sarah was visiting. It was in the bargain center 50% off and a dollar or two a meter. A great buy. I'll cut out the lining and stitch it together today and finish everything but the waist seam. That will wait until the week before the party just in case I need to fine tune the fit.

Tonight is knitting. The progress on my sweater has been slow and tedious. I am more than tired of black ribbing which is unusual for me to admit since ribbing is my favourite texture. Even so, I'll be happy to finish this sweater. Ironically, my daughter asked me to knit her a ribbed cowl and she asked for black. I'll knit the cowl but not in black. I am sick of black rib right now. Bet you never thought you'd hear me say that - VBG.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - the skirt fit perfect first try