I fell in love with this skirt (Vogue 1247) a while back, because, pockets!
(Ignore the floppy blouse. What is it with the giant floppy asymmetrical t-shirtish thing? </old person>)
This pattern looked easy, quick, and best of all, pockets! So I did what everyone ought to do before making a new pattern and checked PatternReview to see what other folks have said about it.
And I'm so glad I did, because the general consensus was to lengthen the skirt by FIVE INCHES. Yep. Five inches. If I hadn't checked, I probably wouldn't have noticed how short the skirt was, and then Mister Evans would have thrown me out of the Junior High Dance I wouldn't have ever worn the skirt. Plus, there were several suggestions to leave off the waistband and just finish the waist with a petersham ribbon facing (which is what I ended up doing).
There are lots of great things about this skirt, I mean, besides the pockets. It went together in less than an hour, including (machine) hemming. Also, it takes barely any fabric. I think I had less than 1.5 yards of this green-overdyed denim.
I did a little subtle topstitching on the back, which I don't think you can see here:
And here's a better glimpse of the pockets (that's an index card):
With the new longer length it hits me just at the knee. And it's really comfortable. I'm hoping (at some point in the distant future) to make a couple more with fancier treatments of the horizontal seams (Piping, maybe colorblocking? I have some pink satin that I've been meaning to overlay with some violently yellow lace and this would be an awesome pattern for that …)
But the first person to mention that a horizontal seam at the hips may, possibly, conceivably, make you look slightly wider gets a resounding Bronx cheer in the comments. C'mon, live a little! You can't always worry about the width of your hips, sometimes you have to worry about where to put your wallet & cell phone! Or about why everyone under 30 seems to only wear a short tight skirt, a big floppy blouse, and four-inch nude-colored platform pumps! Worrying about looking wider fell off my worry-about list some time ago. (But zombies are still on my list. Oh, yes, those pesky zombies …)
A Dress A Day 
Your skirt looks great. I can’t believe I missed the top during my search for tunics at the last pattern sale. I will keep an eye out for this one! 🙂
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Those are such cute pockets. I think I like the “hip line”. My waist/hip ration isn’t all that great and a line (usually provided by the hem of my t-shirt) across my hips up my curve factor substantially and makes me feel so much more feminine.
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I wouldn’t have looked twice at this pattern thanks to that horrible top masking any potential of the skirt. Thank you for posting about it! This is going on my “to buy” list when Vogue patterns go on sale.
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The pink satin with yellow lace sounds so happy! Do you think the lace will be enough of a shield to deter you satin-curse?
http://www.dressaday.com/2006/12/last-minute-holiday-sewing.html
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Your skirt is adorable, but you didn’t notice that the skirt in the piccie didn’t cover her ladymeat?
I vote for yellow lace over pink and some Betsey Johnson styling! I hope that one makes the cut.
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The skirt is great. And I AGREE WITH YOU ABOUT THE ZOMBIES! I had a Zombie dream just yesterday morning. They were everywhere.
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That’s beautiful fabric — what is it?
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I never worry about widening of the hips but then again I don’t have any. You had to add 5! inches! and you are short! How short was that flippin’ skirt. Holy Moses!
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Wow, it looks great.
I love the pattern, and the fabric looks great.
And to top it all, it has pockets 🙂
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The top may be floppy, but it is perfectly symmetrical……………. just to be picky.
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fascinating pattern!
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Floppy tops – that’s retro 80s. Are you ready?
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the fabric is a heavy denim with green overwash — I think I bought it at http://www.mlfabric.com/ in LA.
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I was also wondering why it wasn’t clear that the skirt was so short. Then I took a look at the pattern envelope online. The photo doesn’t even show her knees! No wonder it’s impossible to determine the length of the skirt.
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Frickin zombies. Most of them wear 4-inch nude pumps. Ick.
Nice skirt!
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Lovely! I like the linen you chose.
I’ve made this skirt (five inches longer) SIX TIMES. I did a facing, too. It’s cleaner and more comfortable. I LOVE this skirt pattern. I’ve made it with linen, rip-stop cotton, Japanese double-gauze and quilting cottons. It has almost an pencil-skirt shape but with non-pencil skirt comfort. Enjoy!
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I have really liked this pattern, too, but the short skirt was placing it on the no way list; great alteration! Also, I believe that your priorities are 100% inline (zombies over hip width)!
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seems to me basically every skirt pattern can be re-adapted with those type of pockets, just make an extra panel mimicking the skirt front, stitch the inside bottom and sides then lay it flat in the front, etc. IE a long fold in the front.
Not as sneaky as side pockets, but I never like lining fabric anyway.
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Kristin commented about an “almost pencil-skirt shape” which is what I was going to ask. I find A-line much more to my liking (both style- and comfort-wise); the technical drawing looks A-line; but your photo looks quite pencilesque. Would you say it tapers outward toward the hem, or back in toward the knee, or is pretty straight? (understanding that the person doing the adding o’ the five inches may make her own decisions about this, to some extent…). Thanks!
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Julia, it’s somewhere between straight and A-line, more on the straight side, I think. When I make the next one I will see if I can’t take a picture of the pattern piece, too!
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I made the top 🙂 I am an accomplished seamstress so I ‘changed it up’ alittle 🙂 I used a medium-weight cotton, not a sheer. Changed the sleeve from a CUFF to a wide hem. I extended the shoulder darts/pleats to make it flatter MY body 🙂 I love the pattern 🙂 I am thin and small-boned but BUSTY. It’s a GREAT TOP 🙂 About two hours labor after pattern adjustments. EASY french-seam sewing, I WILL make it again and again 🙂 The skirt is ADORABLE but SHORT SHORT SHORT.. I wear JEANS. If I WORE skirts, I would make it and WEAR IT ALOT 🙂 ADD INCHES to the LENGTH LADIES 🙂 It is VERY SHORT 😦
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Little Pop is liking this pattern review!! Why has she never discovered this?! It’s even better than a swap loan and sell clothes website!! No more problems pattern following for Little Pop anymore!! Thank you!!
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