Garment of February

It is funny how this blog works for me. In Dutch we have a saying literary translated says: stick behind the door. I can’t come up with an English equivalent, but I mean this: it forces me to do things I otherwise would postpone or won’t do at all. Because I feel I have to show you things, to keep you interested. There are people in the webspace waiting for new posts. You, dear readers. I want to please you and make a versatile and interesting place, here in the corner of www.
So after the thrill of the skirt that fitted so good, I said to you that I would make a garment for myself each month. The aim: building up a pattern collection for clothes that fit me like a glove. Making simple adjustments each time, for sleeves, or necklines, or extra plaids, or wider legs to keep the fun, but relying on a good sound construction.
And now February comes to a close so I feel obliged to show you the dress I have been working on for this month. It’s from a knit with a flockprint I bought in Utrecht. Each Saturday there’s a great fabric market there with more than 50 stalls. You are in paradise, there. (I sometimes dream of fabrics, really!).

But the dress. I’m not satisfied. The fabric is so good, and the pattern (# 9 from Ottobre 2009/ 5) might be good for me, but something went wrong.
A: the elastic I used is to broad (couldn’t find the one the mag called for and bought this on advise of the shopkeeper. Not a good advise).



So it bulks on the sides and is annoying to wear, because it won’t stay flat.



B. The front is to wide. It makes my waist disappear. I think the elastic is too wide.

Otherwise I’m pleased, with the back and the sleeves (had to cut them in two pieces and slightly widened the lower sleeve).

I hope my sewing teacher will come up with a solution and I can finish it. (I keep the neckline as high as possible, because I think that’s more comfortable) and will make a hem below the knee so it's a bit more sassy.

And the garment of March? That will have to be something easy, because I want to work on my springsuprise swap. But I have to say, I’m very tempted, tempted by the Loveliness dress from the recent Ottobre. I think I found the perfect muslin for it, yesterday. (I’ve been reorganizing my stash).

Tada!

So here’s the skirt!

I used pattern nr. 4 from Ottobre nr 5/2007. It was meant as a muslin, but it turned out so good, I can wear it for real. It’s a little bit to wide in the waist, but I can easily correct that the next time I’m going to make one. And I definitely will! I am so very, very pleased something I made for myself turned out so good.
I didn’t do the ribbon on the seam of the hip pieces, as the magazine suggested, since this was a trial, but now I regret that. The ribbon would have given the skirt a bit more dimension.

Sewing it was surprisingly easy. I used a regular zipper in stead of the recommended invisible one, because I just though a regular zipper would be good enough.
Here's the lining.



I did not use any interface. My sewing teacher came up with another idea, namely using a twill band into the inner waist seam to prevent the fabric from stretching to much.





Here’s the overall picture. My face looks a bit funny because I’m talking to my friend, who made the shots. Normally I’m much prettier and wear shoes.

Dear followers and other unknown readers, this skirt is such an good incentive that I decided to make one garment for myself every month, this year. I already have plans for a knit dress.
So that’s my cliffhanger this time. Stay tuned!