Vogue Pattern V2971

So I decided to make Vogue V2971 for the party at the end of the Geelong Fibre Forum, for which the theme was Polka Dots and Paisley.  As it happened, I didn't get it done in time, and I also discovered an old white skirt with bright pink and lime green polka dots that was perfectly suitable.  But I had spent $70 on the fabrics, which I liked, so I wanted to finish it later on and wear it somewhere nice.  I finished it yesterday and I'm wearing it tonight to a 21st birthday party.

It's a design by Dutch designer Koos van den Akker, and it was rated Advanced.  I figured that being an experienced sewer, albeit with rusty skills, I should be ok.  I even remembered to check the pattern measurements against my own; I was slightly miffed to discover that my waist measurement meant a MUCH larger size than I take in RTW but I obediently cut it out that size. The first part, embellishing the front panel, took quite a long time and was a bit fiddly but not hard at all, for someone who has done lots of textile art, and so I had the hubris to believe that the rest of it would be a doddle.  After all, all I had to do was sew some seams, insert a zip, put on a waistband and sew the hem.



V

To meet the Polka Dot and Paisley scheme I chose the most appropriate materials in the (limited) range at my local Lincraft (I didn't have time to go further afield if, as I had planned at the time, I was going to get it done in time for Geelong).  So I chose these fabrics, shown here in the approximate proportions that appear in the finished skirt.

Ok, so it was really ADVANCED it turned out.  The zip was fine to insert - except that when I did the waistband later, which had elastic in it, I realised that the humongous size it had insisted upon according to measurements was large enough to allow me to pull it on just using the elasticated waistband and that the zip was a waste of time and money, but by that stage it would have taken too long to remove the zip and make it look as though it had never existed.  Never mind, that bit is OK, it just loos like (and is) a done-up zip below a waistband.

The seams - ye gods and little fishes.  Talk about origami.  NOT intuitive.  Despite dutifully marking every notch and circle and other things, and pinning everything together numerous times until it looked EXACTLY like the drawings, I realised that the ******* pockets were neatly aligned on either side of the - back zip.  I must have got the markings mixed up somewhere!  Anyway, I was ready to eat the thing that at stage so I just sewed it that way and sewed over the pocket openings, though I would really have liked pockets in it.

I also didn't measure the finished length - I knew it was going to be long and I like long skirts and I am of average height and THEREFORE I assumed that if I turned the hem up to the measurements on the pattern that it would be the length that it is on the model.  She must be taller than me - it's about two inches longer than I really wanted, which makes it long enough to tread on if I'm not careful, by that stage I just could not bare to change the length - it wasn't a straightforward hem, either, it was a bonkers shape so it would have been time-consuming and difficult to shorten it at that point.  And I don't wear heels.  Actually, having another look at the photo, I DID get the length right, it's just that she is wearing stonking great wedges and I will be wearing ballet flats.  Don't care, it's still a cheerful outfit.