Vogue 8672

First of all I apologize for the weird photos. No I was not standing on the deck of a ship while it listed to the side.

I was in my kitchen asking a busy man in the middle of dog biscuit production (don't ask, this is a job he takes very seriously. I mean what do you do with a man who actually asks you if you think it would be alright if he substituted beef bouillon for the chicken stock the recipe calls for? I mean these dogs will try to eat poop if they find it in the woods).

So these pictures were taken by a man with one hand on the baking sheet.

It shows.

At any rate this is what I have to tell you about this pattern.

I used a wool stretch gabardine and found that the stretch does add mystery width. I took this in a few inches at the bottom to sort of peg it (may have over done this) which I think makes me look thinner. Don't tell me if it doesn't.

Other changes I made were to cut the waist facing in one long piece, eliminating the side seams meant to join two perfectly rectangular and straight pattern pieces - why do they do that? - to make the waistline smoother.

I am all about eliminating bulk.

I also added a pleat at the centre back instead of the usual vent. I hate vents and the hassle of lining them. I usually just leave an opening in the lining, but all that pressing to one side is annoying. You usually aren't brave enough to cut to the stitching and get a lump where the vent starts.

Since I was on a bulk-eliminating roll I cut the pleat on the fold (see second picture) and interfaced the pleat line, which is something I once read in Threads. By eliminating the seam that you would usually have to make the pleat, I think I got a smoother, not to mention faster-to-sew, result.

I love this skirt. The vertical seams are slimming. The tabs with the buttons I think create a sort of waist shape which is handy if you don't have one yourself to work with.

But mostly I just love the slightly raised, interfaced waistline. This is so comfortable to wear and stuff will stay tucked in, which I usually don't do because of the tummy thing, but this skirt seems to smooth that out.

This is big news because I haven't tucked anything in, in about the last 15 years.

Isn't it just great when a really stupid style like low waisted, belly-button-exposing garments go out of fashion and something comfortable and wearable comes in?

This will be temporary of course, but I am going to enjoy this trend while it lasts.