Obsessed with Embellishment

This is a great skirt – it’s a short version of the HP Classix Nouveau Trouser Skirt, and is based on the same sloper. I really love the jacket too, and will probably make this up again as a suit in gray – a color that showed up quite a bit during Fall ‘07 Fashion Week - with a contrast lining on the hoodie.

This skirt is a 100% stash reduction project - I literally didn’t buy a thing; the fabric, thread, beads, lace, lining, interfacing, zipper - everything - came straight from my stash. That felt really good!We’re going to an Oscar party tonight, so I’ll wear this pretty much as you see it, with brown fishnets. Oops - I need to press the hem a little more - just noticed some ripples.

This time I thought I’d try a hand picked zipper. Lately I’ve been hand finishing my projects because for some reason it’s easier to get my brain around that than it is to do all the steps to machine finish every detail. The lining is hand fell stitched to the zipper tape – honestly, sometimes it’s just simpler to just do a bit of handing sewing instead of wrestling with it on a machine. Plus I like the smooth look of hand finishing. The top stitching works, but I’m not convinced the beading really does. On the first try I just had the seed beads, but it made the zipper look eerily like a chest surgery scar, which was a little freaky. So I added the bugle beads. So the beads may come off at some point. Maybe I’ll do the pick stitches in the same brown topstitching thread I’ve used on the seams.

The lace edging on the lining is something I’ve done before on skirt linings – a friend said it’s a sort of a fin de siècle look, and I like the hidden luxury. A more detailed review of the pattern itself is on PatternReview.

So – I really like this result, it’s a great Hot Pattern!