Picnic dress

We've been having great weather at last in the UK in the last 2 days. I went on a short trip to Bristol for work before the good weather started and so I spent the last couple of days sweltering in tights and winter suits in 29 degrees heat.

When I returned home yesterday evening and my chap suggested a picnic today I confess that my first thought was that I have the perfect dress for it.  So here I am, my Lonsdale and I are going for a picnic today! The sun in shining, the food is prepared and all I need to do now is decide where to go.

What a difference great weather makes. I'm planning to make the most of it.

Update: We went to Whitlingham Country Park in Norwich and had a brilliant time. The dress is perfect for a hot day. Even with the lining I managed to stay cool. I thought I'd be the only one wearing a dress but there were other girls with floral sundresses and maxi-dresses. I predict more Lonsdales around here!

Happy weekend!

The French Riviera Dress

I now have a Lonsdale dress! Here are some pictures of the finished dress.

I've called it the French Riviera dress as it reminds me of something Brigitte Bardot might have worn in the sixties. I googled “Brigitte Bardot gingham” and up came an image of the pink gingham dress she wore on her wedding day!

I had a choice of black, yellow or pink gingham. Pink is not usually my first choice of colour, particularly on a dress. I chose this fabric because it was far softer than the others. This is one of the few fabrics I have that I think may be a cotton or at least a cotton blend. It pressed beautifully and was lovely to sew although it frays a lot.

I mentioned in my muslin post that the only adjustments needed were to the hips and lower part of the skirt. I transferred these adjustments and tried on the muslin again. I was worried about the waistband. There was practically zero ease even before the waistband facing. The waistband didn't perfectly match the lower bodice and the bodice had to be eased into the waistband. I don't know if it is supposed to be like that or there's an error in the pattern piece. 

Rather than adjusting the pattern pieces and making another muslin I decided to cut the waistband a couple of inches bigger at each side so that I could match it exactly to the lower bodice rather than easing it in, starting from the centre and working outwards. After I had done this I cut off the excess waistband to match the centre back of the bodice.

I then decided to sew the dress with a 1 cm seam allowance instead of 1.5 cm. Below the hip I graded the seam allowance up to 1.5 cm as I sewed. I think I also kept 1.5 cm on the horizontal seams at the waistband. All this has resulted in a good fit with some ease around my waist area but a bit too big at the top of the bodice. I was going to correct this by doing something with elastic at the top sides of the bodice but I didn't think it was needed. I quite like the top part, and the less than perfect fit there adds to the casual look of the dress.

Here's a round up of everything else.

Lining, waistband and Zipper

The pink gingham was totally see through and so lining the skirt was necessary. I used a nice pink lining fabric that I bought in Autumn 2010. 

I didn't make the final decision on the lining until I had practically finished the dress. You just need to leave an inch or so of the bodice and waistband facing unit free from the zipper so that you can attach a lining to the lower waistband if you decide to. You can then attach that piece to the zipper after the lining is attached, at the same time you are attaching the lining to the zipper.

I didn't make up a new lining pattern piece for the skirt front. I just used the front skirt piece, which has the pocket area cut out, and chalked in the missing part straight onto the fabric.  I used the fashion fabric to line the bodice and the waistband.

I sewed the waistband and zipper differently to the pattern instructions. I used an invisible zipper and the pattern uses a normal zipper. The pattern calls for the bodice and facing to be joined at the centre back before sewing on the zipper. This would leave the back of the zipper exposed inside of the dress. I wanted the zipper enclosed like in an ordinary lined dress. I sewed the waistband to the bodice on the lining pieces separately. I used the same principles as for lining a shift dress which I have written about here. For the zipper area I used Kathleen Fansella's technique for attaching zippers to facings which I adapt to use for linings. I have linked her tutorial in my post here. There's a whole folding back thing that I don't fully understand but it works. Here is a close up of my invisible zipper.

I'm particularly pleased with how the top of the zip has come out. I wrote about some zipper tips in this post. I find it useful to machine baste in at the top of the zipper area the seam allowance and then around 3 mm or more below on each centre back. That way you can place your zip stop at the 3mm point on each side.

