Progress? Maybe?
Last night I got four yards of tan material to practice the skirt pattern again. I added an inch of width (total) to the back section, in addition to the five inches I was already adding to the length. Then I did the zipper, which took a long time because it's only the second time I've ever done one, and for some reason my needle didn't want to stay threaded. At any rate, it's not quite perfect, but it definitely looks good enough, especially given that I probably want to hide that seam anyway (see below). I finished up with the darts.
After many discussions with melyanna over the last couple of days, I have a tentative plan to actually use this "practice" skirt to line the final product. There are several good reasons for this: The fabric I'm using for the skirt is from a chenille blanket, which I think I've mentioned once before, but with such a loose, heavy weave, it's not a good fabric for things like zippers or interfacing. Secondly, having the skirt fully lined will make the outer skirt lie more nicely and will probably be more comfortable. I already have the zipper, which Mel points out is really the hardest part of this whole project. Between her pointers, the tips on skirt lining in my sewing book, and my own instincts (which, I don't mean to brag, but I think they've been pretty consistently good since I started learning to sew), I don't think it would be very hard at all. The next-trickiest part would be tacking the chenille on either side of the zipper seam so that it looks nice. I think I'd probably hand sew that part, to be honest.
The next step will be cutting out the front half of the practice skirt (also adding an inch total) and making sure the whole thing fits with those alterations. I think it will. After that I'll decide exactly how to go about interfacing the skirt and get those pieces prepared, and then I'll be ready to actually cut up my blanket.
(*note to self* -- Put blanket in laundry tonight with tons of fabric softener).
I have put in an extremely full, productive work week. I'm so ready to go home already... LOL Mom and I are going to try out a new restaurant tonight, hopefully. Looking forward to that.
After many discussions with melyanna over the last couple of days, I have a tentative plan to actually use this "practice" skirt to line the final product. There are several good reasons for this: The fabric I'm using for the skirt is from a chenille blanket, which I think I've mentioned once before, but with such a loose, heavy weave, it's not a good fabric for things like zippers or interfacing. Secondly, having the skirt fully lined will make the outer skirt lie more nicely and will probably be more comfortable. I already have the zipper, which Mel points out is really the hardest part of this whole project. Between her pointers, the tips on skirt lining in my sewing book, and my own instincts (which, I don't mean to brag, but I think they've been pretty consistently good since I started learning to sew), I don't think it would be very hard at all. The next-trickiest part would be tacking the chenille on either side of the zipper seam so that it looks nice. I think I'd probably hand sew that part, to be honest.
The next step will be cutting out the front half of the practice skirt (also adding an inch total) and making sure the whole thing fits with those alterations. I think it will. After that I'll decide exactly how to go about interfacing the skirt and get those pieces prepared, and then I'll be ready to actually cut up my blanket.
(*note to self* -- Put blanket in laundry tonight with tons of fabric softener).
I have put in an extremely full, productive work week. I'm so ready to go home already... LOL Mom and I are going to try out a new restaurant tonight, hopefully. Looking forward to that.