Patrones skirt

Pattern: Patrones #259, pattern 37

Fabric: Wool/Cotton/Elastane denim from Textile Studio Patterns

Notions: Metal jeans zipper, pink rayon seam binding for the inside waistband and hem, 1/4" elastic for the pocket openings, 2 hook and eye closures

I really needed a skirt like this J. Crew one in my wardrobe, the line drawing of this Patrones pattern jumped out at me as a good substitute. It has a fly-front, straight waistband, and yoked back. I left off the right back flap pocket, and added an extended tab closure, and belt loops.

J. Crew, $98

Front, with flash

No flash

Side

Back, I had some puckering along that center back seam when I took these pictures, I think the topstitching stretched it out a tad. I threw it in the wash and pressed it while damp and that seemed to fix the problem. Whew!

I sewed some 1/4" elastic to the seam allowance of the pocket opening, stretching it slightly as I applied it. It kind of pulls the pocket opening in just a tad to keep it from gaping. I hate gaping pockets almost as much as I hate not having pockets.

You can see the rayon seam binding on the inside waistline here.


Back yoke and belt loops

Inside out, you can see the extended pocket stays I added, and the seam binding at the hem.

I topstiched a lot of the seams with a large twin needle (4.0mm 100) and topstiching thread. The side seams and waistband were edgestitched with a 90 needle and the same thread.

This was my first attempt at a fly-front, and it is easy but there's two tutorials that really helped me. I tried them both and mostly went with Sigrid's. But Debbie's is excellent too, I should have added her edgestiching of the open side of the fly to Sigrid's as I couldn't do it afterwards.

I found a bunch of rayon seam binding at a local fabric store months ago, and have been meaning to use it. Since my queue of hot-pink garments is a little low, I decided to use it here where you only see it on the inside. It's 1/2" wide, so I pressed it in half and sewed it to one side of the waistband, and the hem before turning it up. Super easy. It's very thin so it doesn't add bulk, and it's finished already so you don't have to double turn it. I don't think it would navigate tight corners though, it's not on the bias so I would stick to mostly straight applications.

The hem was giving me fits, it should have been really easy but this fabric has a decent amount of stretch that had to be accomodated. A walking foot wasn't even cutting it. Finally I took out my temporary spray adhesive and sprayed the inside, problem solved.