I always struggled to get the tops of my zips neat. Interfacing the zipper area and taking these steps before I start has improved the look of my zippers. I'm always apprehensive about zippers.  As I'm doing them I always thing they're going to look rubbish in that top corner. Once everything is turned through and pressed I'm always surprised by the results.

Stay Tape

Tasia recommends stay tape at the top of the bodice pieces on the Lonsdale which is a great idea. After they are sewn she sews the tape onto the seam allowance. I don't have stay tape and I didn't have enough twill tape so I decided to use interfacing. I placed the interfacing so that I would sew through it at the seam line rather than having it sewn above the seamline. This has turned out really well and results in a nice clean edge once pressed. I then under stitched the bodice facing.

Straps

As much as I love the straps tied into a bow on the dress I knew this would limit the wearability of the dress. I always need the option to throw on a cardigan or jacket and that wasn't going to happen with the bow. I waited until the last possible moment before marking how much of the strap I would actually need. When cutting out the bodice pieces I didn't need the whole strap but I cut off more than I knew I would need so that I could make the final decision later. I then sewed up the dress, skirt, including the zipper and bodice facing before joining of the straps. I did this after the skirt was joined so that I could see the whole look of the dress and how it would hang before finishing the straps.

The pattern pieces have markings for the placement of the fabric loops (which I omitted and placed the straps there instead). I used those markings and left a gap about 1 inch larger each side  at the top of the bodice. When I was sewing the bodice and facing at the top I had to stop at these points instead of joining it all in one like in the pattern instructions.

Once I was happy with the strap placement, after testing it with pins, I marked the point where the strap would be sewn to the bodice and then sewed it in place, joining up the 1 inch gaps either side at the same time. One thing I did which has worked well, is to fold the strap in half before sewing it in place. Here's a picture.

Hem

I interfaced my hem and was relieved to find that I was able to use the blind hem stitch on the machine. For the first time, I used a basting stitch 3.5 cm from the edge to reflect where the hem fold would be. The pattern says 2.5 cm but I wanted it slightly shorter. I didn't change the length of the skirt at all. As I'm tall, I think this skirt is supposed to be a lot longer. I'm happy with the length though. The basting stitches made it really easy to press up the hem. I usually chalk in the hemline. It's worth taking the extra effort to do the basting stitches. The only downside is that you have to remove the basting stitches. Something I haven't done yet!

The interfacing on the hem has changed the look of the skirt slightly. Maybe it doesn't hang as straight and gapes out slightly. I don't mind this and I'm sure after a few washes it will hang straighter.

All in all I love the Lonsdale dress. I will definitely be making another one. I only wish we had better weather so that I could wear this sort of dress more often!

I received my Cambie pattern yesterday. I've enjoyed seeing the different versions on the internet. I'm mulling over the idea of making some design alterations to the Cambie. It will definitely be an A-line version though and I love the skirt and bodice part of the pattern.

Happy sewing!

Lonsdale Muslin

I'm so excited to have finished my Lonsdale muslin already.  Here's a picture of how it's looking so far.

How lovely is the Lonsdale?  I'm a bit late to the party with this one.  I bought the pattern in the pre-sale and wasn't inspired to make it last summer with everyone else.  Well, I've now been well and truly Lonsdaled and I can't wait to finish this one.  There may even be multiple makes like my Crescent skirt!

I traced out the pattern last night.  I did the size 12 straight with no adjustments.  The only adjustment I needed was to the hips and the lower part of the skirt.  I've taken in this area by about an inch so the skirt is a bit less flarey.  I just need to transfer these adjustments to the pattern pieces and I'm ready to go.  Obviously with the muslin I didn't do the duplicate facings for the bodice and waistband pieces.  There is a little bit of room there so I hope it works out out.

There was a funny moment when I was trying it on.  I forgot that you knotted it at the top!  I was wondering why it looked odd for about two seconds until I remembered!

I know others have said this but this is really easy to sew up.  Lots of straight lines.  Best of all it has no darts!  I don't know why but I hate sewing darts.

