Sunday, January 20, 2013

Presenting: orange cashmere skirt

A somewhat prosaic title - but so long awaited!  The Sewing Lawyer finally finished her multi-seamed plush orange cashmere skirt, designed for Vogue (#1324) by Donna Karan.

Behold:

Here, I'm wearing it with the recently-completed cowl neck top from Burda 09/2012, which has turned out to be a very versatile and much-worn item.  Too bad it's made from that pilly rayon knit which won't survive washing very many times.

A confession - when I made the top, it was pairing with this skirt I had in mind.  I think they look pretty good together.

From the full-length picture at left, I hear you think "ho hum:  another pencil skirt".

Closer up, however, check out the construction detail and topstitching! The consensus here and IRL was that I should accentuate the positive by adding topstitching at the darts and waistband, so I did.  Even though I had already attached the zipper, which made it a bit tricky.

I have worn the skirt - it's narrow but not uncomfortable although one must take little, ladylike strides in it.

Aside from the fitting adjustments already chronicled here and the endless testing of said fitting adjustments in muslin (twice) mentioned here, what else to tell you?  Let me see....

Well, this plush fabric is, I am pretty sure, a wool and cashmere blend.  It is thick enough to be a decent coat, but I only had one metre.  This because my husband found the fabric at our local thrift store for (drummmmmmrolll) $1.99.  Despite its provenance and price, this lush find languished in The Sewing Lawyer's stash for a couple of years while she came to terms with the fact that (a) the only upper body garment that could be made from it would be a vest, which due to its colour would only look right if worn in the forest with a hunting rifle and (b) it was not "too good" to be sewn and (c) there was enough for an orange pencil skirt which could be pretty interesting.

The skirt is underlined with silk organza and lined with hot pink mystery lining from stash.  I used this technique to line around the vent.  

 I made little thread chain connectors to keep the lining from peeking out below the hem of the skirt when I sit down, but need to re-do them because they are the wrong length and/or attached in the wrong place, and so allow the lining to peek out about .75cm, which is sort of cute but also annoying.

The zipper in this skirt is inserted after the entire garment is sewn, and it's installed up to the top of the back waistband.  A regular skirt-length zipper would be too short so I used a dress-length one, from stash.  I first tried using an extra-long zipper in my black high-waisted skirt and it is so much easier to get in and out of.  In this skirt the zipper opening is probably 30cm (12").

Finally, and just to prove that experience is no guarantee that no sewing mistakes will be made, I will confess that I had the entire skirt finished and put it on, only to realize that there was a very obvious problem at the top of the back vent - a drag line indicating that something was out of whack.  It took me quite a long time, after totally un-sewing the back vent, CB seam and lining, to realize that in sewing the CB seam below the zipper, I had eased more fabric into the underlap side, which released just at that point and created a big bubble of fabric.





20 comments:

  1. This design is looks fabulous on you. Such great lines, love the high waist look. Pretty impressed that your husband finds thrift shop fabric for you - and what a find this one was!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! This looks so worth every stitch you made and then ripped out and sewed again! It's awesome and coordinates so well with the top!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great colour and I like all the topstitching details. Good job.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This skirt is simply smashing, and looks so good with the knit top. I love the seaming details in this pattern. Very chic!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely skirt! Love the color and design;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love this on you, it is so flattering to you. Was well worth the muslin and looks wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful skirt, and I love your explanation of how the fabric use was rationalized. I think we've all been there. Vogue has some strange directions at times, especially on knit and designer garments. I'll bet DK didn't do it like Vogue.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Absotively smashing skirt, and a gorgeous outfit! Beautifully done; thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. well done. Both pieces are lovely and make a great outfit.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The whole outfit is wonderful. Those colours are very 'you' and the construction on that skirt is fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very nice skirt and the topstitching adds a nice touch. I also liked your tutorial on the skirt vent.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's beautiful! I love the colour on you, and the topstitching details are brilliant.

    I'm curious how you did the little thread chain connectors to keep the lining from peeking out below the hem of the skirt when you sit down. I've got that problem on one of my skirts too, and would love to see how you fix this!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Beautiful skirt! We must meet up and wear our orange cashmere skirts together some day! Love the topstitching.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Behold, indeed! It's fantastic! Orange is my very favorite color.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thank you so much for all the details about removing the fullness below the front darts. I redrafted the front as you suggested and I am well on the way to finishing this skirt. I also changed the waistband by cutting it level with the front top edge and then using lining to create the facings on the waistband sections. This has meant I can then line the skirt in my usual way completely concealing all the inner seams.

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's so marvelously cashmerey orange! And you tweaked the fit to perfection. I hope you get a lot out of it, even if you do have to take small steps! The top goes well with it, too.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love your blog and am impressed and inspired by all the creativity you possess. I am a court reporter and until lately, even though my degree is in fashion design, I had done very little couture sewing and next to no knitting. Recently I took some advanced couture classes and started knitting again. I have started a blog, but have no idea what I am doing and would appreciate any comments or advice I can get on the blog.

    Please keep posting. I love your projects.

    jenedesign.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete