Processed: BWOF 11-2007-132A - Plaid Skirt

I'm just going to go ahead and call this one a done deal! It needs a good final press and I still have the hem to do, but its a wrap! Since its cut on the bias, I need to let it hang for a few days (or weeks) before I hem it. The instructions call for a satin-stitched hem/lettuce edge. I've worked up a few samples, but I'm not quite happy with them. I think I need to add some sort of wash-or iron-away stabilizer at the edge to hold the stitch. I also want to use a rayon or poly embroidery thread for added effect (read, "make a trip to JoAnn's" — at least thread is on sale through 6/21).

Down & dirty: This is BWOF 11-07-132A; a bias cut, A-line skirt with a wide contoured yoke (on the straight grain) and darts both front and back. I added extra room for my hips and abdomen and cut 1-inch just-in-case seam allowances. Burda and I both made it up in plaid, but it has enough shape & interest to be very nice in a plain fabric or a print. There is plenty of opportunity for topstitching, fabric piecing/chevron effects, or other embellishments.

Despite the time it took me to cut out and put this together, construction was quite easy. It is a skirt after all. The pattern is drafted so that the yoke is 7 pieces — 3 in front and 2 for each side of the back. I didn't want to mess with matching plaids across the yoke and I usually don't wear my blouses/tops tucked in, so I lined up and traced all the bits together to make 1 piece for the front and 1 for each of the back sides. As it turned out, I did need the fitting lines the original pieced yoke offered because I had to take in the darts in the front & extend them through my now 1-piece yoke. I also had to release the darts in the back, but couldn't carry that up through the yoke because I didn't have a seam allowance at that point. I was able to utilize the back center seam to tweak the fit of the waist and high hip.

On the lining, I skipped making the darts and sewed in soft pleats instead. I also fused my interfacing to the yoke lining pieces, rather than the fashion fabric, because I didn't want any bubbling.

Kudos to me: I think this is the best invisible zipper I've ever sewn! Invisible zips are easy with my handy-dandy #35 invisible zipper foot for my Bernina, but I always have trouble getting the first few stitches of the seam just below the bottom of the zip to lay right. This time it was easy-peasy. New/couture technique: I thread traced all of the seam lines. I did it to practice the technique on a garment without too many seams, but primarily to help with matching the plaid as the side & back seams. I don't think this is a techniques I'll use very often as it was labor-intensive, but it will be used if I ever get to the point of making a finely tailored garment. Despite finally figuring out during the making that this is not quite an "even" plaid and my waist-hip-abdomen fitting-on-the-fly, the plaid matching came out okay, IMO.Changes for next time? A tilted waist and/or sway back alteration? Move the back zipper to the side? Something for the high hip fluff? Something for the high, wide to low, less-wide booty? Does FFRP have a (Mercedes) "V-boot" alteration??? LOL!