You've probably heard that Tasia is about to release her new pattern - the Cambie dress. I got the email about it yesterday.  I was going to sit the Cambie out but today I have changed my mind unsurprisingly!

Happy sewing.

Navy Blue Rooibos

I've now finished my Rooibos dress! Here are the pictures.

I used the Rooibos pattern from Colette patterns. If you read my last post  about the muslin you would have been expecting a white dress. I decided to go with a darker fabric for a couple of reasons. Firstly it may be spring but it's freezing around here. Spring wardrobe planning is lost on me as I'm usually wrapped up in a winter coat and tights well into June! Secondly I wanted to line the dress and was concerned the dark trim I wanted for the collar would show through the white fabric. I still want to make the white dress as I love the muslin. In fact I think the muslin looks better than my final dress which isn't supposed to happen!

Anyway the navy fabric is part of the lot I bought from retired seamstress. I liked the colour and I love the navy Rooiboses (is that the plural?) I've seen including the one on the Colette site. Unfortunately the fabric does not have the body that's needed for this pattern. I don't know what the fabric is – a cotton blend? It's a bit like a bed sheet! I thought the lining may compensate for lack of body. It has to some extent – it's a million times better with the lining.

I've used a rather luxurious fabric for the lining. I bought it I think in December 2010, early on in my sewing career. I can't remember what I had planned for it. When I made up the lining I was able to try it on to see what it might have looked like as a dress. I really liked it and it would have made a nice casual Darling Ranges dress (although I don't like the low neckline on that pattern). Too late now though but I may have enough left to make a top.

For the lining I followed my own instructions (based on Angela Kane's tutorial) which I posted about here. It worked out really well. I love the result on the shoulders and armholes with this method. To try and reduce bulk I thought it might be a good idea to draft lining pieces, merging my shift dress pattern pieces into the Colette facing pieces. I spent a bit of time doing this and tested it out but it didn't come out too well. I decided to just duplicate the dress for the lining. It has come out fine.

For the side zipper I did it so that it opens all the way up rather than having a sewn seam above the top of the zipper. This makes it much easier to put on. It's the same as sewing a zipper in the centre back of a dress. It was slightly trickier sewing the top part of the zip because of the curve of the armhole but it was OK.

I interfaced the zipper area on both the lining and the top fabric which made the zip extra easy to sew. I love the little collar thing at the top. It came out really well with the contrasting lining. Getting the collar to stay down was a challenge! Firstly I was going to tack the corners of the collar to the dress. I tried this but when I looked in the mirror I couldn't see that much of the contrast fabric. I had just used an extravagant fabric for the lining so I wanted it to show! I then tried to pick stitch it in place but in the end I decided not to mess about. That collar is never going to stay down unless it's stitched! I topstitched the collar in place at the neckline and down the two sides of the collar.

I made piping for the top of the pockets. I used some really thick shoelaces that I found around the house for the cording. (I don't know where they came from and I'm hoping my chap doesn't ask me if I've seen his shoelaces now!)

The dress is pretty short – I added 3.5 cm onto the hem and it's still quite short. I interfaced the hem, extending the interfacing 1 cm beyond the hem fold. I blind stitched it in place using the machine. It's so nice to have a fabric that can be blind stitched on the machine!

I'm really pleased with the dress. It looks great with my cardigans and I think I'll get a lot of wear from it this year.

Next up may be my Sewaholic Lonsdale dress (mainly because I love Dolly Clackett's gingham version) or another Rooibos.

Happy sewing!

Rooibos Muslin

At last! Just when I thought all my projects would be prefaced with fitting nightmares along comes a pattern that's a relative breeze. Here's the Rooibos muslin.

The pattern needs no introduction but for the unfamilar it's the Rooibos pattern from Colette patterns. I was hesitant about trying another Colette pattern, particularly a dress, after the fitting nightmare that was the Macaron. How strange that this one should sew up fine with all the pieces matching perfectly.

