Skirts Galore

The blogosphere is full of people's Spring 2009 sewing plans. I am still sewing for 2008. The linen skirt I had blogged about earlier had been lying around the sewing room since last summer!

For winter, I had planned to make one gray wool pencil skirt. I finished it last week. It is still officially winter so I made the deadline. But, Spring weather hits LA in February. Sigh.

I made Vogue 1790 View A twice. It is my favorite straight skirt because it has usable pockets that don't gap. Both times, I cut the skirt knee length.
The first time, about 15 years ago, I used a navy blue Italian wool satin remnant, underlined with an iron-on knit backing. I got all the materials for the blue skirt from Denver Fabrics. This skirt also has the magic hidden elastic waistband. It fits, but only during my thinner time of the month.

I made it again with a gray plain weave wool from Joann's and a knit fusible from SAS. I graded the pattern up from a size 12, adding 2.5" in the waist and 3" in the hips. I overcompensated. The skirt is too loose. I regraded the pattern again for an intermediate size and cut it out of French navy cotton stretch poplin for Spring.
It seemed like a bargain underlining at the time, at 99 cents a yard compared to the $6+ I paid Denver Fabrics. False economy. See how it bubbles in the photo above? Below are the insides of the two wool skirts.
Get the good stuff. Call or email Denver Fabrics to order the 60" wide fusible knit interfacing/lining. You fuse it on the fabric before you cut it out. I also lined the gray skirt with black silk habotai from Dharma Trading. It's cheaper than Bemberg rayon, easy to work with, and feels fabulous.

Here's a peek at my Spring knitting.
And my quilt show entry (the bottom one).
Update:
The sweater is done and blogged about here.