FO: Gray? Green? Skirt

Well, I meant to post this a day or so after my previous post, but it's been a crazy time. Interestingly, this skirt is now too big for me even before I managed to post about it. Interesting. Anyway, when I made my Fairy Tale Voile Sailor Top, I really wanted a new neutral skirt to wear with it. Enter one of my favorite patterns: McCall's 7475.

This is my usual use of this pattern: view B plus the back pockets from view A. Add all the pockets always! I've made this skirt 2 other  times, both of which are still worn weekly, so I knew this was a solid choice to help out my dwindling wardrobe. Interestingly, I don't have a lot of bottom weight neutral fabrics in my ridiculously large stash. I have plenty of cool prints and then things like denim that would stand in a corner on its own, but not much with any type of drape. The fabric I used isn't ideal, but it did the job credibly for a mystery cotton twill. I grabbed this gray? green? fabric at a thrift store for $1.00 simply because it was a usable neutral. It's the weirdest color. In real life it has an olive-green tone, but in these pictures it looks totally gray. But it's not really olive green as you can see by the contrast it shows against my top in the pictures.

Pardon the all over wrinkling, but these pics were taken after the same July 4th trip to The Sewing Studio. I particularly love this pattern because it takes no alterations at all for my sway back - it just curves how it should at my lower back :) And I love the look of the pockets on the front, plus they are big enough to fit my enormous phone. As per usual, I top stitched all the seams with a triple stitch. This proved interesting when choosing a color for the thread, but I just took the fabric to the store with me and chose a strange greenish color, lol. Still don't know what to call it.

Another of the things I love about this pattern is the fly front. There's something so professional feeling about a fly front to me. This one actually went very well, so I'm thinking I am getting better at them. Another reason to love a fly front is when you don't have a weird green/gray colored zipper on hand but really want to sew this skirt up. Since a matching color wasn't an option, I decided to grab a zip from my stash in a color I would be unlikely to use elsewhere - so this has a mustard yellow zipper inside, lol. Yay for fly fronts.

I actually managed to sew the top stitching correctly on my back pockets this time. Usually I mess up the little triangle in the upper corners that helps to reinforce them so you don't immediately pull the pocket away from the skirt when you put your hand in. Usually my triangles are weird shaped and different sizes and overshoot the edge. This time though, they look great :) Yay for progress.

And now for the saga that this skirt became. I finished this entire skirt - hem and all - tried it on, and discovered it was over an inch too big at the waist :/  I was so ticked off. I had gained weight at the time, so I knew it needed to be a bit bigger than the last time I made the pattern, but it seems I overcompensated. I had to unpick the entire two piece waistband with top stitching, the waistband seam, the side seam and top stitching halfway down the skirt, and all the serging on the edges to take this skirt in. Nothing like doing a full scale alteration on an item you just finished, right? Not fun. It took me over an hour, but I got closer to a decent fit and sewed it all back up.

Later that week, I went to my moms and sewed the final step - the buttonhole. That night I cut open the hole with my chisel and sewed the button on, only to discover it was just a tad snug in the hole. So I grabbed my seam ripper to just barely open up the hole a little more... AND I SLIPPED. I've seriously never had this happen, but I guess it must happen to everyone at some point. I slit right through the buttonhole stitching and through my tab to about 1/4" from the edge. I was so ticked off, lol. The only thing I could do was sew a perpendicular line to hold the two sides together, then sew an extremely tight zig zag stitch over the rip and then fray check it within an inch of its life, knowing full well this repair may not hold up very well. I've managed to wear and wash this a few times now and thus far it has held up ok, so hopefully I was being overly pessimistic. Interestingly, I have now lost a weight since I made this and the photos were taken (I don't say this to brag - it has not been in a healthy way, but in a "I'm so stressed out I don't feel hungry" kind of way, which I don't recommend), so the skirt is WAY too big yet again. Like 2 inches can easily be pinched at the waistband :/ So who knows how long I will keep this one in rotation - I don't really fancy picking it all apart again, plus it seems to pull a bit odd across my tummy with each alteration at the waist. 

Anyway, I do still wear this skirt in spite of its issues because it makes a great casual, "go with everything" type piece (and my shirts always cover the buttonhole and the loose waist anyway). Mostly, I'm just glad to have sewn something wearable up in my sewing room back in June :) Here's hoping I can make something again soon!

