I’m feeling sort of cranky with sewing since late last evening; I’m working on a wool skirt that’s fine, I guess, it’s just not exceeding my expectations. And though I’m getting better at not doing this, honest, it’s still very natural for me to swoop down and make enormous (negative) generalizations about my abilities and habits when something doesn’t turn out above and beyond utter perfection. Which, as you might suspect, does in fact happen.

See that little beaut? Although I didn’t cling fastidiously (or even basically) to said image while settling into a pattern and fabric and all that, this was the picture I had in mind when I decided I wanted to sew myself a yellow skirt. I bought a particular piece of fabric and then cut it out and started sewing on it; and now that I’m close enough to finishing it that I can easily compare the two, they are NOTHING alike and I sort of feel like a punk.

It makes me feel like a failure, like I don’t know how to make good decisions, like I think I can put less than complete thought processes into my wishes and just have it work out like magic. At worst? I feel petty and selfish and childish and ungrateful and lazy and whiny and conceited; and at best, well, who cares? If it’s possible to ascribe that whirlwind of total awfulness to my reactions, what kind of benefit could a silver lining have to offer? That’s my initial feeling, and while I wouldn’t recommend it to ya it does feel familiar to me; and I’m going to briefly entertain stepping away from it for a hot second. At best I feel like I could make a better go of it with a second try. I can try to deconstruct it into smaller pieces: the fabric, the interfacing, the piping, the pattern, all (all!) of which I’d change up if I wanted to for serious attempt a more accurate knockoff. Which would leave me with the current waistband facing and the lining and the zipper to use–in which case maybe I could squint real hard and see a wavy image of the real thing in the distance.

I’ve spent a fair bit of time on it so far, and it’s not awful or anything, but it does not look like that little cutie thing up there. Granted that cutie little thing up there is like 16″ long or some nonsense and is still for sale at Barney’s for $1,100, but I blindly assumed that I’d hit a little closer to “quirky take on a tailored classic” than “boring ass old republican lady who shops at dillard’s.” Guess not.

In all fairness there’s more going on here, and I know that; it’s just tempting to make extreme associations between the decisions that I halfheartedly follow through with and the admittedly unfair (and off the mark) consequences of the results.  So what, you want a trickle of generosity toward myself? FINE.

If nothing else, I feel pretty good about the fit of the skirt itself (which I do not have a picture of just yet). It’s a nice color, and though the lining doesn’t allow enough opacity for me to wear my blue stripey underpants with it, it’ll be a good excuse to get some better-fitting nude options. (Ooh! TMI! now you have some G-rated knowledge of my underpants drawer.)

I also decided to add piping to the waistband yoke, side seams and bottom hem, and I learned that slicing up 1″ bias strips of a spongy wool is actually easier than I anticipated: it took to the rotary cutter better than some of the cottons I’ve used in the past. I opted for a smaller upholstery-sized cord, which I now know was too much. Matter of fact, I probably could’ve used a whole lotta nothing in there, just folded the tape in half, and it would’ve been totally fine (and I might not feel like such a sofa cushion while wearing it). The interfacing in the waistband yoke might also be too heavy, but it’ll do. I like the contrast facing I added and the lining attached with no problem, and I am a sucker for lined skirts and funky little prints snuck in whenever possible.

Also I did a pretty good job of matching the piping across the zip, and the back vents are even and a good depth, and because this is a thick wool it’ll be warm with tights. (Even if it does make me look a little like margaret thatcher.)