Vogue 8799 skirt

Regarding the following skirt:

This skirt should be a good one.  It's got panels that look nice when topstitched, a shaped waistband yoke, and a cute little kick pleat in the back.  I made it once out of a very dark denim and just felt like it SHOULD be a go-to piece in my wardrobe.  But it always felt dowdy.  It hung a little too low in the back, which I blamed on my flat bottom and wide hips, and the pleat area was too low - even an inch higher would have been an improvement.

So, being a glutton for punishment, I turned to this pattern again when I wanted to make a fake leather skirt for the holiday season.  I had some brown, variegated pleather from Joann's, that I wanted to wear with some of my velvet and sparkly tops.  Since I have no fashion sense.

I started out thinking that the flat bottom problem was the main one.  I took a scoop out of the back pieces and sewed the whole thing together.  I even topstitched!  Gah.  In the back of my head I was thinking "pleather.  Permanent holes.  Not strong", but I just soldiered ahead anyway.

I have no photos from that dark period.  It was droopy.  The shininess of the fabric made it seem more droopy.  It looked AWFUL.  It went into the bin.  And then I walked around for the rest of the day and thought about it.  I remembered the following things:

1: I still kind of liked the fabric.
2: I have nothing like that skirt in my wardrobe, and it'd slide nicely over tights.
3: I could wear it with big foofy sweaters, too.
4: It was sitting around my hip bones, not at my waist.  Perhaps that was related to the droopiness?

#4 is what got me started again.  I ripped out the whole set of side seams, including 4 rows of topstitching.  Through pleather.  Then I pinned the whole thing on and moved it around (and yes, the pins were making permanent holes).  After squinting at it a long time, I figured out that the whole problem (perhaps?) was that it needed to be at an entirely different spot on my body.  I pulled it up to my belly button, pinned it again, and then just sewed those side seams in a flash.  I even topstitched without trying it on again.  There wasn't exactly any chance of redoing at that point, anyway - it would go into the bin if it didn't fit!

I took in over an inch and a half on each side seam, tapering to about 5/8" at and below the hip so that now the waist was at my natural waist and the whole thing was more slim.  It looks much better.  It might stretch out in the seat when I sit at my desk all day, but I still like it a whole lot more.  I am now inspired to go back and fix that older denim version as well.



Aaand - it's a mess.  Total mess.  Somehow raising it made it longer on my hips and back (I'd expected the hips to be higher).  I'm going to un-hem, then raise that back panel and actually have my kids help me hem it this time rather than just blindly turning up an inch.  Since it's a fake fabric, it doesn't really have a grain, so  I don't thin that having the hem off grain will be a huge issue.  It's over 1.5 inches longer in the back than in the front.   The fabric is also incredibly static-y and clingy.  I'm hoping it will be okay with a slip, but it definitely makes taking pictures difficult!