Summary:
Fabric - 1.4 yards gray?ish cotton twill - $1.00 (thrifted)
Pattern: McCall's 7475
Notions: 7" mustard yellow zipper - $0.10, green button - free, green thread - $1.00
Time: 6 hours
Total Cost: $ 2.10

OAL2017: Gray Melissa Skirt

Today you get part 2 of my Outfit Along project: my skirt!

After deciding on my sweater pattern, I had to pick what to wear with it (to see Part 1 of this outfit - my sweater - click here). I'm a fairly practical dresser, and while I love the idea of dresses I almost never wear them on a daily basis because of my work. I'm a strictly separates gal everyday, so I decided to make a skirt. After throwing around a few ideas of skirt patterns I had planned, I decided to be boring predictable practical and make a pattern I've made a few times before and love: The Melissa Skirt.

This is the skirt portion of the Melissa Dress by Muse Patterns. I seriously love this pattern, and I've still only ever made the skirt! I have a Blue Jean version and a Basic Brown version of this skirt that I wear ALL.THE.TIME. For real. These are the skirts that I grab when I want to run out quickly or walk the dog or just need to be comfy but not look like a slob. These skirts are the perfect fit, perfect length, and even have the perfect pockets - thus they are worn to death. During Me Made May this year, I decided my old ones are looking a bit ratty (I'm looking at you, light weight denim!), so in a fit of "I can't decide what to make for the Outfit Along" I just grabbed this pattern and decided to kill two birds with one stone and sew up another great neutral version.

Having made this before and perfected the fit, sewing this was a breeze. Also having sewed this in 3 different types of fabric I knew what would work best. My denim version is a bit too light weight for the sea breeze where I live right now, and the green stretch heavy sateen was a very unfortunate disaster (I still lament you, green fabric!), but my brown version is just right. How's that for a Goldilocks statement? The brown fabric was a poly blend of some kind that is heavy enough weight o hold its shape in the wind, but it wasn't rough like a canvas tends to be and it doesn't have the diagonal weave that twill has. Maybe it's a gabardine? I thrifted the fabric, but that stuff is magical. I know it has some poly because it doesn't wrinkle much at all. With all that in mind, I started digging through my stash to try and find something similar to the brown fabric. When I unearthed this gray heavy cotton twill that was just the right length, I knew it was meant to be. I honestly have no idea where this fabric came from, which I very odd for me (I can't remember if I washed my hair or not, but I can remember where I acquired all of my fabric and how much it was - thanks, brain). I'm not sure if I bought it years ago at Hancock Fabrics in hopes of making some other project (as I was prone to do) or if I got it from a thrift store or what. I'm just happy I had it! This fabric is a great weight with just enough body to keep its flare and not blow up in the wind.

As far as fitting, I did the same adjustments that I did on my brown version: I added 1/2" to each side of the pocket panels (so my hands would fit in the pockets without straining the fabric), and I removed a 2.5" deep wedge from the center back. This worked out great and this is the smoothest fit I've ever achieved on the back of this skirt. Since this skirt will be worn a ton and therefore washed a lot, I overcast every seam and then top stitched them down. This really helps in keeping everything tidy inside no matter how much it gets battered in the wash. It definitely takes a lot of thread though.

And finally the aspect that makes this design so great: the pockets! These are seriously the best pockets. These skirts get so many compliments when I wear them and they always refer to the pockets and how cute they are. I can fit my entire phone in them. Or my hand. Or my keys at work. They are a very useful but cute touch and I adore them. I also love that this skirt has a button front, and I lucked out with buttons again as I bought a tube filled with miscellaneous buttons at The Sewing Studio in April for $3 and it had the exact amount in this size. I like the lines across the center - it kid of echos all the top stitching I think. Also this was my first time using the button sewing function on my sewing machine, and man I am hooked! It was so nice not to have to sew these by hand. I'm keeping an eye on them to make sure they stay on, so I will report back on that.

So there's my new Melissa skirt! I'm thrilled to have this in my wardrobe and I know I will get a lot of use out of it (especially as it looks fantastic with my favorite gray embroidered Taos shoes - you can see them in the first photo). Yay for useful basics!

Come see my final piece of the outfit up next!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.75 yards of 50" wide gray cotton twill - $2.00?
Pattern: Melissa Skirt by Muse Patterns
Notions: Pellon SF101 interfacing - $0.75, gray thread - $0.75, 7 gray buttons - $0.25
Time: 5 hours
Total Cost: $ 3.75