Vintage McCalls 3842: The Kick-Pleat Skirt

I bought the McCall’s 3842 vintage secretary-esque skirt pattern on etsy about a month and a half ago, and I set to work on it immediately because it was too cute to sit on my shelf, unused.

Being a vintage pattern, I’m always surprised at how long all of the pattern pieces are.  I know I’m short, but for some reason I though people were a bit shorter back in the day, not bigger.  I swear I had to remove at least 4 inches from the lengthen/shorten line as well as another inch or two in the kick-pleat area.  Craziness.

I’ve had some bright purple in a light Italian, stretch wool in my stash that has been begging me to turn it into a skirt.  So I finally obliged, and turned him into my new vintage kick-pleat skirt. 

I thought it would be fun to go to the Chicago Public Libary and take some pictures in the stacks.  Unfortunatly the lighting was terrible, but being around 20 degrees in the Windy City, it wasn’t really possible to take the pictures outside. 

You can see from the picture above (and the one below) I included side-seam pockets as well as a matching purple lining to the whole skirt.

This picture below was aslo taken in our city library.  There’s an atrium at the very top, which is used for public and private events.  I wish I could have taken more photos up here since the lighting was wonderful and it really shows off the true color of the skirt.  But there were folks trying to read and I didn’t want to disturbe anyone more than I already had. 

Here’s the detail shot of the kick-pleat, complete with covered buttons. 

It looks lovely now, but little did I know how difficult it is to insert a kick-pleat when there is no corresponding back seams to work with.  Watch out for that when you’re buying a kick-pleat skirt pattern.  This was truly a challenge and I felt like crying at several points during the construction; slowly but surely, I managed to get it all sewn together.

 The other tricky thing I learnt the hard way was trying to hem the pleated section.  I always hem my garnments as the final step to ensure I have a perfectly even hem all the way around.  But the trouble on this skirt is the pleats; it seems easier said then done, to hem pleats, especially when there is an angular-vertical seam involved.  And if (when) I make this skirt again, I would be hemming this kick-pleat area, prior to setting it into the main skirt piece and I would also be hemming it prior to pressing the pleats. 

And to leave you with something silly, I snagged a book cart that was left by the stacks where we were taking pictures.  I could be a librarian, don’t you think?!  heh

In: Sewing

Blogger for 6 years and counting, I am a passionate creator who loves to tinker.

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