My sparkly brown herringbone skirt (New Look 0119) did not go well. It’s too short, too tight, the side seam under the zipper is crooked, the hem is wavy, and the interfacing at the waistband is crooked. In other words, if it could be wrong, it is.
It doesn’t look so bad when it’s not on me.
My cat, however, approves.
Millie enjoyed rolling around on the disastrous skirt.
I realized I was in trouble with this skirt when the size I cut out and sewed turned out to be about two sizes too big on me. I tried to slim it down, but I’m curvy and the waist/hip ratio adjustments needed were too complicated for my current sewing skills. You don’t want to know how many seams I ripped out…
Despite the ultimate fail of this skirt, I am not counting it as a complete loss. I practiced some important sewing skills:
- Darts. -Sewing a straight vertical line is way harder than I thought.
- Installing a zipper. -This was by far, the most frustrating and time consuming part of the skirt. I learned there is no compatible invisible zipper foot for my machine (not even the generic Coats and Clark foot works), so I ended up having to install a visible zipper.
- Working with thin synthetic fabric. -Nightmare! It shows off lumps I didn’t know I possess. I have a bit more of this, but I’m not using it again without a lining or something underneath to make it a bit less clingy in all the wrong places.
- Applying interfacing- This is not as complicated as I had anticipated. I’m pretty sure my difficulties in application were due to the slinkiness of the fabric. I think the interfacing would have worked really well on something less temperamental.
Due to the multitude of problems, I will not be wearing the skirt in public or private… um… ever. And, no photos of me in the skirt will be posted. It makes my bum look bumpy and my waist look huge. I don’t need that sort of image floating around the web for posterity.
When I placed the skirt on the rug to snap a picture, Millie was instantly enamored. Despite its flaws, she thought the skirt was great. There was much rolling around on the skirt and purring. A brief nap on the skirt followed.
Millie cleaned her paws and then dozed off on the skirt immediately after it’s completion.
Not one to dwell on my failings, I got right back on that sewing machine and successfully finished a knit project this weekend. More to come about that later…
From skirt to kitty pillow via a little fiberfill stuffing?
I love how you value what you learned and not just the finished product. You’re an inspiration! 
I think a kitty pillow is a grand idea! She’ll love it!
Sew serendipity has a great invisible zipper tut that uses a regular zipper foot- it sure has helped me…..the best part of this (if you arent kitty) is that you know what bothers you about it, so you know things to do differently next time- so consider this a skirt trial run turned kitty lounger!
Oh! I’m so excited about that tutorial! I was pretty upset when I realized that I can’t get an invisible zipper foot to fit my machine. Thanks so much for telling me about it!
It has really helped me – I have her book and keep it handy!