Using the advice on page 60 of my Vogue Sewing book, I selected the pattern size closest to the bust measurement since it's easier to adjust the waist and hip area. (This only applies to A or B cups - there's a bit more too it with a bigger bust).  I then cut as per the pattern with no pre-adjustments. As I thought I may have to widen the hips a bit and add a bit of length, I:

- Sewed the side seams with a 1cm seam allowance instead of 1.5 cm*

- Sewed the waistband to the skirt with a 1 cm seam allowance.

It fits perfectly which I'm pleased about. There's a bit of weirdness in the back bodice where the darts are. Maybe I have a flatter back than normal but I don't know who's supposed to have a pointed back! I think I just need to extend the darts a bit more or pinch out some of the excess. It's certainly not a major issue and knowing me I'll probably ignore it - it'll only be an eyesore to anyone standing behind me.

I'll also add on about 3.5 cm for the hem as the muslin length is just right. 

Another thing I did, which I'm planning to do on the final dress, is have the side zip go all the way up to below the arms. The dress completely opens at the side rather than having the first couple of inches below the arm sewn. This makes the dress a million times easier to get on and off. I got the idea from a ready to wear dress I bought years ago which I've just started wearing again.  

In my final dress I may use lining fabric for the inner pocket pieces rather than the top fabric. There's quite a few layers at the princess seams in this area so anything I can do to reduce this will help.

The muslin fabric is actually going to be the final fabric.  It's similar to the black I used in the Macaron so it has a lot of body. Although I haven't finally decided on the contrast fabric I'm thinking about a black and white fabric made into bias tape for the top of the pockets and the underside of the Rooibos collar. (For the uninitiated that Wilma Flintstone neckline you see folds down into a collar!)

I may also line the dress which will take some figuring out with that contrast facing.

I've had a great time bank holiday sewing today. So nice that I didn't end up tearing my hair out!

Happy holiday!

*Update: I amended the seam allowance to 1.5 cm from the hips to the bottom of the skirt.  The centre panel of the skirt is now flatter than in the picture above.  I also intend to add a seam allowance to the neckline at the front and back because I liked the finished lines on the muslin.  

Finished Pencil Skirt

This skirt's been a bit like the Forth Bridge in its making. I'm not sure why it's taken nearly a month to do. There was a slight mishap along the way, as explained here but mainly a lined pencil skirt with a self-drafted vent takes a bit of time.

We were diverted by the unseasonally lovely weather last weekend. We spent the afternoon at Great Yarmouth by the seaside. I love these old English seaside resorts. They're full of gorgeous old buildings reminiscent of a bygone era when the towns had money. The seafront is full of lovely old buildings that very often house delightfully tacky amusement arcades.

Anyway, back to the skirt, here are the pictures.

I feel as though the final skirt should be more exciting considering the amount of time it has taken. However the real excitement for me was the amount I learned during this make.

Pattern

I used Angela Kane's pencil skirt pattern that I have made before without the vent. This time I added a vent. The skirt pattern has a vent but I ended up drafting my own.

Fabric

I used a beige / gold coloured fabric that I bought from the retired seamstress. I'm not sure what it is but it's man made, and similar to the fabric used for my Miss Chalmers' skirt here. I used a bright orange fabric for the lining again from the old lady. I don't know what it is but it's lovely and soft. I wish I did know because it's unusual – shiny and slippery on the right side and dull on the wrong side.

Waistband

As mentioned here I widened the narrow, straight waistband. The waistband is the worst part for me. I think I'll stick a normal sized waistband in the future. I didn't insert the sew-in interfacing very well and it shows through – not a good look. It's about time I invested in some nice fusible interfacing.

Buttonhole

A major sewing milestone - I did my first buttonhole on a garment. I survived and managed not to ruin my project!

The gorgeous button was part of a recent auction lot. I think it's a military button. I'm so pleased with it that I thought I would pass on a few tips for those who haven't done them before.

First off I recently brought another sewing book – Sewing A to Z by Nancy Zieman. A wonderful book focusing purely on techniques. Pages of sewing stuff with no boring sections on equipment and fabric! Some of these tips are from here but most are my own.

