Make it work!

I have spent snippets of the last three days making something I've had all month to make.  I know... a day in the life a sewer (sewist?), eh?  After three attempts at installing the zipper, two attempts at sewing down the waistband, and countless ripped stitches, a poodle skirt is born.

I wasn't going to make this.  Martina has one of the speaking parts in a chorus performance tonight.  The role of Betty calls for a 1950's costume of a nice blouse with either capri pants or a poodle skirt.  I bought capri pants and thought that was the end of it.  Until the dress rehearsal two days ago.  Jivin' Judy showed up in a shimmery dress and the stage mother in me kicked in.  Little Jivin' Judy's not going to upstage Betty.  Not on my watch.

And so I rushed out to buy the materials to make this skirt.  Oh the pressure!  It felt a bit Project Runway-ish, and I could hear Tim Gunn barking "Make it work!" whilst standing over my shoulder, witnessing the many hiccups I was having with the construction.  A word to the wise- pin, pin, pin when sewing curves.  And if you're following the instructions for a centered zipper, make sure the instruction card doesn't accidentally get flipped over to the side for the lapped zipper instructions in the middle of installation.  These were lessons learned the hard way.

There are a few imperfection in the skirt, and I won't bother to go into detail, but on the whole it'll hold up for one night.  Martina will probably be a little sad I went with the Scottie instead of the Poodle, but there were too many poodle parts to applique, so Scottie dog it was.

Thank goodness Antonio doesn't have a speaking part in the performance.  I might have had to whip up a letterman jacket or some greaser outfit!

Raw edge appliqued Scottie

Giant batwings  --> poodle skirt