That's the name of a Craftsy class taught by Deborah Moebes. Or maybe it's Design and Sew. Anyway, here is my first "muslin," or practice skirt, made to fit my own measurements:
From the front it looks fine, although the sides kind of stick out. From the side, though, it looks almost like a pencil skirt, with no shape in the back. Or, wait! Maybe that's me that has no shape in the back. :-)
So after I tried the first version, I followed her directions for "slashing and spreading" the pattern to make a fuller skirt. I cut six slashes from the hem to, but not through, the waistline, and then spread each one by half an inch at the hem line. This added three inches to this quarter of a skirt, or twelve inches total to the hemline of the whole skirt.
So now I've got a skirt shaped more like I had imagined that I'd like it to be. In fact, it's really similar to my favorite grey wool skirt that I wear so much. Except that this one is blue and made of cotton and doesn't have six "gores" in it. But I mean, you know, similar shape.
And the side/back seems to work better now, too.
And the side/back seems to work better now, too.
So after I made the practice versions, I made a "real" version out of this blue cotton "jacks" fabric that I bought a few weeks ago in order to build up my stash for the Style the Stash Sewalong. I used the practice skirt, above, as the lining.
And.... I like it! One thing's for sure, it's very comfortable. And it fits me.
I put in an invisible zipper for the first time using an invisible zipper foot, and it worked! I was so tickled with myself. Mixed in with all the metal attachments that come with my sewing machine from my mother was a baggie that had these plastic invisible zipper foot attachments. Two years ago when I made Melinda's wedding dress, I had no clue how to put in an invisible zipper. Now, thanks to Deborah and also Sunni Standing (with her free zipper class, also on Craftsy), I knew what to do.
I didn't tell you then, but I'll tell you now, that I had actually tried to insert an invisible zipper into that dress that I made in May. Deborah says you can just use a regular zipper foot to do it, and that's what I tried to do, but it didn't work so well. You can see the zipper in several places. I could have unpicked it and re-did it, but it's behind me where I can't see it, so it really doesn't bother me. :-)
I've had people ask me why I'm so determined to learn to sew my own clothes. One reason is because it's helping me be more aware of my body and its shapes and sizes, and hopefully to help me appreciate it as is, even as I'm working on getting healthy and strong again. And another reason I'm working on sewing my own clothes is because I'm loving the learning process.
I'm really excited about trying some more skirt variations. This could get addicting!
