I have officially done the best I could do with the deadline we had, entry has been submitted, sewing room tidied, and I celebrated my usual way with a beer and a hot bath. I highly recommend it. There were some ups, and some downs, new skills learned, mistakes made and discoveries along the way. So, kick back, grab a beverage and allow me to take you on a journey…
First things first, find a pencil skirt pattern that was already in my stash. I used Vogue 8750 because it had some really cool seamlines to play with and I wanted to do some color blocking to go with my musical inspiration. I have a lot of random songs I love, but I have a super real love affair with the soundtrack to Sister Act 2. If its on TV, I have to watch it. I know that its ridiculous, and I know that not only am I not a Catholic, I’m not even a religious person, but when you combine gospel, Motown, and 90’s era hip-hop with the sweet vocal stylings of a young Lauren Hill, well…. IS THERE ANYTHING BETTER?!?!?!?
Look, feel free to tease me for my obsession with a 90’s garbage movie soundtrack. I have heard it all before and I make no excuses. I used this as my inspiration to make a nun’s habit inspired color blocked skirt with piping that reminded me of the staff in sheet music. I used denim to reflect the grittier youthful side of the kids.
I sewed up a muslin to check the fit first, it seemed pretty good right out of the packet with no alterations in a size 18. Then I made a shit ton of bias tape and hand basted the cording into it, then zipped it through the machine. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, which is good because I thought it was going to take forever and cause me to miss the deadline.
Then I sewed my little heart out, progress pics to prove it!
The pattern called for a lot of edge stitching, so I went somewhere near an edge stitch and a topstitch and did it in contrasting thread. The biggest pain in the ass for this whole project was how many times I had to switch between thread. I think I could thread that machine in the dark now.
I checked the fit and decided it needed to come in at the waist and I wanted to peg it a little more so I brought it in a total of 2 inches starting at the waist and tapering down to the first horizontal seam. for the bottom, I took it in at the side seam by an inch tapering to nothing using the hip curve. It ended up fitting really nicely.
The zipper insertion went pretty well, except the part where its in backward. I decided to go ahead and live with it. I was getting down to the wire and I can still use it effectively and you would never know. Well, I guess you guys know now!! This skirt has a ribbon waistband, I thought the instructions were good, but I think I may have somehow done it wrong. Am I right to think that you should be able to see the whole ribbon or not? You don’t see the top and bottom of the ribbon in my skirt, just the bottom shows. Have a look and tell me if I did it wrong like I think I did.
I would have liked this to look different. Right? Hmm…
That was it, I just needed the pictures. My boyfriend agreed to help me out properly and actually try to do a good job which was nice. I had to wait till I got home from work to do it and try to not look like I worked a full shift overnight, I think I did ok. Some lipstick and dry shampoo can fix a lot of my problems.
So, let me know what you guys think. I think I would have liked more black and less white in there. Did any of you enter the Sewing Bee? I have seen a lot of really beautiful and innovative stuff out there and I was happy to participate and join in the fun. Judging from the gallery I am in good company here. Best of luck to all those who entered!
Sewing at Midnight 