spottedroo

Here are two skirts I made recently:

Apologies for the wrinkly photos— they’ve both been worn several times already.  The top one is from Burda 01-2011, about half way between the lengths of  #111 and #112.  It’s the leftovers from my victory jacket: less than a yard and it used them up completely.  The second one uses the yoke from Burda 08-2010′s “Take 1 Make 4″— probably closeset to #135.  The bottom is just a big rectangle, the width of my piece of fabric, pleated to fit the yoke and then with the hem turned under and stitched to form a drawstring casing.

Both skirts have invisible zippers on the curved side seams.  The first time I tried this I sewed the zipper in flat as usual.  That warped the skirt and made the side seam bulge oddly— a problem I’ve had before when putting zippers into curved seams.  So here’s what I did the second time through:

First, baste and press the seam.  Press the zipper teeth flat.  Then pin one side of the zipper in place through both layers of fabric, holding the seam so it curves properly and the zipper curves along with it.

Then pinch the fabric and zipper together and transfer the pins to the seam allowance.  I found it helpful to transfer the middle pins first so the ends were still held in place.

Now sew the zipper down.  Repeat the same process on the other side.

Voilà!  Nicely curved zipper:

And on the other skirt:

I really like the proportions of these skirts and the details like the yoke and pleats.  But I’ve mostly been wearing them under long loose tops or dresses— just to add a few inches to the hem.  So most of the details are lost:

Also, when I was making them I didn’t think about the fact that I bike to work— not compatible with a tulip skirt.  I had planned on making one more but maybe I’ll make that piece of fabric into shorts instead.

Oh, and guess who’s been helping me reorganize my patterns?

Yes, we do this every night.