Corduroy Skirt and Jacket

At last, I am finished the wedding gift! I will post pictures of the finished product after we attend the event. In the meantime, I did decide to start on the mauve corduroy. I haven't got very far but I decided to post the beginnings for fear of losing loyal readers who may wonder if I am ever coming back.

The first pattern is McCall's 3830 for the skirt. I make the second longest skirt, view B, for my Fall and Winter skirts. I have several of these skirts and they are warm and practical and I think they look good, especially with boots to give a uniform look to what's left of my short legs peeking out from under the skirt. I also like to wear them with dark tights. And I like the fact that they don't blow around or up in the cold Winter winds like a wider, more circular skirt would, which is important when it's about -30C out there.

The second pattern is Vogue 7610 for the jacket. I have quite a few of these jackets and made one for my niece in the last entry series. To my mind, they work under every circumstance I can think of, except maybe a visit with the Queen, and even then, if it was at Balmoral in sometimes chilly Scotland, I'd give it a whirl. I don't think it will be too much mauve if I wear the skirt and jacket together, especially if I wear different colours in the legs and top.

I have decided to line the skirt because the cotton fabric, textured a bit even on the wrong side, will stick to tights and ride up as I walk. I could wear a slip instead of lining it but the slip can show at the back vent. Plus I want the option of adding a slip (or two) when it really gets cold. I went to my stash of lining fabrics and discovered that I had a bit but not enough of some mauve that matches exactly (to the left), some really lovely, thin light grey stuff, of which I had bought yards for some project I can no longer remember, and some darker, cheaper stuff (on the right). Because it's just the skirt, I have decided to go with the cheaper darker stuff and save the nice grey for when I can remember what that project was. You can also see the corduroy behind the pieces of lining.

It's nice that the lining is wide enough to accommodate the two skirt pattern pieces side by side. In the photo, I have forgotten to turn up the bottom of the pattern pieces by an inch, which I do to make the lining that much shorter than the finished skirt. I did that and then pinned the pieces to the lining and cut them out using pinking shears. I still haven't decided how I'm going to attach the lining, nor how I'm finishing the seams. Corduroy gives off those little fabric pills and lining ravels mercilessly.

The corduroy is quite a bit narrower than the lining and so I will get out all my pattern pieces so that I can play around with them like puzzle pieces and therefore waste as little of the fabric as possible.

Finally, you can get an idea of the colour and the nap with this last picture. I have folded the end of the fabric over and in the part on the front of the photo, you are looking up the nap, so it looks darker. In the back of the photo, you are looking down the nap, so it looks lighter in colour. I plan to cut the pieces so that the nap runs down my body, from top to bottom. When I run my hand down my skirt to smooth it, I will be smoothing down the nap as well, not brushing it up.

Next - layout and cutting. Oh my aching hand.