You may have glimpsed this skirt in last week’s “what I wore” mosaic.  It’s Vogue 1247.

This photo was taken at the end of the day, so it’s a little creased! This is quite a popular skirt on Pattern Review. Like pretty much everyone else, I lengthened it (around 3 or 4 inches, I think) and only took a tiny hem. I think that it would have been okay a little shorter though! The most intriguing feature of this pattern are the pockets.

There they are, in the seam between the yoke and the bottom part of the skirt! I really like the way that they are inserted. I used some left over Kaffe Fassett voile to line them. I am also extremely proud of my invisible zip efforts in the back of this skirt, and that I managed to line up the yoke seams pretty much perfectly. I did use a hook and eye right at the top of the zip to keep it closed nicely.

The fabric is stretch cotton drill that was languishing in stash. I used my overlocker to finish seams, rather than the binding suggested by the pattern. I also left off the waistband completely, although that wasn’t part of my original plan. I did the right thing by trying this skirt on as I went along. I’d cut out the size 12, which I though would be more than big enough around my hips, and figured that if I left out the darts that were in the yoke it would still fit my size 16 waist. When I tried it on, I had to sew up the darts as per the size 12 markings, then it fitted well. So I cut out the waistband at size 12, and wrapped it around me. There was absolutely NO WAY that it was going to go anywhere remotely near fitting me. I presume that the yoke would have needed quite a lot of easing to fit into the waistband. In the end I used bias binding to finish the top of the yoke. Which was a good solution for me really – I don’t especially like waistbands.

I stitched the hem down with a triple straight stitch, and will possible go back and do another two rows as a topstitching feature.  I recommend this pattern, and the next time that I make it (and there will be a next time – it’s already cut out) I’ll take it in a little more, and maybe sew it a fraction shorter. Because I made this one out of a stretch woven (as is the next) it does tend to give and bag out a little during wear. I’d also like to make the top that is in the same pattern.