4-2009-101A - Navy skirt w/ white topstitching

Remember when I made this skirt back in May and used a cheap fabric that I should have known better about? I was determined that it would be navy and spent the past few months looking for the perfect fabric. I finally found some navy stretch sateen at Fabric.com and ordered it. Here it is all made up!

I love this skirt. Seriously. I think it is in the my top 10 favorite things made by me. The fabric is the perfect weight and has just a touch of lycra to give it some stretch.


I love to topstitch. People always ask so I'll not forget to mention this time around - I use a heavy weight polyester thread in the machine and regular navy thread in the bobbin. I also use my walking foot so the fabric stays even on the top and bottom. These little pockets were sewn and topstitched with buttons sewn on, and then slipstitched to the skirt. I'm not sure how the instructions had you do it - I didn't make much sense out of them. Isn't the front yolk fun? It actually opens and closes, but I use the invisible zipper on the side to put it on.

This skirt took a whole package of bias tape. I put it around the top facing and on both sides of the side zipper seam. On the right you can also see where I slipstitched the pocket down with needle and thread.

Here in the inside of the front yolk. As I mentioned before the instructions weren't too helpful, so I just did my own thing with it. Once it was sewn to the front skirt panel, I covered the seam with more bias tape. All facings were slipstitched down. I used french seams for all vertical seams except the zipper seam. I made them wider then usual so I could topstitch from the front and have something to stitch into. To make a wider french seam you make the first seam about 1/8" wide and forgo any trimming, then turn it to the inside and take 3/8 to 1/2" seam for the second.

This is my typical blind hem with the top folded down to eliminate any exposed fraying.

It was a lot of fun to make! I cut the side seams 1/4" bigger from the waist to the hem, but otherwise made no changes to the pattern.

*Update to the black eyelet blouse I finished a few days ago:*
After wearing it around for half the day yesterday I was feeling a little choked. The neckline was too high for my comfort zone. I have issues with necklines, people. I took out the elastic, undid the front stitches, and clipped 3" off the center front, tapering it down to the sleeve tops. And I am much more comfortable and happy with this version.