Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Simplicity 4500 Skirt



I made this skirt with a beautiful wool gabardine from my stash. The fabric has a wonderful drape and it feels all swishy and feminine on.
Working with this fabric was a nightmare. You must believe what they say about gabardine. It was a bear to iron. Knowing that it was a hard to work with fabric I chose a simple design, but even simple designs require pressing to look good. I lined it with silver Bemberg rayon, the pattern does not include a lining so I just used the skirt piece and attached it to the facing, and with hand stitches and in the groove of the seam of the facing I tacked together the facing to the waistband. I also made a pseudo crochet chain with sewing thread to keep the lining attached to the fashion fabric at the hem. I used seam binding for the fashion fabric hem (I love how this finish looks!).
As you can see I have a beautiful coordinating wool waiting to be made up in the jacket ( I really like the version with the belt). The colors of the last picture are truer to life.

6 comments:

  1. I have never worked with gabardine before. Your skirt looks great!

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  2. That is a really cute skirt!

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  3. Well done! You were able to succeed with this very difficult fabric!
    ¡Muy bien! ¡Usted he conseguido hacer un óptimo trabajo con esta tela tan difícil!

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  4. Your skirt turned out wonderfully! I find when working with gab, it helps to use a dauber (a rolled up piece of wool dipped in water) and a whole lotta steam! But don't use too much pressure when pressing. I get very zen about it.

    And if it helps, wool gabardine was the fabric that got me chanting, "La Sewing Diva, c'est Moi!" I wasn't going to let it win. :)

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  5. Hi,
    I really like your skirt and was looking for the pattern on the Simplicity site. I don't get anything returned when I search for pattern number 4500. Is it out of print?

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  6. Hi sew shy!
    I wasn't able to find it either!Your best bet would be to look in a catalog at the fabric store or ask Simplicity. It is not that old...the most two fall/winters ago.
    Good luck!

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