I had planned to make a yard-sale wrap skirt from Weekend Sewing. It looked like a simple project, so even if the notoriously bad directions led me astray I figured I had a good chance of making it work. The pattern call for 2.5 yards of 45" fabric and I had 3 of this summery Midwest Modern print on hand. Perfect, or so I thought. After I traced the pattern I noticed that there was no diagram for how to lay out the pattern pieces on 45" fabric. Strange, but I could deal with that. Until I realized that, in fact, it is impossible to cut out enough panels for the larger sized skirt from 2.5 yards of fabric. Or 3 yards. I estimated that I would need 8-9 yards of 45" fabric to cut out 9 panels; more if the print was directional (like those made by the author herself). No wonder there was no diagram for cutting out panels from 45" fabric; it can't be done.
Surely this error was due to some mishap as the book passed from author to editor to pattern testers and it would be fully explained on the errata page. Alas, no such clarification was forthcoming. Strangely, upon googling peer reviews of this book, I found only glowing praises, many citing the "excellent and clear directions". In my opinion, I don't think anyone test-sewed the yard-sale skirt pattern before the book went to press. I understand that mistakes happen, but please correct them, acknowledge their extent, explain what happened. Can you tell I'm a little disappointed?
Enough about the lemons, let's move on to lemonade. Or, in this case, a Barcelona skirt. I love this pattern, it having been a staple of my summer wardrobe last year. Since I used a lighter cotton than for the previous two, I lined this one with a lovely pima cotton that I found at my local fabric store. I was pleasantly surprised that lining it only added about half an hour on to the construction time. Fortunately the rain let up yesterday and I was able to get outside to take some photos. And experiment with my remote control and tripod. I even attempted some action shots: I love bloggers who are able to convey movement in their photos.
Yes, we're pretty happy to see the sun around these here parts.
3 comments:
Your skirt is gorgeous! I'm glad it turned out well for you after all the struggling with the other pattern. I've been wanting to try the Barcelona Skirt, myself, because everyone's skirts turn out so lovely.
Congrats!
this is really lovely! i have this same fabric hanging around, but not 3 yards, i don't think. but that pattern is something i must pick up... ESPECIALLY since i bought weekend sewing a couple of weeks ago and your post makes me think i should take it RIGHT back!!
The skirt came out great! What a bummer about the pattern you intended...I have the book also and after reading this blog I will be sure to do a little research on the patterns before I begin any of them! Thanks!
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