Wednesday, February 1, 2012

McCall's 6402 - Leather + Wool black mini skirt

If you will recall, mixed material clothing was item #5 in my fall/winter must haves list. First I made the Johathan Saunders knock-off dress in leather and wool. Now I've completed my second garment in that category, a leather and wool mini skirt:
It was super bright outside when we were taking these photos!
This is my third time to use leather, and I am definitely gaining confidence with it! I was able to squeeze the pieces for this skirt out of that same skin I used for the above mentioned dress as well as the accents for this jacket. With my second black skin I plan to make some leather shorts. (Not sure if I'll get to those this winter or not.)
I liked this pattern for the interesting side pieces and the idea of doing them in leather. (Although on their example they used pleather.) I used my TNT waistband and did only minor adjustments to the muslin. This was a pretty easy garment except for the intersecting sides where the leather points all meet. THAT was no picnic. I had to use pins, people. On leather. But I only pinned in the seam allowances so none of the puncture marks show on the outside. It worked out well in the end.
I hemmed the bottom wool gabardine by hand and used some leather glue for the leather. BTW, both the leather and the wool gab were purchased from Fabricmartfabrics.com. They have excellent sales on skins from time to time and I now have a few different colors in my stash.
The back invisible zipper was no fun to put in either. This skirt is snug, and for some reason the zipper was poking out at the bottom giving me a tail bump. I'm sure you've all experienced that from time to time while putting in a zipper. I'm telling you, I could not find a solution. Easing in the fabric did not correct the problem. I thought about moving the zipper to the side seam, but could not fathom trying to get the sides to match up again with the added issues of an invisible zipper. After a few days of feeling sad every time I passed it on my dressform, I thought to take out the extra fabric in the back at the center bottom of the leather panels. (I took out 3/8" of the wool gab at the center back tapering to nothing a few inches towards the sides.) Don't ask me why this worked but the tail bump went away. AND I figured out that it can be helpful to hand baste in an invisible zipper if it is being particularly difficult.

Here is the envelope picture:
I did add a full lining in black Ambiance which I didn't take a picture of since we are having a string of overcast days. For the lining, I was able to use the back of view D, but had to use the pieces from view A for the front.

I'm very happy with this skirt. It gives textural interest to a basic black bottom pairing and is a fun trend to participate in.

55 comments:

  1. Wow, Amanda, your version looks better than the envelope photo! Not sure if it's the pleather causing the puckering along the seams on the envelope photo, but yours looks flawless.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome! Yours is SO much better than the pattern picture! Out of curiosity, how will you clean the skirt?

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOVE your skirt! Yes, it looks much better than the pattern--the pattern appears to have puckering in the pleather. Your is perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your skirt looks amazing and I love the curved seam details. Fantastic job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree! Your skirt looks so much better than the envelope. I love it so much!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I looks terrific on you. Thank you so much for sharing how you solved your problem with the zipper.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, that is one fantastic skirt, I love it! And so well made, as always. You really look stunning.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh lovely! But I wonder how you "launder" your mixed fabric garment when one of the fabric is leater?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great outfit and you did a fantastic job on matching those side seams. Not easy!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a wonderful skirt. I have got to get up the nerve to try mixing with leather.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Impeccable! It looks perfect on you! I'm with everyone else, it looks way better than the envelop picture

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love it. Great choice of style and material. You look fab.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wonderful skirt! I follow your blog for months now and I must say you are a very precise sewer. Here is prove of that.
    Congratulations

    ReplyDelete
  14. I agree with the others - your version blows the original out the water. Your ability to sew with leather and two different fabrics combined - incredible!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Awesome skirt! Excellent work, and it looks so good on you!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Super cool skirt. Impeccably made, too, as always. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Love it, looks so expensive! Nice job!!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. It looks amazing! Your matching at the side seams is perfection. They should re-do the cover of the envelope with your version.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Fabulous skirt! Yours looks miles better than the envelope picture. Well done and it fits you beautifully. :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. You did an amazing job! I'm nervous about leather, but you make me want to try it!

    ReplyDelete
  21. You did such an amazing job, as always. Your version is definitely better than the envelope!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Really cute...great job on its construction!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Amada you look fantastic and the skirt awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Well, that is a wonderful skirt. It's inspiring me to work with leather....almost!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Your skirt looks much nicer than the one on the envelope. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I feel like a copycat, but I agree with everyone above: your version is so much nicer than the envelope. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  27. oh wow you look very glamarous in this outfit - that skirt is perfect for your amazing figue. In fact I thought you had posted a picture of Anne Hathaway when I saw the thumbnail pic in my reading list!

    ReplyDelete
  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  29. You've done a lovely job of this skirt and I have to agree with the above comment that yours looks better than the actual envelope photo :D

    I've created a link to your blog as I find you very inspiring and thought that I'd share it with others :D

    http://everydayimstitchin.blogspot.com/

    Gem
    x

    ReplyDelete
  30. The difference between your version and the one with pleather is eye opening :) Way to make that skin work for you. It looks terrific!

    ReplyDelete
  31. This is gorgeous Amanda way better than the original.

    ReplyDelete
  32. This is fantastic! And a fine example of how to improve on the original sample.. particularly I love your waistband much better.

    ReplyDelete
  33. This is such a good looking skirt. I was definitely struck by how much better your version looks compared to the RTW version. I also hand-baste my invisible zipper in before I stitch with my machine. So glad you came up with a solution for the tail bump.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I second that emotion! Your version is out of the park. I haven't worked with leather yet. Maybe one day...

    ReplyDelete
  35. This is amazing. And it is so much nicer than the pattern picture--I don't know if I would have bought the pattern based on that picture, but seeing your version makes me think I could. And thanks for the zipper -tail- solution... I had the same thing happen to a dress, and I am ashamed to say I just left it that way! Maybe I will go back and try to fix it now because I had no idea before HOW to fix it.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Great skirt, you look awesome! Yours looks better than the photo.

    ReplyDelete
  37. That skirt looks much better than the pattern envelope. Great look.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Gorgeous skirt! Much better execution than the pattern envelope (that side seam intersection is astounding). Fabulous style, as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  39. That is an excellent looking skirt!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Wow, this is very designer looking. You did an fabulous job on it and well worth the extra effort you put into the zipper. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Insanely hot skirt! I am so glad you had a solution to the zipper bump. It is amazing how an idea can pop into your head after a few days of mulling it over. And now it is only a matter of time until I buy leather and sew something. I may copy this exactly, I will be your leather skirt twin.
    Beautiful work!!!

    ReplyDelete
  42. It turned out great! You did a fabulous job sewing! And this a great sample for anyone's closet. Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Oh my gosh, this is fantastic!! Congratulations on the fabric matching! You look amazing in this.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Great skirt! I would love to give this one a try!

    ReplyDelete
  45. I've been missing your posts! I hope all is well and you're just busy being mommy! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  46. I've just stumbled upon your blog. You've got some lovely sewn clothing! Do you need a special sewing machine to handle the leather?

    ReplyDelete