Marta Skirt (week 1)

This will be a multi part post.

I had asked about some embellished cord a few weeks ago, and over Christmas I had an idea. This fabric could NOT be pants, it could NOT be a jacket. So that left a skirt. And I love A-line, mid-calf skirts. And I just happened to have the perfect pattern. The Marta dress can be made up as a skirt.

So there you go! My plan for this fabric which has been in my stash for such a long time. I had not realized that this was a think; judging from the people I 'meet' on Patternreview.com some people have hundreds of metres of fabric! My problem is actually all the little bits I can't get rid of.

My plan was to cut on a single layer in order to try some pattern matching. Well I did a lousy job. If you look closely you can see that each row is offset from the row beside it, so my attempts to at least get a horizontal match failed, mostly. And I made NO attempt to line up the 'vines' which join the 'flowers' (for lack of better words!).

Then I made two cutting errors. I wanted to lengthen the skirt by about five inches. So I slit and spread each pattern piece, placing them the required distance apart. All except for one panel, that is. The second error was that the skirt waistband is a different piece than the dress waist band, since it is structured somewhat differently. In the skirt the waistband goes on AFTER the button band, and so needs to be longer.

The waistband problem is easily solved - I have plenty left over to cut another one; I want it without any of the embellishments, but these can be removed if I need to.

The first problem, well, I did a patch, with fairly well-matched patterns. It will be visible, but not the first thing one notices! See the photo below. 

My favourite thing about this pattern is the pocket. I have NO IDEA what one calls this kind of pocket, I checked on Google and gave up when I got to teeth (apparently they sit in a pocket?!). As you can see, this pocket is built by placing an upper panel behind the lower panel, and the pocket bag is attached only to the upper panel and along the side seams. So you only see the upper part of the pocket. Like a welt pocket but not slashed. 

The photo is a bit dark at the top, but you can see the pocket, with the rotary cutter inside, but you don't see the bottom of the pocket. Again, I love this feature on this skirt!

In a discussion thread I am participating in about sewing with corduroy, some people were mentioning that corduroy sticks to your tights. I did not want to do a proper lining, but I like underlining. I also did not want to purchase anything. So I dug out an old blouse / shirt I had made, poorly, which might be rayon, but felt perfect. (Although truly speaking, underlining should be a much more delicate fabric, like silk organza). I did not have enough for the full length, but was okay with knee-length for this! The colour is dark, but the tone is right. I learned today about 'flatlining' which is a technique which would have helped with my other problem - how to finish the seams nicely, since I opted not to make the seam allowances wide enough for Hong Kong bindings. Oh well, there is always a next time! 

The skirt will have a button band (which I cut near the selvedge, so there is no embellishment on it.) I am wondering if I should add some 'jeansy' features - top stitching, rivets, jean-buttons.... 

I will finish the construction before deciding!

I am trying not to rush this project, but it seems I am anyway.

SLOW SEWING is my goal. I need to better understand what I mean by that, I guess!