Happy accidents, or why one should really make a muslin

This is the skirt I made for A.  At least it started out being for A.  I checked out the book, Sew What! Skirts, from the library.  It had a bunch of really cute skirts to create, plus easy-to-follow directions for drafting the patterns.  I took A.'s measurements, did all the calculations, and drew the pattern just as instructed.  I even held it up to her to visually gauge if it was going to fit.  I had the skirt nearly finished and had her try it on.  The waist was about two inches to big.  Ugh!  M. was across the room happily volunteering to try it on, but J. looked at it and suggested I try it on.  It fit.  Perfectly.  So perfectly, it was as if I had drafted it for myself.  So now I have a new skirt, and even better, a well-fitting sloper from which to create more and more skirts which fit.  A. was a bit disappointed.  Now I need to go back and make her another skirt.  Do I dare make it out of the same fabric?  (Fabric which I found on one of my thrift store forays... $2.00 for 3+ yards.)  We could never wear them at the same time... it would look a bit too Sound of Music-ish.  You know, where Maria makes the play clothes out of curtains.

I am quite proud of this skirt.  I made the pattern and then was able to put it together without directions.  I even put in an invisible zipper.  See it?  I feel more and more as though I really know how to sew.

What I love most about this skirt, though, is what no one will ever see.  Inside I used a coordinating fabric for the facing and used the same fabric to make bias tape.  The bias tape was needed because I had to finish the seams.  The fabric is very ravelly and I knew it would fall apart if I didn't do something with them.  But it was also a bit bulky so French seams and flat felled seams were out.  That left Hong Kong seams, where you finish the seams with bias tape.  I love the way it looks... even if no one sees it.

I had the same difficulty with the hem.  The fabric was too bulky to roll twice to finish it, so I found some twill tape (I love how the color matches the pink in the coordinating fabric) and used it as hem tape.

The only thing left to do is to find three large buttons to sew on the front to add some interest.  I might even wear it for Thanksgiving dinner.