Vogue 1127: "Test Run"

Since I recently purchased a huge amount of the cobalt boucle at the last Fabric.com $1.95 sale, I have decided that I would like to use it to make a suit...specifically Vogue 1127, a Badgley Mischka suit with raglan sleeve jacket and pencil skirt.


Because the skirt is closely fitted, I decided to give it a "test run" before cutting into my boucle. I had a length of sage and black herringbone wool that I had gotten from Fashion Fabrics Club many, many months ago, and decided that this would be a good skirt for that. Most of the other narrow skirt patterns that I own have multiple panels, and I decided that would just be too much of a pain trying to match the pattern:


Since the front of the skirt is a single piece, and the back has only two and two small darts at the waist, I thought that this would interfere the least with the pattern on the fabric. Here you can see my questionable pattern matching on the back:


This skirt is also very short. They are not kidding when they say "2 inches above mid-knee." Since I am 5'6", pretty much the height that patterns are drafted for, the skirt did hit above the knee. The waistband, as per the description, also sits below the natural waist:


The skirt is also fully lined, although the instructions for the lining were a bit odd. The directions indicate that you should make a binding out of the lining fabric and apply this to the bottom edge of the facing. I have done this before, for example, when I lined the cape that I made recently:


I decided not to use their instructions, but to trim down the top of the lining and sew it directly to the bottom edge of the facing:


I also attached the lining to the vent, per the pattern instructions. Unfortunately, I am a terrible hand-sewer, and it looks like my 12-year-old niece did the work...It's not pretty:


Overall, I am quite happy with the results, but this "muslin" did reveal a couple of changes that I want to make to the second version. First, I want to lengthen the skirt by three inches, so that it will hit just below the knee. I will also peg it a bit more. Second, according to the finished garment measurements, cutting a size 20 would give me 1 inch of ease in the waist and no ease at all in the hips. Based on this, I cut a 20, and added an additional inch to the hips. However, when I put the skirt on after it was finished, It was definitely loser than I typically like:


There is too much ease at the hips, and the waist is too loose. This tells me either a) I lost weight in the 20 hours that passed since I measured myself or b) I am just really bad at measuring myself or c) I am a bit skanky and really like tight clothes. Since option a is unlikely in the extreme, I'm going to go with both b and c, since either are equally likely. So, when I make the final version, I will cut an 18, grading out to a 20 at the hips.

All in all, I am pleased with the finished results. I can easily go back and take in the hips a bit, that is a simple fix. I think it will be a nice option for work, either with a jacket or without.