Silk Skirt Reveal

Ta da!!! I *finally* finished the blue silk skirt for my friend. I don't have a picture of her modelling it 'cuz she lives up in Paris and I haven't given it to her yet, but here it is on my sewing space/dining room table:


Okay, my gathers are not evenly spaced, but that's the best I could do. I went back and re-spaced them, but they still bunched up in the middle.

Here's a back shot; you can see I chose a pink invisible zipper to match the warp thread:


A close-up on the back vent:


As far as the pattern goes, I'm happy with it. The instructions were good and I think it was easy to put together. The only difficulties I had were in adapting the pattern to use with a lining (odd that it is not lined though...this kind of skirt really needs either a slip or a lining) OR working with the silk OR my machine and my pinking shears eating the fabric.

I didn't insert the lining in the best way possible, but it's an improvement over my red cotton trial version. The silk is so delicate though that I can see the zipper is already stressing it out. I'll have to tell my friend to be careful with the zipper.

The silk frayed like crazy; I guess this was to be expected. But my machine was behaving itself up until the last day of sewing. Luckily, at that point, I was finished with the fashion fabric and was only working with the lining. But my machine (and my pinking shears, which I think I need to replace) did eat up some of the lining fabric. Hence, you can see here that one part is shorter than the other because I had to compensate:


It's on the inside so I'm not going to worry about it!

My original plan was to keep the selvedge for the hem line, but because of the pattern having a round hem and not a straight hem, I couldn't do that. What I did do though was to cut off the selvedge and use it as hem binding, which I then rolled to the inside. It wasn't pretty enough to keep it on the outside there.

However, I did keep it on the outside at the waist band. I like the effect it has there - a slightly more rigorous trim that provides an interplay for the classy, shiny silk. And of course it picks up the pink threads showing throughout the fabric.


Here's a shot of the pocket. I used the same fabric inside:


All in all, I think the pattern and the fabric go well together. But the fabric is definitely not hard-wearing. I think because of that it's more of an 'upon occasion' skirt than an everyday skirt.

Comments

  1. That fabric is so lovely! Kudos to you for actually taking on sewing with silk! I'm still way too scared for that...

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    1. I procrastinated forever because I was scared of it!

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  2. Well done.I have made over the past couple of weeks two dresses for my friend...both have been a compete catalogue of disasters.The red dress is now too small and I have to alter it and the second dress,a blue one,was going ok until this morning...I just finished the hem and was snipping off excess fabric only to cut a big hole in the dress.I think you might have heard me swearing where you live.Never ever have I cut a hole in a dress before typical that it had to be for a friend.Needless to say the hemline is now much shorter than originally planned!!
    Never again will I sew for a friend...too stressful.
    This skirt looks really sweet and I love the pink shot fabric...gorgeous.Well done for finishing it too with your sanity intact!!!

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  3. The first thing I sewed for another person (well, recently) was a shirt for my sister. And while I was hemming it I cut a hole in it! And you know, I think I just darned the hole.

    I'm not sure I could've heard you swearing because I was swearing too loudly myself! :)

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  4. The skirt is lovely Donna. I like the extra pinkness on the waistband. Skirts with pockets are always the best in my book! Well done for sewing for a friend. I haven't made anything for a friend for about two years. I just feel that I am not upto finishing to a high enough standard for someone else! I can live with my mistakes and shortcouts but don't want to impose them on another person!

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  5. That skirt is lovely! I particularly like the shaped waistband

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  6. Oh wow, that fabric is so lovely! Such a nice sewist to sew for a friend ;)

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  7. That fabric is perfect for the skirt! Just great. And well done for sewing for a friend, I just finished a Portfolio dress for a friend of mine (who coincidentally also lives in Paris). I only hope it´ll fit her! :-)

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  8. OH WOW! I love the style paired with this fabric - the waistband is just perfect!

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