Saturday, October 1, 2011

Simplicity 2475: Done


My skirt is finished, which means I have a new outfit for next week. That's the pattern above, in case you need a refresher.

I didn't read all the reviews on PR, but most of the ones I did read mentioned it runs big. They weren't kidding. I ended up sewing 1/4" deeper seams all around, which means 6 seams x .25 x 2 = 3" removed. That's a lot. I'm glad I didn't rush to finish this skirt because I had a lot of pin-fitting and trying on to do to get it right. It's snug right now, but wearable. This will give me some shrinking room before I have to trash it.

As to the "Amazing Fit," it's not so amazing. I know I'm curvy. In a comment, NancyK said what I meant  when she said (paraphrasing) it would be nice to know what Simplicity had in mind when they made up the differentiations. Without that knowledge, it's kind of crap shoot no matter what. Especially when you go by your measurements and still have to remove 3". Still, it's a nice skirt and the pleats at the back are a nice feature. Walking ease and visual interest.

One more little complaint — the notches on the pleat inserts don't match up with the pleats. That's the second Simplicity pattern in a short time that has had wonky notches. Fine for experienced stitchers, but really bad mojo for newbies. The instructions also made my eyes cross. I think they're probably fine but they were so involved for simple things that I tossed them aside early on. While I'm not an instruction *follower*, I am an instruction reader just for entertainment if nothing else. Yeah, we complain about Burda's minimal approach and we complain with too much. What nerve! ;-)

So here it is with the blouse I'll wear with it, and weekend hair I will not be wearing to the office. ;-)


Rear view. Can you see the pleats? I decided to leave the zipper at the sideseam because I thought another seam running down the back would be too much and as I'm sitting here typing this, it now occurs to me I could've put the zipper in a princess seam. Duh. But the truth is I really didn't want to deal with re-doing the yoke pieces. Plus, I have to put zippered skirts on backwards and twist them around anyway, so what's the difference? The worst part about a side zip is that it makes taking it in down the road much more time-consuming.


The fabric really picked up the flash (so did Dani's eyes) and looks very shiny. It's not really. The messy closet in the background isn't really either. … OK, it is.


I still haven't bought more invisible zippers so the skirt got a burgundy one. I'm lame, what can I say. Maybe I'll get to Joann's tomorrow.


I was going to line this, and even had the lining made and ready to attach. But something told me to pin it in first and try it. I'm glad I did because I didn't like how it felt. There was some serious static going on or something with the dueling polyesters. So now I have a lining ready for another skirt. You can also see that I didn't even try to match my serger thread. I won't tell if you won't.



Parting Shot: The Marine is back in Yuma doing Marine things (and getting sunburned by the look of his face). Today he was promoted to Lance Corporal. Congrats Tyler!

18 comments:

  1. Debbie - this is a fantastic outfit on you! You are accumulating a wonderful work wardrobe step by step and aren't you having fun doing it!

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  2. Ditto what Carolyn said -- the outfit looks great!

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  3. Yeah, yeah, cute skirt, but you look AMAZING!!! I actually do really love the outfit. The pleats on the skirt are super cute. I had passed over this pattern as blah, but now I have to get it. Enabler. Skinny enabler.
    And auto correct keeps changing Enabler to embalmer. Eeeew.

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  4. I think the skirt looks great. It's a fabulous outfit. g

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  5. Love how it turned out! It is a great skirt- a great outfit.

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  6. Looks very nice with the blouse. Great outfit.

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  7. Great skirt. I think I'll pass on the pattern though, I hate fiddling! Isn't there a Burda mag skirt that's similar from recent months?? Huh, if I actually SEWED from my sub I'd probably remember. ;)

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  8. Great skirt and blouse combo. I really love that blouse. Ditto to what Carolyn said.

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  9. I think you should send Simplicity the link to this post, since they don't know that they haven't got a clue ...

    ... and quit grousing about your hair - we don't know the difference LOL

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  10. Great looking skirt, Debbie.

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  11. That's a GREAT look Debbie! I have to admit though that I've stopped using invisible back zippers on my TNT work skirt patterns that I wear a lot because they just can't take the wearing stress (the seam tends to open up at the bottom of the zipper If the zip is on a side seam though I don't have this problem.

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  12. Regarding: pattern instructions.
    I tend to ditch them too as I figured out long ago that my eyes crossing was not a reversible look. Sometimes this gets me in trouble but the time saved from trying to decipher long-winded paragraphs (read: Sew the seam Here) enables me to spend more time playing in my sewing room.
    BTW, the skirt looks great with the blouse.

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  13. Congratulations to Tyler! Your skirt looks great, fiddling aside. I hate to fuss with patterns as well, but when the results are good then it's worth it.

    Pattern instructions -- don't get me started. I have a BA in English and some days I'm pretty sure they are not speaking my language. I'll read the instructions to see how the steps are laid out, but the more I sew the less useful the instructions actually are.

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  14. Very, very pretty outfit. You look wonderful. I must say, gray is your color. I like how you have the print and solid but both with the gray tones.

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  15. The skirt came out wonderfully! Your weight loss is amazing (do I say that every time? It's still true). I love that Dani's in your pictures. She's a great friend.

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  16. Congrats to Tyler! You must be proud of him and of this terrific skirt. I've become a convert to thepencil skirt look and this one turned out wonderfully...after you persisted in making it work.

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  17. That skirt is FABULOUS! Not just the workmanship, but it's also super flattering. Great job!!

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  18. That looks fantastic! I'm about to make this skirt, too, and I hope mine is half as nice.

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Thank you for each and every comment. I appreciate them all, but I have to be honest and let you know that I'm usually bad about answering questions. I hope you understand that there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.

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