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!