Sew For Victory: Navy Skirt

I knuckled down this week and got the navy blue skirt finished for Sew for Victory!  I was determined not to have a repeat of Knit for Victory (where I finished the garment less than week after the deadline, and then frogged it), so when I had a free day on Thursday, I scraped my wet hair into a knot on the top of my head, pulled out one of my modern knit dresses from the closet, and set to work.  I made some modifications to this skirt, based on the fit of the red one, and I like the fit better, although I really should just learn how to grade the pattern properly.  But honestly, I don't have much time to learn a lot of new skills right now (I was busy trying to keep my toddler out of the sewing machine and away from the press iron all.day.long, that is, when the baby wasn't crawling under the table and playing with the foot pedal, trying to run the machine without me).  So yeah, not going to be doing professional-grade sewing for a while, but my goal is wearability right not, not perfection.

Also, I realize this is sort of a boring garment, but I really rely on basics like this for my everyday wardrobe, and having my favorite navy blue skirt on the skids has been cramping my style!

So my workaround for the too-big waist band problem that has plagued my last four skirt efforts.  I can't make the hips any smaller, or it will be too tight across the mid-section, but my waist is so much smaller, and the ratio is sharp and short--i.e., I go from wide to narrow quickly, so there's not much room to grade.  My mom said that grading my wedding dress for my waist-hip ratio was difficult for her, and she's much more accomplished than me, so I don't feel too badly about this.  

What I did was to sew a narrow strip of elastic (because that was what I had on hand) into the back of the waist band seam before I sewed the top of the waistband under in the back.  So the elastic is encased in the waistband, and anchored on the seam allowance at the top of the skirt.  Clear as mud?  It was a bit tricky to ease the stretched elastic into the waist band and keep everything smooth, but it works.  The skirt fits much better than previous tries, so I guess that counts for something.  Incidently, I sewed a small piece of elastic into the back of my red skirt as well, but because I didn't want to take apart the whole waist band to do it, and the piece I had was smaller, I just sewed it directly onto the inside of the waistband at the back.  It's not pretty, but it is functional, and I think the skirt fits a bit better now.  Probably a bigger/wider piece would have done a better job, but, you know.  Toddlers.

The fabric is so unbelievably soft--microbrushed twill from fabric.com, and I have the hunter green version coming in the mail.  I probably won't do anything with it until summer, but it was on sale, and I knew I was going to remake my green skirt, so there you go.

I don't think I've worn this blouse on the blog yet; it is a 70s Worthington number that I picked up from ebay (I think!) early last fall.  It is a kind of silky polyester that can pass for charmeuse, I think, and I like the bow print.  It is two sizes too big, but I've added some darts to help bring it in some.  I keep thinking this blouse needs a super neutral sweater, like oatmeal colored to go with it, so I've not worn it much, but I've got oatmeal yarn in my stash waiting to be knitted up, so that project might be next (well, after the girls' Pascha hats, of course.  Priorities.)

The brooch is an old one from Acorn and Will, and I've been wearing it all week with different outfits--I love lightweight resin brooches because the little people in my life can't really wreck them, and they are easy to wear on a variety of fabrics.

See skirt.

See skirt lining (blue rayon bemberg that I bought specifically for this skirt; it is growing on me).  I made the lining free-hanging on this skirt, and while it was faster to sew this way, it isn't as neat as in the red skirt, so I may not do it again. 

Elasticized waist back.

My one bit of fancy for this skirt--pointed waist band ends!  I know I make my bands too long, but I like a long overlap because I think it looks nicer on my figure.  Also, see that little spot next to the zipper?  My hands are crazy dry and cracked right now (what else is new?) and one of the cracks really opened up while I was hand-sewing the lining to the zipper opening.  Oops.  At least it is small and on the inside.

As for my other Sew for Victory projects, I've been making muslins for fit, and I really can't decide what to do with the vintage strawberry fabric.  I had though about a wrap around blouse, using the top half of the Crepe pattern, and I think it looks okay, but I'm just terrified to cut into the fabric and make the wrong choice for it.  So much pressure.  I've washed and dried the red and yellow floral fabric and am going to get cracking on that soon.  I'm torn between the New England dress, which can be modified for nursing friendly-ness, and the Crepe, which is very easy, but not nursing friendly unless you wear it backward, and then the bust darts stick out funny (I know, because I tried it with my muslin top).  Decisions, decisions.  Stay tuned for further developments.