Project 9: Simplicity 2215

It took me a week to make three skirts and, frankly, that's a bit behind schedule in my eyes.  I like to move quickly and I feel that it should've taken me about half this time--allergies, sickness, house guests and all--to complete these.  They weren't even lined!

Simplicity 2215s have been popping up all around the internet lately.  I found this pattern last November when I was looking for a gathered skirt with a waistband.  Do you know how hard it is to find a skirt with a decent waistband these days?  I've had to buy four different pencil skirt patterns to get one I finally liked.  Anyway, I bought the fabric in November as well, and have stashed it away until the weather got warmer, because I knew these skirts weren't tights material.  Last week we didn't dip below 75 during the day.  I think the time has come.

Pattern Description

Simplicity 2215, view C--pleated skirt with waistband, invisible zipper and pockets.

Pattern Sizing

The Big 4, 6-22.  These are 16.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the envelope when you were done with it?

I think so!  They all slightly varied, oddly enough.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

They were, but I still assumed I knew everything and made some mistakes.  The first skirt, in the upper left corner, has one pocket sewn shut because I'm an idiot.  I originally sewed the pocket on at 3/8" instead of 5/8", so the seam allowance wasn't large enough for a zipper.  However, I ate some humble pie and followed each step word for word in the following versions.  They turned out perfectly.

Oh, also, pay attention to the pleats.  They aren't all being folded in the same direction.  Again, I'm an idiot.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I like the simplicity (har har) because I finished the last two in a matter of hours.  I dislike the lapped waistband--can we just have them meet in the middle?

Fabric Used

Three prints from Lotta Jansdotter's "Echo" line (fall 2011).  Funny story about this fabric: I hated it when I saw the previews.  I didn't get it.  And then I started seeing it being used and the publicity was everywhere.  True to form, I ordered some at midnight of the Alewives Fabrics sale last fall to be sure I got the cuts I wanted.  I'm ridiculous.

Pattern changes or any design alterations made

Just mistakes!

Would you sew it again?

Maybe.  I'm not sure.  I have some Amy Butler Lark waiting to be made into a skirt, but I have a few other skirt patterns in my to-do list and might opt for one of those instead.

Conclusion

Two notes:

• These were the first skirts I've ever made!  Now I need more.  I think I have about 20 yards of different fabrics waiting to be made into pencil skirts first.
• I've worn all three of these skirts in public already.  Two have been worn to work!

So go make yourself a skirt, and when the wind blows it up in front of traffic, know that you have a friend in me.  It happens to me on a weekly basis.

Project 3: Simplicity 2215, View D, and Cake!

There's so much on my mind right now, both good and bad, and I want to turn a lot of it into blog posts but then I think, who would read that?  I sometimes wonder if I wouldn't benefit from a few girlfriends to just bounce ideas off of.  Nick doesn't care about pattern sizing or blogs; he doesn't notice if I paint my nails or if my hair dries weird.  I know one person shouldn't be everything to another, but that's where we are right now, and the boundaries are slowly disappearing.  (You don't even want to know what we talk about after work.)

So anyway, it was a long weekend, and I gotta say, not a terribly exciting one.  It was cold this weekend, so our hibernation plans were mostly achieved.  However, Saturday proved productive, once we actually got out of bed and out of the apartment: we managed to buy $130 worth of groceries (good lord) as well as some slightly-needed kitchen items.  When we got home and unpacked our food and fun things, I immediately thought of how nice it will be to someday have room for casserole dishes and espresso makers, for loaf pans and pitchers, and how we won't have to have these things spill over into the living room and onto the stove because there simply isn't space.  I hope that by this time next year I can stand next to Nick in our kitchen and not have to contort myself around him to get to the fridge or close a cabinet before I can open the oven.