Sewing: Vogue V9114 Skirt

This is the skirt version of Vogue Patterns V9114, sewn in a light-medium weight cotton fabric. I quite like this skirt. It's very comfy to wear and reminds me of something that would appear in a period piece show, although I'm not exactly sure what era it fits into. The pattern is really easy to sew up. One large pattern piece is used for both the front and back pieces of the skirt. There's a waistband piece used to encase some elastic, and some ties that are sewn onto the inside. Those ties are what give the skirt the folds and the shaping. I did make one small change. The pattern has the side bottom parts of the skirt coming to sharp triangular points and that just looked too long and draggy on me. I cut off the tips of the triangles so the bottom sections are trapezoidal and don't hang as low. I also shortened mine by about 1.5 inches, but that's normal for me since I'm relatively short.

All in all, it's a fun skirt to wear. There is quite a bit of fabric at the bottom, so if you're going to make it, I would suggest using a fairly light weight fabric. Otherwise, I think the skirt would just be too heavy both in how it feels and how it looks.

Sewing: Linen top

This is a linen top made from a highly modified Vogue Pattern V1247, which is now out of print.

I've sewn this pattern probably 10 times by now because I really liked the tops I made but I tweaked the pattern every time to make it more wearable or easier to sew. I think I've achieved the final version -- the pattern has been modified so much that every piece has been re-drafted and I also have fewer pieces. Here's what I remember as all the changes I've made:

• I got tired of the cuffs so I removed then and shortened the quasi-sleeves which are just an extension of the bodice.
• I raised and narrowed the neckline a bit.
• The original pattern has three pieces for the lower front bodice and I changed it to just one slightly curved piece. This makes it much easier to sew and I never liked the bias aspect of the center lower piece. The curving of my new piece makes it flare out a bit.
• I like the draping of the top but it was always a bit too baggy so I added 2 darts to my new lower front piece and 2 corresponding pleats to the upper front bodice. This brings in the front fullness just a bit.
• I shortened the length a bit.
• I use bias tape to finish off the sleeve openings, the neckline and the bottom. The front and side seams are sewn as french seams.

This should be a really nice top for summer. I bought the linen from Fabrix in San Francisco, and it's a really lightweight fabric with a moderately crisp feel.