Sewing is an adventure

Sewing is an adventure with the ending being happy and sometimes not. I have shared with you my sewing adventure with the Eva Dress circa 1945 skirt. Now that it is complete, I am happy that it is . BUT-----the skirt is just not flattering on me.



In the first and second grade, I was the second tallest kid in the class. My mother always said I had long legs. Somewhere after the second grade, I was no longer the next to or even the tallest person in class. Today I stand flat footed at 5'3.25". I have worn heels most all of my adult life as they are dress appropriate for my professional job. Thus with those heels I am 5'5" to 5'6", thus I think of myself as tall ; nonetheless I am short legged and petite pants or short length pants fit me well. Shorter skirts flatter me more.


I am regular waisted; i.e. not short or long waisted but yet don't fit the petite waist length so I am either long waisted petite or regular waisted short person. So what the heck is my point????



The skirt waistband is full in front tapering to narrower at sides and back. The skirt below the waist hits me right at the top of my tummy and the point of the godet lies right on the full part of my tummy--not a good look. My godet does not fall in nice folds as the pattern drawing shows. Not sure if this is because I did not cut it on the bias as I thought I had or if it is the fabric. I thought because my fabric was soft it would drape nicely but it doesn't. The website for this pattern suggests fabrics that have more body and perhaps weight which would make it hang differently-maybe? Sometimes I can pull off the look of longer skirts without making me look wider and shorter, especially with boots with heels. This skirt does make me look wider and shorter.



The fullness of the waistband at front comes up further up my torso than I thought it would. In retrospect I fitted the waistband to me but did not attach it to the pattern when pinfitting so if I had done this at that point I might have picked up on this fact. I am debating about removing this waistband and redrafting to make waistband narrower and perhaps that will salvage the skirt.



I am not truly disappointed with this pattern, the pattern is a nice one. I am just disappointed with the end results on me.



This sewing adventure was a learning experience. I worked through with some help the insertion of the zipper into a side dart. I read on another blog-Summerset's-about using bias tape for hemming full skirts which was new idea that worked well for this skirt. I got to practice and hone my pattern adjusting skills. I don't feel like I wasted fabric as it was leftover fabric that I had used in another more successful project, so fabric has depreciated in value if you will.



I now have to decide to move on to the next project(s) or redo the waistband to see if I can make the skirt more suitable for me. Sewing is an adventure as is life.



Here are some photos of the skirt. I did a review at Pattern Review last night.
Full view of skirt.


Close up of waist band.


Side dart with zipper insered.