Vogue 9031 - A Traffic Stopper!

Another stashbustin' skirt added to the wardrobe.  This skirt was made from the remnants of this jacket.  I made View A (the black/gray one pictured below), but with a small change.  See those little pieces on the upper side fronts that are cut from the contrasting fabric?  I decided to cut those little pieces from the tweed fabric instead of my contrasting fabric to make it blend better and I think I made a mistake.

When my skirt was all finished and it was hanging on the dress form patiently awaiting it's photo shoot - the DH walks in and says "Oh look - there's an arrow on the front".  An arrow, what do you mean an arrow?  Of course I hadn't even noticed the arrow shape until he pointed it out (no pun intended).  Now -  that's all I can see.  Once you see something, you can't "unsee" it. Just by changing those small little contrasting pieces - my skirt now has an arrow pointing up!  The backside always had the arrow hidden amongst the design lines, but of course I couldn't see that initially from the line drawing on the pattern envelope either.

Front view

Side view

Back view

Remember these shirts from the 80's?  This is what the skirt now reminds me of.



What happens if I fall down on the sidewalk while wearing it - will I be mistaken for a traffic sign and cause an accident - it is a green arrow after all!  What if I'm in the mood to do cartwheels on the sidewalk one day - what will happen then?  I can see the news headlines now - WOMAN'S SKIRT MISTAKEN FOR TRAFFIC SIGNAL - CAUSES MAJOR ACCIDENT AT INTERSECTION.  Will I get a ticket for wearing the skirt if this happens?  Would that be considered a wardrobe malfunction? What if I volunteer to hold the stop sign when school children are crossing the road - what then?  People won't know what to do - STOP, GO, TURN oh my!  I really need to think about my day ahead before dawning this skirt in the morning!

Before I had realized the traffic stopping possibilities of this skirt, I spent quite a bit of time adding extra touches to the inside finish of this skirt.  One little touch I am really happy about is the fun trim I added to the bottom hem on the inside.

 

This skirt is designed to be unlined and have a raw edge for the hem on the bottom.  Since my tweed fabric frays so much, I figured I would need to really hem it somehow and not settle for the frayed strings that would be tickling my legs all day.  After trying it on, I realized there was only room for a small 1/2" hem and that just wouldn't do so I rummaged thru my stash and found this trim.  I've had this trim in my stash since - well - probably sometime in the 70's and it's been waiting to bring it's bright and cheerful self out out of the trim box for 40+ years.

There is an advantage to this trim.  It acts as a sort of horsehair braid along the bottom edge and the hemline flares out just a little more than it did without the trim and I kinda like that. I also added some teal ribbon between the facing and the lining pieces.



Here's the process I used for sewing the trim to the bottom hem:

First - sew a basting line 1/2" from the bottom edge.


Next - with the right side up on the fabric, sew the wrong side of the ribbon to the edge, lining the edge of the ribbon up along the edge of the basting line.


Next - remove the basting line.


Next - turn and press the ribbon up onto the inside of the skirt and pin.  Hand sew the ribbon in place along the top edge.


Here's the stashbustin' numbers for this skirt:

Skirt: 1.125 yards
Lining: 1.125 yards
Total: 2.25 yards
Total YTD: 18 yards!!

That's it for today.  Wish me luck when wearing this skirt.  If it causes accidents, I will let you know!

Happy Sewing everyone!