Category: skirts

PatternReview Saves My Ass

Erin22 Comments

I fell in love with this skirt (Vogue 1247) a while back, because, pockets!

Vogue_1247_line

(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. 

Greendenimskirt_1

I did a little subtle topstitching on the back, which I don't think you can see here:

Greendenimskirt_2

And here's a better glimpse of the pockets (that's an index card): 

Greendenimskirt_3

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 …)

Quick Labor Day Sale Post

Erin7 Comments

You regular readers of the blog know about my obsession with Lands End cardigans; as a result of that obsession, I get a catalog from them about every 2.7 days. Environmental degradation aside, the catalog (they have a new stripey gray cardigan!) drove me to check out the web site today to find that everything, including the clearance section, is 25% off through Labor Day (Tuesday Sept 7 for those of you not in the US).

Which includes this skirt:

Landsendskirt
Landsendskirt2
It's only $29.99, BEFORE the discount, and it's wool! And (as the picture above seems to suggest) it has pockets! (It also comes in charcoal gray.) 

I never buy a ready-made skirt unless it's cheaper than I can buy the fabric to make it myself, and this passes that test: I couldn't buy this much wool flannel (in non-weird colors) for $30. Just not possible. (Also, this skirt is lined.)

There are no reviews of this skirt on the LE site, so it's entirely possible that it's made of a special blend of wool, spandex, and unflatteringlon, but hey, wool skirt for under $30! I could wear it just on cold & rainy biking days and still feel I got a bargain.

LE sizing is on the generous side, so be sure to check the size charts before ordering. (I regularly drop two sizes in their stuff.) Most of the petite sizes in the camel still seem to be available as I write this, but it's in the clearance section, so, no promises.

This skirt is cheap enough so that you could even buy one for experimentation — the camel would be cute with brown or green velvet ribbon trim or appliqués, for example — although that would ruin the "junior teacher in an exclusive girls' boarding school" appeal that the unadorned skirt has … your call, either way.