At the same time, I made an awesome skirt for my sister Camille! She is usually a great model, but I'm afraid she was deathly sick with the flu and didn't want her ill face all over the internet. I used the new Scroop pattern, the modern Fantail skirt. It turned out great! It looks sort of vintage, and I'm tempted to buy a pair of retro American Duchess shoes....but sadly I can only dream.
All the instructions made perfect sense; I've never tried an invisible zipper, but I was so happy with it! They are magical. The end. I had to hunt all over town to find an invisible zipper presser foot, but much to my chagrin the local sewing machine shop told me that I don't actually have a Pfaff machine.
Huh?
Can you read?
He then explained that all the Pfaff hobby machines were outsourced to...Janome. So I've been lied to! WHAT IS THIS FALLACIOUSNESS??? Thesaurus told me that was a word. BAM!
I was in quite a huff because they were outrageously expensive for a tiny piece of plastic, and I didn't have time to order it online. So I called my awesome friend and she let me borrow her machine! She was very helpful in showing me exactly how to install the zipper according to Leimomi's instructions. The pictures don't fully capture how awesome these pleats look in real life. Again, Camille was so sick and was in a hurry to get back in her pajamas.
In other words: The Modern Fantail is an excellent pattern, and I look forward to trying the historical version someday! 5/5 stars.
The skirt looks fantastic! I really want this pattern, but since I'm already in the middle of like a dozen projects I decided I would wait until I at least finished my Edwardian corset.
ReplyDeleteAlso, fallaciousness. XD
Oh what a totally fun skirt! I LOVE the back! Nicely made my dear!
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
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I don't have an invisible zipper foot, either. Aargh, I've forgotten about that!
ReplyDeleteLeimomi likes it in red. I like it in red. I also like the idea of pairing it with retro shoes - no American Duchess for me, either, but I have a pair I snatched up in a second-hand shop some time ago... Maybe you'll get similarly lucky. :-)
I will have to keep an eye out, I never think to look for shoes at the second-hand store....thanks for the suggestion!
DeleteKeep an eye out for shoes that look lightly worn - otherwise you may have trouble with them already being "worn in" by someone with very different feet, aside from the fact they would be more worn, period. Look for leather, too, because that's more likely to adjust to your feet (and you get more bang for your buck with leather :D).
DeleteI was extremely lucky - I found a pair of 1930s-looking leather shoes with leather soles (!!!) that appear to be from the 70s and, as special occasion shoes, to have been worn only occasionally. So that's a sort of luck you don't usually have; but I've found a couple other nice newer pairs, too. But as Leimomi said - "the trick to op-shops is to go all the time," so you may have to be patient.
You do t need an invisible zipper foot to install an invisible zipper, in fact I think it’s easier without! Sewing Secrets From the Fashion Industry by Susan Huxley provides excellent instructions for this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion! As a COMPLETE newbie to the finer points of invisible zipper foot installation....I was clueless. I'll have to look into that for next time!
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