Ah well. Life’s tough, my sew-jo has been thin on the ground for a week or more, and now another weight gets added to the pile…
I forced myself to get back to the sewing today, so that my mid-week day off would feel productive. I wrestled with the elastic button loops, all 20 of them [whose idea WAS that again?] and hand picked the zip into place. I basted in the back bodice linings, and sewed the shoulder seams, and attached the little stand collar. All the patterned applique rows lined up nicely, so far so good.
I roughly stitched the side seams, and wriggled into it to check before stitching and binding those looooong seams. Wriggled. And wriggled. I’ll be wearing this over my Edwardian corset, which doesn’t pull in the waist as much as the Victorian one, but aims at an elongated S shape. I obviously should have made it first but I didn’t, so shurrup. I therefore just wanted to judge if the side seams need to be radically taken in or let out…but that was a lot of wriggling.
The skirt is VERY narrow. The fit over the hips and ribcage is fine, the zip won’t do completely up, but I expected that, it will be fine over a corset. OMG that skirt though!
Now it’s a style which was popular pre WW1, and as such, is obviously long and lean in profile…but this is a real hobble skirt, which I wasn’t expecting in a non-historically accurate pattern. This is more of a costume look, so such details are usually made more user friendly. Nope. Not a bit of it. I could only just wriggle the lower skirt into place over my not-large hips and bum. Anyone with a derriere would never get into it!
I can only take half strides, and with my natural clumsiness, that simply will not do. I’d break a leg in five minutes flat, and stairs would be a no-no. I’m going to have to contrive a kick pleat/gusset/gore of some sort, but I don’t want to detract from that lovely asymmetrical overlay and all the ruddy applique, so it’ll have to go on the opposite side. More faffing with the evil fraying fabric!
I ask again, whose idea was this anyway?
thedementedfairy 
I’m sure there was a devil whispering in your ear. Dressed up in a fancy costume so you though it was your sewing spirit guide, or something? 😉
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THAT WAS IT!
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Or it may have been the tablets…I do hallucinate lol
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Another strider here. Some kind of a kick pleat which could be closed with buttons and loops……… ducking and running for cover.
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AAargh I’m in the middle of covering millions of little buttons. Does anyone know a painless way of dealing with those horrible little spikes?
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Send them all to Harlequin and let them do the hard work. I gave up covering buttons once I had tried them. They are quick too.
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This is what I will do…next time of course! lol
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If you do it yourself, gather round the circle and use a pin to hook fabric round those evil little spikes and tuck the fabric behind them.
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More or less what I did- except I used my seam ripper instead of a pin. My fingers are still sore though! Now to sew all the flippin’ things on!
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Oh dear, I have had a couple of hobble skirts. I always end up ripping them. I don’t know how anyone walked in them all the time. What about a vent or a godet (or two) in the back? Xx
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I would put it in the back, but I think it would detract from the asymmetry, so I’m putting it in the side…at the moment, just a slit, bound edges to stop the ruddy fraying!
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I have seen women on very high heels in very tight skirts hobbling quickly down the sidewalk to catch a bus. If this doesn’t get straightened out, you will have plenty of company!
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lol I’d be unlikely to catch the bus, as I’d be nursing several broken bones/teeth from a spectacular face-plant!
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Oh my! I haven’t witnessed one of those yet, don’t wish to! Good luck with your garments!
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