Finished project: bias-cut green skirt

I have a new favorite skirt!

Okay yes, it's not that exciting. But I've needed at least one (okay several) good, basic skirt for ages, and finally I sat down to change that. I can't tell you how many times I look into my closet, pick a blouse, then look at my skirts and think, "I'll wear this blouse with... what?"

I sewed this bias-cut skirt from New York Pattern Creation 1730, which is probably from the early 1940s. I really love the styling on their pattern envelopes. And somehow now I'm craving a mustard-colored version... lol

I had to share the instructional diagram for this skirt. Granted, there were a few sentences along with this, but talk about concise. This is all you got!

I did a muslin because I'd never done a lapped zipper with a skirt waistband (just in a dress), but I'm also glad I did because there were a few fitting tweaks. While the skirt was a bit too big, the waistband piece was too small (huh?) and since I'm a shortie I had to smooth out the side seams after cutting out 3" of length below the hip. In the end the underlap on the waistband is longer than I wanted (you can see it sort of peeking out a bit in the photo below), so I'll trim some off next time.

I mentioned in my last Made and Making post that I tried a slightly different technique for the lapped zipper, from Casey's circle skirt sew-along last year. I'm really happy with how it turned out. This is the first time I did one that wasn't hand picked. The secret for a straight line for me was tape as a stitching guide (shown in this Flickr pic), lots of basting, and going sloooowly.

I used rayon seam binding and catch-stitched the hem. It was hard to ease in the fullness... I need to investigate if there are better techniques for this because steaming doesn't always cut it and I always feel like I'm doing a crappy job at it.

I didn't have any green seam binding, so I used blue! I like it.

But the hem does look nice from the outside, so I'm sure my 'crappy' isn't as bad as I think.

I used a heavy twill to try and use up something from my stash. I thought it was 100% cotton initially, but didn't remember for sure. I'm now thinking it's a cotton/poly blend. The fabric barely needed to be ironed when I pulled it out of the dryer and it didn't wrinkle too badly either, considering these photos were taken after being on and off public transportation and outside in the hot sun all morning at Randolph Street Market.

Gratuitous dog picture since how interesting can a bunch of photos of a plain green skirt be?

So apparently below is my look of concentration, as Mel took this just as I was about to scoot myself up onto the bench on our deck. I had to include it because this is probably a way more accurate photo of how I normally look than any others you see. Classy, huh?

Well, here's the slightly nicer version of that.

Outfit details: me-made skirt, peasant blouse from Shanghai Lili's, 50s fruity earrings from my mom and step-dad, Bakelite bangles from here and there, Miss L Fire shoes

So it's simple, it's basic, it's not exciting, but I'm pretty pleased with this little skirt! Solid skirts are almost non-existent but desperately needed in my wardrobe. Now I have a great pattern with all the quirks ironed out of it. Expect to see more of these in the future! It's definitely going to be a new wardrobe staple pattern. :)

What should I sew next??