Painted Wool Herringbone Pieces ~ The Skirt

I purchased this fabric years and years ago from Textile Studios which is now out of the fabric business. Some of my sewing sheros bought fabric from them and made amazing garments and of course I wanted in on the amazingness! It is a painted wool herringbone that can be used on either side.  I bought five yards of this lusciousness.

I know that I said that I wanted to sew sheath dresses in solid colors to work with the multitude of cardigans that I own.  But this piece started to call my name...and it's interesting because it's not like I touched it recently...it was just buried in my creative subconscious...moved itself to the forefront and demanded to be used.

So a sheath dress was of course the first choice and since I've been sewing dress, skirt & pants combos...I went with the dress and a different TNT skirt pattern than I've used for the previously makes. 

The skirt's inspiration is once again from Pinterest.  It is a designer skirt by Preen.

Fabric will provide the embellishment/interest for my version and I'm going to use piping instead of zippers. Cause as much as I like that look, it doesn't work for my lifestyle.  I'm also losing the pockets because while they look great on the skirt above, I know they won't work well on my body.

Pattern ~
TNT skirt pattern last made here

Notions ~
9" invisible zipper
black piping
satin lining last used here
brown rayon seam tape
fusible jiffy waistband interfacing

Construction ~
One of the first things you should know about my skirt pattern is that the front piece is always cut larger than the back piece to accommodate the fullness in the front of my body. I think it's important to realize that we are not symmetrical beings...sometimes it's one side of our body that is longer/bigger/shorter than the other. In my case my front is larger than my back so my patterns have been adjusted for that fact.

The second thing is that I used both sides of the fabric to accomplish "the look" of the inspiration skirt. 

I added black piping to both sides of the front panel to replace the zippers used in the inspiration skirt.

I added a vent to the back of the skirt.

My waistband is slim - about an inch wide - because wider waistbands tend to cut into my flesh making them uncomfortable to wear. It's also cut using the painted side of the fabric. 

There are two black buttons on the waistband to keep the skirt closed.  I like buttons so much better than hooks and eyes or snaps.  I ditched those other closures years ago and have never looked back.

The lining in this skirt is the heavier satin lining that I used in the plaid pants.  The painted wool herringbone is a course wool and a lighter weight lining wouldn't have worked as well with the fabric. This is a personal choice developed from my prior experience using this type of fabric. Garments made from it always wear better and are more comfortable when I use a more substantial lining.

I've become obsessed with finishing seams with rayon seam binding. Instead of just leaving edges serge finished, I've been folding seam binding in half and stitching it onto the edges.  I really like how finished this makes the inside of a garment look.

Finally, hand stitching is an important aspect of this garment.  The lining is hand stitched to the zipper tape.  The waistband is hand stitched to the skirt and of course the hem is hand stitched down.

If you're interested in making your own version of this skirt, try Simplicity 1541. It has the elements of my TNT skirt and will work well to emulate the Preen skirt. The pattern is available in sizes 8-24.

A pic or two of me wearing the skirt with a RTW cardigan...

In my 20s & 30s, I use to sew a skirt in an hour or less.  The skirts were never lined and everything was machine stitched.  I was actually proud of that fact and bragged about it a lot. Of course that was decades ago, and my skirts take almost a day to complete now with all of the sewing techniques that I add to the construction.  But the process makes me happy and the extra work insures that the garment lasts for years.  After all of the work that I've put into this skirt's construction, I definitely want it to last.

The dress from this fabric is almost finished and I've decided to make a vest with the leftover piece.  I went back and forth several times ~ vest or a jacket with pleather sleeves.  As much as I wanted to make the jacket, it really doesn't fit my lifestyle...but a vest....well I haven't sewn one of those in years. So the vest with this skirt and a black turtleneck will work really well in my corporate environment.

A Parting Shot ~
I've had these shoes for over a decade and they are still going strong!

...as always more later!