Marfy 3077 - Denim Skirt

Thanks for the comments on my Marfy muslin.  To answer Becki's question, I didn't do anything to the shoulders, but as I had no seam allowances, the armholes and shoulder seams will have been shortened.  This works well for me as it shortens the upper torso.  I used a sleeve from a self drafted pattern, and its quite narrow with a lowish cap to it.  As the fabric was reasonably stretchy I thought it was a safe experiment to try.  The Onionskin is about the same level of stretchiness so I am hoping it will work out OK.  But I may tack the side seams and tack the sleeves in to be sure of this before I sew it permanently.

This skirt, Marfy 3077, will form part of my SWAP entry, (probably) which is already veering off into SWAVVP (Sewing With A Very Vague Plan) territory.

This project didn't go entirely according to plan and but on the other hand, its wearable and I learned lots. 

I learned that pleats in denim are a bad plan.  At least, if you wish to avoid the "pleats sticking out everywhere" look... which lets face it, most of us don't find flattering.   
I learned that if you lengthen and shorten pieces, you should check the lengths are all the same by walking the seams and not just rely on your maths being right. 
I learned that I'm not so good at fly zippers as I thought I was, and that sewing a fly into a vee shaped, pleated section, in denim... is, erm, not fun. 
I learned that however the pocket/pleated section was supposed to be attached, it was NOT the way I did it.  I had a gappy bit underneath.

I am not totally sure about the length of the skirt but that can be fixed on the next version.  Also, the pockets seem awfully low down, and I'm not totally sure I like that as much as I thought I would.  I'm not tall so it feels as though the pockets make me seem shorter somehow.  But the pockets can be left off next time to see if it works better that way.    This is the original pattern illustration and the skirt seems to me to have come out just as the diagram, not counting the deliberate design decision to have a straight hem. 

Its wearable and was very simple to alter to fit, though I am not sure the method used would be recommended in all cases.  I traced the skirt with seam allowances on every seam except the center back, then sewed the whole thing up at 5/8 inch seams... effectively taking 1.25 inches out of the back.  Then all I had to do was take a quarter inch off the top of the shaped waistband at each side seam and an eighth of an inch dart out of the top of the centre back of the shaped waistband, all of which tapered to nothing at the attachment seam, and I had a well fitted skirt.  I suspect this may have been a bit of a fluke but I'm not complaining about it. 

The fly was a pig to sew and I am certain I've not got it correct.  I need to do a bit more research before I tackle this one again I think.  I can't entirely tell you how I got it to go into the skirt... but it took me over two hours to do it.  I put the yoke pieces onto the skirt leaving about two inches free in the middle.  Then put the zipper in, then there was much folding and swearing whilst I tried to put the thing into the vee of the skirt.  In the end I cut the bottom off the zipper, folded the yoke pieces up neatly, and topstitched it all in place.  Not well enough to catch the bottom of the cut off zipper though.  By a complete miracle, I got the zip pull back onto the zipper not once but twice successfully, after it fell off the bottom and at that point sewed over the teeth to keep it on.  But the story could have had a very different ending at this point.  I feel sure there is a better way to do this and I mean to find out what it is. 

Construction order was:
All hems were turned up and pinned into place first.  This is because the pleated section had to be hemmed first before the pleats can be set.
Pleated section, all pleats were pressed into place then edgestitched in contrast thread, both upper and under pleats.
Construct jeans style pockets, and little tabs.
Tack tabs into place.
Side fronts to pleated section.
Yoke pieces to fronts.
Fly bodge up.
Top stitch Yoke/Fly.
Attach back yokes to back pieces.
Sew back seam at centre (makes the skirt alterable at the back adding the yokes before sewing this seam).
Construct waistband/lining unit and pin to waist to alter and fit.
Tack waistband and waistband lining unit in place on skirt and fit again.
Topstitch ends/top edge of waistband.
Attach waistband to skirt.
Topstitch lining of waistband into place from outside.
At this point the skirt should be ready for buttons on the tabs and the waistband.  HOWEVER, pleats in denim don't really work.  The denim is stiff and as you walk the pleats come out... and in denim, unlike wool or a softer fabric, they don't go back in and lie flat, they stick out at all angles like a bad case of bed hair.  So, I had to stitch down all my lovely pleats so the front of my skirt is now a very thick piece of multi layer denim with decorative lines sewn down it and a set of invisible lines of stitching holding all the pleats together/flat.  I spent two days making a very decorative straight skirt instead of a pleated one.  But it is wearable so I guess that's all that matters. 

The fabric is from Abhakhan, a mid weight washed denim with a bit of stretch, though not a huge amount.  The topstitch thread is an old one and the label has fallen off, but its a varigated red/white and blue which works well with the buttons, which were 20 pence per card of three at Bonds in Leeds.  The base of the button and its centre are red, and its quite a deep button.