Finally! Pencil skirt DONE!

So, it's been awhile since I made anything. That can be explained by one word: school! I started this project nearly a month ago right at the beginning of school. I thought a pencil skirt was basic enough that it shouldn't be that bad. Wrong! School.

First, I must mention that this is my first project on my new machine: a Pfaff Creative 1.5. Husband surprised me by saying "why don't you get it?" when I thought surely it was a "whatever you want to do with your fun money" item. I guess the fact that I spend a lot all my free time sewing and the fact that the starter machine I had bought myself -with my fun money - made it actually seem useful. And I have dragged him to the mall a LOT less than before I realized that making my own clothes is a lot more fun than buying clothes helps, too!

But I digress. Actually, I have to digress a bit more...I love my new machine! I love the IDT system. Built in walking foot? Genious! Auto thread cutter? Brilliant! Lovely built in stitches! I haven't tried the embroidery yet because, quite frankly, I don't know anything about embroidery or stabilizers or anything and I'm a little scared. My dealer is supposed to be offering a class on this machine soon and I'm going to wait for guidance.

So, as I said above, I started this skirt a month ago and it's been awhile in the making. First, I decided to add a lining because, well, it's a pencil skirt and pencil skirts are supposed to have a lining. But it had a kick pleat and I had no idea how to add that in. Thankfully, there's Google and bloggers! Not that all tutorials are created equal. When I made my Bluegingerdoll Betsy skirt, I followed a tutorial on lining that and got all way out lost. So I hunted for another one and found a great tutorial on A Fashionable Stitch: pencil skirt sew-a-long. It led me just fine through attaching the vent lining to the main fabric. There was a head-scratchy moment exactly where she said there would be but she walked me through that head-scratchy and I unpicked it no problemo!

 See how nicely it turned out? Way better than my Betsy! It looks like it's supposed to, even if it's not as nice as some of my ready-to-wear vents, but hey, those ladies have made a lot more than I have.

 Now, my invisible zipper, from the inside, is NOT right. Although I knew in the back of my mind that I should think it through BEFORE I did everything else, I pushed that thought down and said to myself, "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." I knew that was wrong. I knew I'd not be happy with the result. But I did that anyway. I look for tutorials on how to solve the dilemma I created for myself, but I ended up just doing an amateur solution since I would have had to unpick. From the outside it looks okay.

 

 More information included in my review on Pattern Review.