For the length of the buttonhole you need to measure the diameter of the button and add on the width of both sides. My button was 2 cm and the width 2 mm so my buttonhole length was 2.4 cm. Nancy's tip is to place some clear tape over the button and mark the lower edge of the button on each side on the tape. You can then use the tape next to your buttonhole as a marker. I didn't do mine like this, partly out of laziness, but I like the tip. I just measured mine with a clear plastic ruler.

Nancy's placement tip is to end a horizontal buttonhole 3 mm beyond the centre front or back. With this in mind I cut the waistband so the top part extended about 1.5 cm from the centre back. The under flap extended about 1.25” past the centre. 

For the placement I folded my waistband in half and marked roughly where the centre was. I did a couple of test buttonholes. I don't have fancy attachments. My machine has a buttonhole stitch (ie the one in 4 stages) and I use a regular buttonhole foot. It has a long right hand “toe” (for want of a better word) which is useful to line up against your stitching to make sure it's straight.

For my tests I marked the placement lines by thread tracing them. I find chalk too “fat” to make an accurate mark. I found when I was sewing I couldn't see the placement line I had thread traced. What I did was put the thread traced line 2 cm from my actual placement line and used that as a guide so it wasn't obscured by the presser foot during the stitching. Place a pin at right angles at the top and bottom of the thread traced guide, so the pin is pointing towards where you need to stitch. Use this as a guide when stitching your buttonhole. To make sure you start at the correct point put your work under the presser foot and put the needle into the fabric. Manually use another pin as a marker, extending it past the first placement pin that points towards your work. If your needle is in the correct place then the pin should touch the needle. A pin is good to use as it fits under the presser foot and is long enough to reach the needle. 

Use the same principle to line up the other end of the buttonhole.

On my tests I liked the look of the buttonholes where I went over the stitching again, so two layers of stitching instead of one. This gives a more heavy duty result. Sewing over a small cord (or in my tests, two pieces of thread rolled together) gives a similar result but the first method was easier.

When I came to do the second round of stitching on my skirt I noticed about half way in that I wasn't sewing over the previous stitching. It was slightly off and sewing on the centre part that I would need to cut into. I stopped and undid the second row I had just started. Let me assure you that it's easy to undo buttonhole stitching if you notice your error in time and still have the thread tails in tact. No scissors or snipping involved. You just pull out the stitches one at a time by gently tugging on one tail, pulling the loop through, putting a pin inside the loop and pulling through and undoing it. Pull the other thread to release it and then repeat. Painless!

I decided not to attempt the second row of stitching at this point. Instead I slit open the buttonhole and then did the second row of stitching after cutting it open! I had no idea if this would work so I tried it first on one of my tests. It worked fine on the test so this is what I did. It's come out really well. Doing it this way avoids that unfinished look that comes when the buttonholes are slit open leaving raw fabric unless it's trimmed.

As to placing of the button this didn't occur to me until I actually came to do it so I thought I would share. Sew it on after the buttonhole. If I hadn't have thought it through I would have just sewn the button so that the middle of the button falls within the centre of the buttonhole. If you think about it, when you're wearing a skirt the button at the waist will naturally pull towards the centre. The centre of the button therefore needs to be at the right hand side of a horizontal buttonhole. This is easy to mark. Line up your waistbands and pin them in place so they don't move around. Place a pin through the right hand side of the buttonhole through to the other side and mark the other side. Imagine the pin is the thread on the button. 

Zipper

My invisible zipper came out well again. Here's a photo.

I use Angela Kane's method for the actual insertion (which I remember in my head now without having to watch the video each time). Along the way I've learned to always interface the zipper area which really does make it easier. I use the Colette sewing book tip of basting a row of stitching where the stitching line goes (so 1.5 cm if that's your seam allowance) and making sure the teeth touch the line when placing the zip.

In this make my seam allowances were 1 cm which I found was not enough to work with so I altered my pattern pieces to a 1.5 cm seam allowance in this area to allow for more space when placing the zipper.

