PR Sewing Bee: Vogue 8750

My ponte is on it's way to me!!

FWIW, I was worried about my fabric selling out...not FM making it right. FM always makes it right should anything go wrong. And things go wrong very infrequently. YAY!

My hand is getting better. Still nowhere near 100%; but better. I realized it feels great in the morning - even if I don't wear any braces or wraps or anything overnight. So I've concluded (haha) that the key really is doing *nothing*. Except it's my right hand and no matter what, doing *nothing* isn't really an option. So I've been doing as little as possible. As close to nothing as I can get.  It's hard y'all.

So, I very slowwwwwwly-blergh worked on my skirt for the PR Sewing Bee. I didn't think I'd finish. And honestly, I doubt I'll continue on; even if I make it past round 1. But we shall see. There always seems to be some type of refashioning element and that just isn't my thing. Plus, my ponte is on the way!

At any rate, here is my pencil skirt and my write-up on my musical inspiration:

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When I saw that round 1 was a pencil skirt challenge, I decided to throw my hat in the ring. I love them. And then when I saw 'inspired by music', I instantly had my idea!

I am a child of the 80s and 90s and grew up in Chicago (*in* the city, on the south side) and I listen to rap and hip-hop almost exclusively. It was a no brainer on genre! Favorite artist? Jay-Z, hands down. (did you know he has won 17 Grammy's with 50+ noms? He's sold over 55 million albums...He's 2nd only to The Beatles in chart-toppers...and his most recent album went Platinum in 5 days. He's a legend!). 

My favorite Jay album? That was tougher to discern. I went with The Blueprint. The album was released on 9/11, went double platinum, and was his first album to feature Kanye West as producer. (The Old Kanye is definitely one of my Top 10 favorite rappers). 

And THEN I knew which song would be my inspiration - Renegade, a song that featured Eminem. (IMO this is some of Em's best work - ever). Rap has always faced a 'public perception' issue and this record addressed it. 

So I wanted my skirt to reflect the hard, edgy, rebelliousness that is rap music and this song specifically.

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I knew I wanted a skirt with seaming and when I was checking through my pattern collection, I saw the lines of this skirt and had a lightbulb moment. I decided on this faux-corset in front, I'd already ordered buckles to incorporate and knew I'd be using an exposed zipper. I love them in the right garments (e.g., casual, sporty, trendy, etc), sue me :shrug: :-p

Fashion Sewing Blog TV tutorial 

Her method is neat and her tutorials are always AWESOME!

Bonus? I've made this skirt before. I had used the flounces instead but all other pattern pieces for the straight skirt are the same. WINNING!

The skirt is size 16 front, 18 in back.

I used view B.

I had (A HUGE PILE) of this dark, almost black denim in stash and the Telio perfection-fused faux leather as well.

I ordered the cording from my blessed Amazon (they've got me. when they take over the world, I'm going to be right there, in line. :( LOL!)

Buckles and grommets came from Bagmaker Supply on Etsy (nayy). I love this shop. And they're in Chicago so I get things fast. I ordered on Friday and on Tuesday, my goodies were in my mailbox. That's with Monday being a holiday.

I did manage to put all 8 eyelets in, effortlessly, on my lunch break! Miracle!

I was cutting it very close to the wire and ended up going to the movies Wednesday night. I did NOT have time for this, in hindsight. I sewed a little before I left. Thursday, I went home a little early and my machine would not pick up the bobbin thread. I spent a good 45 minutes fussing with it (yes, yes I could have pulled out the other machine and not gotten completely flustered but that is TOO much like right!)

Then this and that and the other thing went wrong. And then it was after 5 and I had horrible lighting in the house for pics. And then it's that time and I hated every single photo I took.

Blergh.

In the end, I really like the skirt overall. I have to pull out the pleather panels though. That fabric is not an appropriate match for the denim. I will insert denim panels and WILL wear the skirt. It's cool and it's cute!