New Look 6053 (skirt): Complete

Sorry for the cruddy selfies.  I took these on my way to work and was in a rush.  I figured I would be too tired to pose for the camera after I came home.  I was sooooo right. 

This is the same skirt that's paired my second and frustratingly puckered version of New Look 6407.  Incidentally, I am working simultaneously on a third and fourth version of this blouse pattern and have wrinkles of another kind.  More on that in another post.

Back to the supposed-to-be pencil skirt.

Fabric/Notions:

• 1.5 yards raw silk tweed (from the stash...woot!)
• 0.75 yards silk or silk-blend something that I used for lining but probably shouldn't have (also from the stash!)
• 7" invisible zipper
• fusible interfacing
• 70/10 microtex needle
• serger and sewing machine

Fit and Alterations:  I made my standard full seat adjustment of 1.25".  I added a wedge beneath the darts and trued the center back seam at the waist.  I removed the extra width gained by truing the CB from the side seam.  Pictures and a step-by-step description of how I make this alteration can be found here.  

I like the way New Look skirts fit and I usually don't need to make any more adjustments.  

Construction & Lining:  Construction was easy since the pattern only has four pieces:  front (cut on fold), back (cut two), and front/back facings.

You read correctly: I added the facings!  I would say that there's a pig flying somewhere, but since that actually happened, I guess I have to stop using that phrase.  O_o

Usually I ditch the facings in favor of supporting the waist with petersham.  I learned this in a Kenneth D. King workshop and haven't looked back.  This time, however, I wanted to the inside of the skirt to look nice and pretty like this:

photo credit:  lladybird

How'd that work out?

Meh it's okay.  I think what I'm looking for is best suited for skirts with a waistband.  This just seems to add more bulk where it's not needed. 

Given that I've made three coats and several jackets, trying to create the lining pieces was a head-scratcher.  I had to think (probably way more than necessary) about how to get the lining and facing to be one piece without exposing the edge of the facing.  Here's what I did:

1.  I folded out the dart and traced the facing edge onto the lining piece.  

2.  I  measured up from the newly-drawn line 1 1/4" (two seam allowances).

3.  After the top piece is removed, I followed the same steps for the other skirt piece.  (I can't remember if I started with the skirt front or skirt back.)

This is the process I followed when creating the lining pieces from scratch when facings are involved.  It seemed to work well on my Indygo Junction coats, so I figured the same idea would work here.

I'm going back to the petersham method.  I'm not skilled enough to make this other way work.  And then there's this:

Bleh!  Not a nice finish and I press as I sew.  All.  The.  Time. 

Wearability Rating (3.5 out of 5):  What I used for the lining was not a good match.  The lining kept getting hung up on my tights, which made the skirt bunch up in weird ways as I walked.  It wasn't uncomfortable, but very annoying.  I think the fabric I used was probably better suited for a blouse or skirt.  If I want to continue wearing this garment, I'll definitely have to replace the lining and facings.

Conclusion:

New Look skirts are solid go-tos for me, so I'll probably make this again.  I was a little disappointed that the skirt wasn't more pencil-like in the end.  I suppose I have to peg the hem a bit to remove some of the flare.  Otherwise, the skirt fits just like my other A-line skirts.

Until next time, peace!