I have another tip for making sure the top of the zipper falls in the same place on each side. Add an inch or so of basting stitches along the top of the centre back waistline to represent where the waist seam or stitching line will be. If your seam allowance is 1.5 cm then the basting stitches will be at this point. Use a stitch length of at least 3.5 cm so they stay in tact. Vogue recommends that the zip stop on a skirt with a waistband should finish 3 mm below the waist seam so I inserted a parallel row of basting stitches at this point. I used a point on my presser foot as a guide for the 3 mm – just measure out 3 mm from the needle and see where this falls on your presser foot, and make sure the first row of basting stitches lines up with this point when stitching. Repeat on both sides and when pinning in the zipper make sure the zip stop falls on the second row of basting stitches.

Lining

I watched this Threads video again on how to make a lined pencil skirt. I made my first pencil skirt using this video and thought I had been doing it the same way on all my subsequent lined skirts. Turns out I had been doing it differently. On the Threads video the lining, outer shell and lower front waistband seams are all sewn together in one go. I must have been copying my ready to wear skirts and have been attaching the lining to the lower edge of the inside facings / waistband, joining the upper waist seam and then stitching in the ditch to join the lower edges of the facings together. (Except on my ready to wear skirts they don't do the last step - it's left open.) I decided to do it the way I had been doing it – three lines of stitching in that area must provide extra re-inforcement.

There is surprisingly little out there on lining a vent. There is nothing in any of my sewing books on the subject. I found all I needed to know using these on-line resources:

1. You Tube video by the Sewing Guru – lining a back vent here.
2. Sunni's tutorial on drafting a lining for a pencil skirt and a back vent here and here.
3. Kathleen Fansella's tutorials here,  here,  here and here.

I found Kathleen's articles last and ended up following them through before I did anything else. I was enthralled. The first tutorial was sewing up a sample of a corner of a lined jacket. I thought this may be useful way to deal with the hemming of the vent so I tried out the tutorial. The sample came out brilliantly:

Her next article was a bit of a light bulb moment for me. To “prove” that a pattern will work, in this case the corner facing of a lined jacket, cut out test lining and facing pieces without the seam allowances. Like jigsaw pieces, if they fit together then the pattern will work once it is sewn up after adding the seam allowances. Using this tutorial (and a bit of Sunni's tutorial) I drafted outline pattern pieces for a skirt vent. I made my vent 2.5 inches wide. Here are pictures of the first sample vents that I did:

I then decided to adapt the pattern to add on a hem facing using the same principle as Kathleen's sample for the corner of a jacket facing / lining. It took a lot of figuring out to draft the pattern and make sure it matched the lining. It would have been easier to draft without the seam allowances first and then added them in once it had been “proved”. Here are the final pattern pieces for the vent with a lining:

Here is the sample sewn up.

I used Sunni's tutorial to draft the back lining pieces to add more ease at the hips and above the vent. I traced around the vent pieces I had drafted and incorporated them into the lining pieces. I wanted to do Sunni's rounded vent curve for the lining pieces but as you can imagine I was a bit fed up with drafting at this point so I didn't do this.

I watched the Sewing Guru's video which is helpful in showing you how to sew up the lined vent. He does the top part of the vent slightly differently to Sunni's and I used a mixture of his and Sunni's method for this part. I was going to omit the topstitching on the outer shell at the top of the curve. I decided to do it in the end. I was right to – it secures it all in place, particularly as the fabric and lining together are quite heavy. Sunni used a satin stitch for this. I'm not sure what this is – google says it's used for applique? I thought this might “pull” in the area so I used an ordinary straight stitch for this area.

Hem

My hem is about 4 cm and I marked notches on the pattern for the hem fold line. I interfaced my hem, as usual extending the interfacing at least 1 cm beyond the hem fold. The hemline notches were really helpful in folding up and ironing the hem – I usually chalk the correct distance all the way along but I didn't need to do this. I cut out some of the bulk at the side seams at the hem fold. Here is a close up of the corner of the vent.

