Back to Vogue V8750

I'm feeling the love for Vogue's design and style of V8750.  The flaring lower skirt panels were just captivating when my lady friend walked in the muslin I'd made.  The front and back panels hold the possibility of a daring statement.  Even the yoke is a lovely accent. 

Thinking hard on how I might use a combination of print and solid fabrics to bring out the character I see in the design, I came up with a combination that should work.  From the muslin, I suspect I know what pitfalls await me in matching pattern and grain lines. 

After consulting with the lady who will wear my skirt on color, with a wry smile she selected a brilliant red rather than the silver I'd offered as an alternative.  We were only talking about color; I didn't have the fabric yet.  She's a 'mature' plus size, but she has a youthful fire in her mind's eye.    My heart was with the red too. I'm thrilled to have the chance to make a skirt that will express how she sees herself.  For the lower skirt panels, I'm going to use a floral pattern that reminds me of the spring cherry blossoms. 

The rich red satin will fill the front panel, arc over the hip, and fill the back.  The light silver satin on the yoke should provide an interesting accent, soften her waist line and emphasize the lower hip and flaring lower skirt.  With the right white/grey blouse, she'll have a nice hour glass silhouette.

The pieces are cut. I overlaid the pieces over my muslin just to visualize how it will look.   My Juki is threaded up and ready to ride with Superior So-Fine in a red that is a dead on match to the red satin.  I teach tomorrow night; we'll see if I have time to do some panels and get this show on the road.

In my head, I hear my father's displeasure. 'A skirt? You're making a skirt for a woman?' He'd rather I stick to finance and IT.  I've played the piano since I was a small boy.  In college I learned drawing and painting as electives for core courses in economics and accounting.  He wasn't happy with that either.  Here I am in my 60s, painting when I can and sewing as much as I can. Fighting back. My mother uses every opportunity to share what she knows from her years of dress making.  An amazing family dynamic, and yet so common.

A few days ago, I happened on a chance meeting with a young lady and her mother while waiting for our take out chinese dinner orders.   They were discussing what the daughter should study in college.  Something was pulling her to accounting, but her heart was calling her to fashion design.  Her mom wanted her to go for design, but I sensed a father's voice in her head too.  I intruded and told her to look hard at design, go with her heart and that the next time she might have the choice will be 40 years from now.  She turned very pale.  She should.

G'night.

Stitching V8750

My Singer 20U gave me big problems tonight, but it's working enough to do a muslin.  V8750 is fascinating to me.  I found sewing the yoke is something like sewing a bow tie and a shirt armscye.

I've got a lot of the front done.  The pattern shapes the fabric in a manner that I found very familiar, but certainly different in that the stitch lines are much longer than most anything I've worked on before. 

If you're wondering,  I used a bright green for the top thread and an orange thread in the bobbin.  This helps me keep my RS and WS from getting reversed.  G'night.

Forward Motion V8750

Last night I traced the Vogue pattern to my own paper.  This evening (night?) after a fruitless search of Moen's parts website for a kitchen faucet handle connector clip, I made time for ironing my muslin and cutting out 'my' skirt.   I did get the faucet running again by cutting my own part from scrap tin, but this is a most suspect repair.

 

 Don't look at the wallpaper in the background.  I had nothing to do with it being on my walls.  It came with the house already on the walls ten years ago.  For ten years, I've had a love hate relationship with it.  It's the last room in the house I haven't remodeled.  I need to make time for that too.

G'night!

Starting Vogue V8750

I've been looking forward to trying a semi-fitted skirt for some time.  I've completed a few simple skirts with elastic band waists, but not a skirt fitted to the waist and semi-fitted to the hips.  I've done blind serged hems and inserted an invisible zipper. Time to pull it together and do a skirt.
  
Vogue's V8750 has a front and back yoke, front and back panels, and side / back fronts to give the skirt flare.

A lady I work with was kind enough to venture with me on this skirt.  Armed with her measurements, I studied the pattern and traced the pattern lines, circles, notches, and grain lines to paper tonight.  When I trace the pattern, it gives me a chance to get familiar with the pieces and mentally break down the project into steps. I plan to cut muslin tomorrow.  G'night!