Work in Progress: Mail Order 9169

To be fair, my Mail Order 9169 skirt isn’t so much of a WIP but a “waiting for the hem” project.

When I met Meg the Grand at one of her sewing parties she was as sweet as could be. She sent me home with 4 of her patterns which I only had agreed to take on the understanding that I was only “borrowing” them to trace and give back. This is the first pattern which I’ve traced, and have been working on over the weekend.

When I got the pattern out of the package I then realized that a buddy happened to come along for the ride. Somehow an unmarked, unknown pattern had gotten mixed in with this 9169 skirt. I kept taking the pieces out thinking these are all for this one skirt?!

What was another surprise is that this skirt pattern only contains 4 pattern pieces: 1 waistband, 1 pocket, 1 pocket facing, and 1 large skirt piece. The skirt is all cut in one large piece! There’s no side seams, only 1 center back seam. The waist shaping comes from the two darts on the back and that’s about it. Being a pear-shaped gal, this worried me, but I graded it up (aka added width to the center front and back) and started cutting my fashion fabric out, sans muslin.

Have you ever tried sewing inset pockets onto a skirt with no side seams???? Well this one has you do just that. After struggling making these cute pockets, I can say there is an easier way and I’ll be sure to make note for next time. As a result of the original directions, I have very small bumps at the outside corner of the pocket, which would normally be the side seam. Ahh well…

Here’s the sneak peek of my new skirt:

I went and took some thick topstitching thread and did a hand-running stitch all along the waistband and on the pocket pieces. In the end, the pockets aren’t really pockets since they’re only 2-3 inches deep. They’re not deep enough to hold anything except chapstick, maybe. As a result I stitched them closed both with my topstitching thread and again with the buttons. I may (or may not) change this feature on my next version.

Closer view of stitching and pockets:

I made this skirt in a really (really!) light weight denim. I’m hoping it will be one of my go-to-skirts that fills several gaps in my summer wardrobe.

Now, if only I can get my husband to help me mark the hem so I can finish this guy up! heh

In: Sewing