Vogue 1247 in denim

Working on Vogue 1247, the "Rachel skirt" as it is called. I decided to eliminate the waist darts on both front and back since I don't have any waist shaping - why use darts? this alters the waist of the pattern to fit me better and means I don't have to add so much at the side seams.

I also quit the idea of binding all the raw edges in favour of simple serging, as I plan on top-stitching most seams to make this look more like a denim skirt.

This is the front of the skirt. I stopped and started the top-stitching at the pockets and tied in the thread tails by hand. No back-stitching with this.


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And the skirt back is stitched together, top-stitched and is ready for zipper-insertion. The pattern calls for an invisible zipper, which are hard to find in the right lengths and colours in this town, plus I prefer a regular zipper as I plan on top-stitching that as well.

I found the pocket instructions very confusing. I think they are missing a diagram there, the one that shows what to do with the pockets after they tell you to understitch them. There should be a diagram showing the pockets pressed up away from the skirt bottom and then you would see where you are supposed to stitch yoke to bottom, without catching the pockets in that seam. I felt like a real dolt trying to figure this out and finally just laid it out as it would be finished, in order to see what steps to take to get there. It is critical to stitch that seam well, or you might end up with lots of bulk at the pocket edges.

Update: I remember reading somewhere not to assume that, just because you made a mistake once, you won't do it again. I laughed then but I didn't laugh today. I can't believe that I inserted the zipper completely wrong. Rather than putting the center back seams together, I sewed the back together at the side seams, then inserted the zipper into that seam, and edge-stitched and top-stitched everything, only to discover that I was then trying to join the center backs to the front side seams. Those pesky notches showed me I was all wrong! I also recall Sandra Betzina saying that if you notice someone in a sewing class trying to put a sleeve into a neckline, gently suggest that they might prefer a cooking class. I often feel I should heed that advice myself.

Grrrr..... unpicking is now done, I will take this up tomorrow as I can't risk another stupid mistake today.