Lace Midi Skirt

Have you ever traveled to an event, packed one outfit, and then felt totally demoralized because you don't look anything like what you envisioned?  

Guilty!  

After the wedding

And of course the wardrobe blahs are all the more poignant when you have spent every extra moment of the last five days finishing the damn thing, including three hours of hand stitching on the plane!  

When my college friend Julia asked me to be a bridesmaid in her Seattle wedding, I was relieved that the only restriction was that I wear purple. I picked up a beautiful synthetic lace from Chic Fabrics several months ago and planned to make a midi skirt with a black silk camisole (RTW).

I have been working on self-drafted skirts the past few months (blog post to come soon), so decided to draft my own midi skirt. A Challenging Sew's five paneled midi-skirts served as primary inspiration for this project. I like mid-skirts and it's a flattering fit for my pear shape.

With only two yards of lace on hand, I drafted a three panel skirt.

Muslin

Although the muslin fit properly, I knew that the base layer of black silk charmeuse and organza was prone to stretching because of the bias panels.  To mitigate distortion, I cut the center back on the straight of grain, stay stitched immediately, and hung the pieces for several days to allow the bias to grow out. I attached 1inch strips of organza on the straight grain to the zipper opening for additional reinforcement.

Organza to stabilize zipper

Organza pockets strengthened by cutting each piece out on the cross grain and straight grain

In spite of my best efforts, when I tried the skirt on it had stretched on the bias and no longer fit at the waist. I added two rather large darts in the back of the skirt.

I finished the waistband with a petersham ribbon using a similar method to Goodbye Valentino here.  Instead of under stitching and trimming, I placed the petersham on the right side of the fabric, above the skirt's waistband finishing line.  I sewed it down and then flipped it to the inside where I used a fell stitch to attach the bottom of the petersham.  

Close up of the lace

I wore the skirt again for dinner the other night to celebrate our third wedding anniversary at Le CouCou.  This time I paired it with a different black top (a refashioned nightgown!), a belt and some suede wedges.  Much preferred the skirt with this outfit than at the wedding. Though I'm not thrilled with the addition of the belt...

Dressed up for Anniversary Dinner 

About Le Coucou:  I had been following the chef, Daniel Rose, since the launch of Spring in Paris many years ago.  Rose's food is decidedly modern with some very strong nods to the 50s/60s cult classics that I associate with Julia Child or Paul Bocuse: Omelette Norvegienne, Quenelles de Brochette with lobster bisque.  But we also dined on some thoroughly modern fare, my favorite being the eel fried in rye flour with a mango curry sauce.  The atmosphere, service, wine, vibe...all excellent.  The chef came over to our table and chatted with us for 10+ minutes and I geeked out over my favorite French nostalgia dish, "coulibiac," which he recently prepared for a private party but does not plan to add to the menu.  A few days before our reservation, Le CouCou won the James Beard Award for best new restaurant (US).  Probably little chance of snagging a reservation again...

Winslow Culottes, Take Two

Don't you just love this whole ensemble?

I was so inspired by Teggy French's outfit, that I ordered the top and set out to make gingham culottes this past summer.  Here is my version:

Although I originally intended to copy Teggy French's look wholesale, my friend Carol suggested that I steer away from the cotton gingham used in Teggy's Vivetta skirt because of its tendency to look "Suzy Homemaker."  We searched the Garment District during Male Pattern Boldness Day back in August and came up with this beautiful houndstooth silk charmeuse.  I got the last of the bolt--2.5 yards.

Helen's Closet recommends 4 yards of 54" fabric for view D.  I barely squeezed the culottes out on 2.5 yards by abutting the straight edges and making a single cut.



I previously made the Winslows in a rayon challis here.  Although I always thought that natural fibers were king, I do prefer the drape of the rayon challis version to this latest silk version.   Plus, the challis is travel friendly because it doesn't need to be ironed.

I interfaced the waistband with muslin and used SewKeyse stay tape to interface the zipper area.  I sewed french seams throughout.



The crotch seams didn't line up perfectly because of my own error (I am sure).  Next time I will baste the pant back all the way from crotch to top back before inserting the zip.  Then I will interface and insert the zip, followed by sewing down the waistband.

The waistband is created by simply folding a rectangle in half.  If I make this again, I'd like to change the waistband to two pieces with the edge stitching on the inside facing piece. True Bias has a great tutorial for the Emerson pants.

I was pretty displeased with the stitch in the ditch on my first pair of Winslows, so I opted for a fell-stitched finish here.  Hand sewing produced a much neater result!

Not sure how much use I will get out of this outfit as it is a bit dressy.  The culottes are the proper length with heels but I was constantly worried I was going to trip over myself...;)