Hey funsters!
We all have it. That bit of fabric that we purchased that was just that bit beyond our price comfort zone but which we just know would HAUNT OUR DREAMS if it didn’t end up in our stash. I’ve been holding on to this “hand painted” silk gazar organza for over a year now, and contemplating what to do with it for a solid 6 months. Finally, I have girded my loins (that sounds filthy, on reflection) and started the process to make myself a skirt.
I decided to use Butterick B5929 again, because I figured that a skirt with deep box pleats would work well for this pattern, and I didn’t want to draft my own as I always end up with weirdly splaying pleats. I did decide to move the zip to the side, cut the back on the fold and to use the organza as an overlay layer with a gap rather than a zip, and move the zip in the lining below, something I haven’t done before (VETERAN SEWISTS ARE NOW HITTING THEIR HEADS AGAINST THE KEYBOARD. More on this later.)
Straight out of the gate there was a complication: B&J had managed to mangle the cutting by a solid 5 inches. Really not acceptable ever, but particularly not on precious fabric! I’ve emailed them but not heard back…
Luckily for me, there was just enough to squeeze out the pattern pieces with 2.5 inches length added (it’s def above-knee by quite a bit as drafted, on me at 5’6″). Phew!
Now, did you spot the error earlier? If you want to have a gap in an organza overlay then 1) the skirt probably needs to be gathered or you need to put it deep into a pleat 2) you DEFINITELY don’t want that at the side, because it will 100% splay out. Oops. Lucky for me, after I’d made it, I realised that I had basically just prepared the pieces for a lapped zipper, so I improvised and just hand-stitched one in there. First lapped zipper, first hand picked zipper! No pics at this point, but it looks pretty legit. Luckily for me gazar is a pretty solid fabric so it takes the zip fine.
The organza layer is assembled now and it’s looking pretty awesome and poofy, but I’m going to have to figure out whether I want to press those pleats down a bit, tack them down, or just embrace the mushroomness of silk gazar. What do you think? Next up is making the lining, then getting the waistband on there.
Lastly… despite appearances it’s been a super busy summer for me, with lots of extremely exciting projects going on behind the scenes. All will be revealed in due time… but if you want to be the first to get Guaranteed Fantabulous Cashmerette news, I’ve set up a mailing list and will be sending updates and, at some point, a newsletter, so if you sign up now you won’t miss a thing! (Don’t worry, I won’t share or sell your info with anyone else, and you can unsubscribe at any time).
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Lovely fabric. If you don’t hear back from your supplier, you could try Twitter or Facebook – I recently took to both when I couldn’t get a response from a company and got a very swift response and resolution. Shouldn’t have to do it, but it’s worth a try.
Beautiful fabric. The cutting is really off though. Just as well you had enough to make your project. I would have been fuming. Xx
Oh, that is a gorgeous fabric! So relieved to read that you were able to fit your pattern onto it. I guess I’m a visual person, because I can’t quite get my head around the zipper situation. I’ll just send good vibes your way….I’m sure the skirt will look fabulous when finished. Can’t wait for to see it all made up.
That fabric is a dream! And yay for sewing improvisation 🙂
That fabric is absolutely gorgeous and I would have been seriously burnt about that mis-cutting. Glad you were able to work with it. And I say: embrace the mushroominess! 🙂
That fabric is glorious but an epic fail with the cutting- jeez!
I have that fabric upstairs. I’ve washed it and am looking for the perfect pattern. It wants to be a summer dress so I suspect that will go on hold for a while.
This is gorgeous, fingers crossed.
Oh such amazing fabric! Excited to see the finished result! Shame about the cutting though… my mum had a similar problem after she ordered from Liberty (of all places!) a little while ago – there was a big flaw of some sort on the fabric and when she called up Liberty said ‘oh, can’t you work round that bit’. I was flabbergasted!!
Have been following Curvy blog for about 2 months. My daughter is Curvy and tall-but my grand daughter is curvy and will most likely be shorter. She is only 9 years old and developing already. I wish someone would come up with patterns that can be adjusted to short, tall, and in-between for children. Just talked to my hair dresser one of her daughters is curvy who is 10 years old. She asked her mom if her dress made her bottom look big. Would like to teach them to sew and make clothes for themselves as well as have a better self esteem.
Nina