Saturday 21 July 2018

Back to Front (or not) Butterick 6464

Instead of putting away some left over fabric I was quite certain there was enough for a skirt for me...

I tried my new pattern; the Extra Sharp Pencil Skirt, nope, didn't fit
I traced off the City Stroll skirt in a size down from the one that is now too loose, nope, didn't fit
I fiddled with Lisette B6493 to see if that would work, you guessed it, nope.

Then I struck ninja cutting gold with Lisette for Butterick B6464



...or so I thought. The pattern is intended for knits such as ponte, but I figured this stretch corduroy would be about as stretchy as a very stable knit, so I jumped in.

I was so excited to find I could fit the pattern pieces on the remnant that might have had the same surface area as a 1m cut, but was too oddly shaped for most patterns. I was *that* close to crowing about my ninja cutting prowess on Instagram.

And then I started sewing.... the waistband is sewn together first and the elastic inserted. That was good as I got to test my ability to get the elasticised waist over my hips. Yippeee, it was going to work....


I sewed the skirt panels into a loop only to find that it was a much smaller loop than my waistband, and that skirt section wasn't going to go above my knees let alone around my hips. Wha??!!!

A smart person, who looks at cutting layouts and pays more attention would have spotted that the side panels are doubled. There is a side front panel and a side back panel on each side of the skirt. The centre front and centre back panels are the same, so while there's only two pattern pieces, the skirt needs a total of six, not four skirt sections to make it up.

Oopsie.

I considered giving it up, putting it aside, or cutting it down to make a kid sized skirt, but then I wondered if a contrast panel might work.... I had one hour left before picking up the kids and I zoomed into Fabric Deluxe...


...where I found the exact same fabric in a tan/cafe-latte colour. It's the same weight, same cut corduroy, same stretch percentage and certainly a complementary colour. It was worth a try.

The fun thing about this skirt pattern is that it doesn't have a defined front or back. If I wish to think I am a pattern cutting ninja wearing a pink skirt I can wear it one way and avoid mirrors that my show my rear view. Conversely, if I'm feeling like dressing a bit like a tub of neapolitan ice cream and recognising my fallibility I can wear it this way round.

I kind of like it both ways.


Except that now I've got most of a metre of a tan coloured stretch corduroy remnant that I need to put away before I start trying to get too clever again! Doh!

Details:
Pattern: Lisette for Butterick B6464
Size: 14
Modifications: None, although made in a stretch woven rather than a knit.
Fabric: Bettina Liano stretch corduroy from The Fabric Store (pink) with identical fabric type from Fabric Deluxe (tan)



3 comments:

  1. I think your save turned out well.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Linda, I'm glad I persisted and found a way to have this skirt pattern, even if I consider it a wearable muslin.

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  2. Brilliant save and you have some great dressing decisons to make. I like the skirt of V1247 for little pices of fabric (once lengthened) it is a woven but I'm sure would work perfectly with your cord.

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