Burda 03-2011-122: tropical wool pencil skirt with pleats

Sorry for the recent radio silence: last month my husband found a job in the same town I work in and we are in the throes of buying our first home.  What an undertaking.  I found the offer contract confusing, the negotiation process stressful, and the post-inspection bartering antagonistic.  And I'm an attorney. 

Really, I'm thrilled, as the quality of my regular and sewing life will improve ten fold with this move: my commute will drop from over an hour each way to ten minutes (more sewing time!), I will finally have a dishwasher (more sewing time!), a washer/dryer (easy preshinking!), and a dedicated sewing room (self-explanatory).  The appraisal was yesterday, and now we are waiting to set a closing date with the mortgage lender.  So if my posting is a little spotty over the rest of the summer, my apologies ahead of time.

While I've been away for a few weeks, I have the most exciting project to show you (are you getting my e-sarcasm?): a beige pencil skirt.  Wah wah.  It is a terribly boring garment, but as well all know, these utilitarian pieces are wear twice-a-week, wardrobe staples.

The pattern is from the Burda March 2011 issue.  The pleats in place of darts add a bit of interest beyond the usual pencil skirt.

I wore the skirt to work yesterday with a JCrew knit cardigan and S2599,

one of my favorite homespun pieces.  The glasses are the Japhy by Warby Parker.

Burda 3-2011-122

Pleats aren't always a hippy girl's best friend: I sewed this in a size 40, with a 3/4" seam allowance, because the pleats gaped slightly on my size 38 muslin.

The fabric is a lightweight tropical wool with a bit of stretch purchased at Paron's Annex on my recent trip to the Garment District.  I picked this fabric for trouses, but was able to make this skirt with the fabric as Paron's generously gave me at least an extra yard  - perhaps more - gratis becaues it was the end of the bolt. 

I'm proud of the finishing I did on this garment: following instructions in Marcy Titlton's Easy Guide to Sewing Skirts, I added a French vent in place of the slit (which I've read don't hold up well). 

After basting the lining to the skirt wrong sides together, but before attaching the waistband, I flipped the skirt inside out and used the zipper foot to attach the lining to the seam allowance around the invisible zipper. 

I stitched-in-the-ditch to attach the waistband, and for the first time ever uniformly caught the waistband on the inside.

I'm officially a Burda devotee: this skirt solved a long-standing issue I've had with the Big 4 patterns: skirt dumpy butt (such an elegant description, no?).   Have you experienced this?  I feel that the backs of the Big 4 skirt patterns are shaped too wide, and don't curve in to hug a woman's shape.  But this Burda skirt cuts in under the bum and mimics RTW skirts in a way that the Big 4 don't.  Burda, j'taime.  Thank you to you readers who suggested that I move on to Burda.  I'm so glad that I did.

Such a Perfect Day (in the Garment District)

Do you ever just need a break?  Life gets overwhelming (or perhaps blah and underwhelming) and you need a little pick-me-up?  I've been feeling a bit stressed lately, so I decided to take a random week day off of work this past week and treat myself to a trip to New York.  It was such a fabulous day; the weather was bright and sunny but not too warm: perfect for an all-day fabric shopping spree in the Garment District.

I was interested to visit stores that aren't open on the weekends, like Steinlauf & Stoller for notions, and Metro Textiles and Elliott Berman.

Metro Textiles just has the best prices; I picked up a few yards of clearly high-quality, navy-colored lightweight Italian wool for $12/yard and a kelly green cotton poplin for $4/yard (45").

I spent a bit more than I intended at Elliott Berman: I couldn't resist 2 1/2 yards of soft, sapphire blue linen of such nice quality that it has a slight sheen to it ($16/yard, 45"), and a printed cotton voile ($12/yard).

Joyce Buttons & Trim - a bit outside the traditional Garment District on 38th, on the other side of Fashion Avenue- was the surprise of the day:

What a great store for trims.  I felt that the prices were a bit high for comparable items (invisible zippers were $2.95, compared to the usual $1 price of most Garment District stores), but Joyce's had an expansive selection of gorgeous trims that I haven't seen in other shops:

Gorgeous belt buckles and rings, lengths of beaded trims, stunning leather accents.  I purchased matte gold sequins for an upcoming project that weren't for sale anywhere else.

With a few more stops at Mood, Paron's, and Fabrics for Less (I had read on Shop the Garment District that Kenneth King sources $6/yard linen here, and I snagged a few yards in navy), I got home at 11pm with bulging bags and aching feet.  I wish it could be every day!

Burda Trouser Muslin, Take 2: Pants that (essentially!) fit

I took a sudden fancy to Burda # 04-2011-120:

Burda # 04-2011-120

- so I decided to trace that pattern for my second try at a pants muslin - this time in the size 38.  They were easy to put together and fit rather well:

The front is a bit tight in the waist (the gathers are pulling), and perhaps in the crotch as is there a bit of whiskering there:

But the back, IMHO, fits dead-on:

Looking at the magazine picture, I think these pants could have been made in the next size up, as the fit is rather slouchy in the model shot:

As the pants are now, to be honest, I don't love the gathers. 

The back fits so well, though, and the leg's wide shape is perfection: fitted enough through the thigh, but with a nice, wide flare.  Could I change the double gathers to 2 darts?  Any online tutorials or book resources out there that give instruction on how to do this?  I believe that I've seen how to add gathers instead of darts, but no information on how to do the reverse...

So can you believe that I sewed a pair of pants (well, a muslin)?  I am so happy!  I see a whole new world of well-fitting pants opening up to me...