Is it more doll clothes? No! It's more patchwork!

I had more fabric picked out for more patchwork, and I decided to finally get back to that.  It was over a week ago, though!  I had to drag myself through this project--not because it was any harder (or more tedious) than the previous patchwork projects, but because I had picked these fabrics out first, after I finished several projects last year and thought their scraps coordinated nicely.

Purple flannel herringbone set

Green plaid A-line skirt

Floral motorcycle jacket

Cotton flannel plaid skirt

Corduroy zipper skirt

Wool snap skirt

 

but the problem is that the more time it takes me to get to a project, the more mental weight the project gathers, and it gets harder to approach it in a light, carefree manner like I do with the more spontaneous stuff I make.  The recent "just make something from these fabric scraps that are taking up too much room" projects were a breeze, because they happened almost as fast as the ideas for them formed.  The idea for this, however, had been around since November, giving my brain time to form expectations for it.  Progress gets held back by thoughts of "What if this doesn't end up as nice/fun/cool as I thought it would?"

Still, I kept at it and slowly--eight days!--got it finished

 

 

This is when I hear people say "Eight days? It would have  taken me a month to sew all those patches together!" and I respond that, yes, I understand that this kind of thing can take a while, and I really should be comfortable taking all the time I need for it.  But.  I got the longer, but more spontaneous, patchwork skirt done in five days, so my brain is back there saying I should have been able to finish this one faster.  Brains can be unreasonable.

I sewed this entirely with a dark warm purple regular weight thread, instead of sewing just the patchwork with that and then switching to a heavier thread for construction.  That decision was made as much because it matched the waistband fabric really well--the top stitching on the bottom edge of the waistband blends in so well--as it was because I had to reload the bobbin to get the last few patches sewn together, so, enh, might as well keep using that nearly-full bobbin when it was time for construction

Since there was corduroy involved, I pressed everything face-down on a towel so I wouldn't crush the corduroy pile with the iron.  I know I could have gotten a wash cloth to press the corduroy from the front after machine sewing the blind hem, but it's fine.

Because these fabrics are not fine, I did again choose to serge every edge.  This time, though, I acknowledged that it would best be done before sewing anything to anything else.  The process was tedious, and generated so much lint.  I wore a mask while doing it, and then thoroughly cleaned and oiled my serger afterward.

I had to fight with myself over the lining fabric.  I was not feeling especially enthusiastic about the project once I got to the time to cut the lining (which was after assembling and cutting the front and back pieces), so I didn't want to use the linings I liked.  I finally decided that, no, I should use some good lining fabric, and treat the project like it was going spectacularly.

(I recently had a similar change in approach with dolls, too--I had always dressed dolls I didn't like so much in clothes I didn't like so much, but decided: No! Dress the unspectacular dolls in spectacular clothes! and it turned out that being in better clothes made me like the dolls a bit more, to the point where, with some of them, I realized there were simple little changes I could make to their face paint that would also make me like them a little more, too.)

So I compromised a bit with this project, and used the good purple color lining fabric, but cut the lining pieces really short (length determined by using remnants for one side.)  Then I pressed the hem up 2½", instead of the 1½" the pattern called for (it's New Look 6843, view A with a wider waistband, again), which brought it closer to the shortened lining length.  I embraced the "treat it like it's already good" approach and used some really nice lace to hide the serged edge of the lining, and to make it a bit longer

I will note that I did try to pay attention to the fabric placement on the side seams, so the same fabric wouldn't end up next to itself, but I mis-estimated where, exactly, the back side edges would be cut, so things did end up touching in a few places.  It's fine.  I'm not making couture, I'm just making.

And I had so many skirt-length zippers that coordinated!  I went with olive green, because I had two zippers this color, and because I thought it would be funny to match one of the colors in the print that was not picked up elsewhere.  I also considered a zipper in a color labeled 'nasturtium,' which is really close to that peach/coral color also in the print and not elsewhere in the skirt.  I'm happy with the olive.

The button was chosen because I wanted something dark, but thought it would be funny to pick out the natural color in the print, too.

Since I wanted to keep the center back seam allowance the same quarter inch that the patches were sewn with in the rest of the skirt, I added strips of cotton fabric to the center back just in the area where the zipper would be.  I sewed the strips to the edges with really narrow seam allowances, pressed them flat, then sewed the center back seam the usual way I do zippers.  I'm also now firmly attached to avoiding hand stitching completely by sewing the zipper into the back lining first, then sewing that back lining/zipper unit to the skirt back, then proceeding with side seams and the rest of construction. 

Is this an absolutely spectacular skirt?  I don't really think so, no.  But I am looking forward, when the weather cools, to being able to wear it with the coordinating floral motorcycle jacket (which I also now realize will probably go very well with that green plaid skirt.) And!  It gets a bunch of scraps out of storage! Which is always good.