The first few inches are joined to the lining much like the hem of a jacket. I reverted to hemming the rest of the lining and outer shell separately as I need a gap to be able to iron the skirt. There are other ways to deal with the hem of a vent – have a look at some of your ready to wear. Sunni is going update her vent tutorial so I will be interested to see how she deals with the hemming.

I used the invisible stitch on my machine for the hem but I ended up unpicking it and doing it by hand as it was slightly pulling and the stitching didn't look particularly invisible.

Final thoughts

Overall I'm really pleased with the skirt and in particular with what I have learned. I don't think the fabric I used is the best for a fitted pencil skirt. Every lump and bump from the inner workings and lining seems to show through. A darker colour may help and I now have the basis for trying it with say a lovely wool fabric.

A pencil skirt makes you more aware of your silhouette – I need to do more sit ups! The Miss Chalmers and Crescent skirt waistbands at the front are far more forgiving.

I'm wondering what to make next – maybe the Ginger skirt or the Rooibos dress which I've just bought. My lovely chap wants me to make him a shirt but I've persuaded him to settle for a jersey top. I'll have to do some digging for men's jersey top patterns!

Happy sewing.

Pencil Skirt Drama

If I wasn't such a ditz I would have a finished object to show you by now that would look something like this.

I thought a pencil skirt would be easy but this thing has taken me ages.  I've no idea when I'm going to finish so I thought I would do a quick "in progress" post.

It started with me finishing my mother's muslin for the pencil skirt I am making for her.  As I can't carry on with that until I fit it on her I thought I would make one myself. I want to line the skirt and add a vent so I thought this would be good practice.

I used my Angela Kane pencil skirt pattern (previously made here) and made up a muslin.  Angela Kane's patterns are net patterns, like Burda, so you add on the seam allowance.  I added on 1.5 cm but thought it was a bit tight so I un-picked it and sewed it with a 1 cm seam allowance.  This was just right.  With net patterns I've developed a habit of tracing out the final adjusted pattern pieces with the seam allowance included. This takes a bit more time but I find a pattern much easier to make again if I can just trace around it onto the fabric rather than adding seam allowances.

You might have guessed what I did wrong.  I added on 1 cm seam allowance to the net pattern instead of 1.5 cm.   I didn't notice this until I had sewn the zip and waistband onto my final skirt and found it was too tight and was in fact the same size as the original muslin I had cut out!  Yes I had gone to the trouble of making a muslin, adjustments and further pattern pieces just to have the final version the same as the original that didn't fit.  It just goes to show that mistakes can come at you from anywhere, even when you think you're being careful!

On the plus side my invisible zip totally rocked. I think this is my best one yet:

I just hope my final version comes out as good.

So it was back to the drawing board.  I traced the pattern pieces out correctly this time.  I thought I would take no chances so I made a further muslin.  Here is the final muslin:

Happily the skirt fits and is ready to go.  I decided to play around with the waistband a bit although I'm now questioning my widsom having looked at picture 1. A narrow waistband looks OK on the dummy but I thought I would like a wider waistband. With a wider waistband you really need to adjust it to fit the contours of your waist or it's baggy at the top. I mulled over how to deal with this. It would probably be easier to do a waistband with side seams (like the Crescent Skirt and the Miss Chalmer's skirt).  I thought this would be too hard to do from scratch so I just pinched in what I needed at the sides and transferred those adjustments onto the waistband.  You end up with a really odd looking pattern piece!  I cut the waistband out again and it fitted really well but I pinched it in about I cm in the centre and sewed tapering in towards the bottom of the waistband.  That's why there's a seam in the centre of the waistband in the above picture but the seam won't be there in the final version.  This fits fine so I have transferred these adjustments to my pattern piece and I'm now ready to go.

If I ever finish the skirt I will post about the further epic that was the lining and vent, mainly the vent.  I'll link all the tutorials and videos I have used but I had a lot of help from Sunni's pencil skirt tutorials over at A Fashionable Stitch.  In the meantime here are some taster shots of the sample vent lining I did.  It also has a built in hem but I'm not sure if I'll do the hem bit like this in my final version.

Happy sewing.