Butterick 5756

I caused myself a few problems with this particular pattern, and it was NOT a fault with the pattern. Read on to find out what went wrong...


Pattern Used: Butterick 5756


Pattern Details: Pleated skirt with hem-band variations.


Fabric Used: Gingham, with broadcloth lining, sigh.


View Made: B (B has bias cut hem and waistband, A has straight-grain hem and waist band.)


What did you especially like about this pattern? The skirt is so full, and the hem band just sort of sets off the whole skirt.


What did you especially dislike about this pattern? Nothing. It was super simple to make, came together quickly and well, and fits superbly. It sits just at/below my belly button comfortably, with no gaping or tightness. And, I had NO zipper problems with this skirt, for once!


Did you change the pattern at all? Yes. Sigh. I added lining because my gingham was a touch see-through and I like lining things, apparently. The way that I lined this skirt was all good, until it came to the pockets. There is a pleat over the pockets, that would work if the skirt wasn't lined (because my pockets always sit in between the good fabric and the lining). So my pocket is hard to get at, and kind of bulky, but other than that, it's fine. I also chose to buy narrow fabric for this skirt. Possibly fatal mistake there, but it was averted. The skirt pieces, both front and back are WIDER than 45" if you are cutting them on the straight grain. I cut mine on the cross grain and it didn't matter because it's gingham, but for stripes or any other directional fabric, this pattern really needs to be 60" wide. In fact, the envelope only lists measurements for 60" fabrics. Also, because the fabric was narrow, I bought an extra metre, which turned out to be just enough to get all my pieces on. I also only bought 2 metres of lining, which was tight. 2.5 metres would have been better (again because broadcloth is generally only 45" wide.) To finish the lining, I cut the front and back pieces about 2" longer than the good fabric ones, and narrow hemmed it, so that the lining hem sits just past the seam for the bias band.  Finally, when making the pleats, I didn't reinforce the seam well enough at the bottom, as they started to come apart a little with wearing the skirt. Next time, I'd reinforce more, or maybe tie the thread ends together before trimming, as I would for a dart.
 I also did stitch-in-the-ditch to secure the hem band, as I did not want to slipstitch. 

Final thoughts: This is a basic, interesting, wearable skirt with lots of potential for future attempts.


Pictures:

Front View

 

Back View

 

Close-up of Bias Hem Band