Vintage Pattern Pledge: Newlook 6030

Yay!  I have completed my second sewing pattern from the Vintage Pattern Pledge!  I am happy with the end result, despite it being a bit on the frumpy side of things (granny chic?), but it has taken a bit longer than I thought it would to get there.

A few weeks ago I started to construct my So Over It Ultimate Skirt which I bought as a kit a couple of months ago in a fit of excitement.  I actually wanted to sew my vintage pattern but I was trying to be "good" and make things in order.  As if anyone but me knows what the order is!  So, it didn't go well.  The fit is off and I am not 100% convinced that the skirt will suit me but it can be fixed.  However at the moment I am not in the right frame of mind to fix it so I have put it to one side for a while.  In the meantime I thought I would start making this skirt but it wasn't completely straight forward either!

The pattern is New Look Maudella 6030 from sometime in the 70s (there's one for sale on ebay here!).  It is a simple A line skirt with a side zip.  I went for view 2 as I like the yoke.  I cut the front and backs on the fold to avoid having to pattern match as I only had 1.5 metres of fabric and the yoke is cut on the cross grain.

The fabric is from The Village Haberdashery and is Sevenberry Corduroy in Navy Plaid, which is lovely to work with.  The Child's dungulottes are also Sevenberry Corduroy and have washed and worn well (it's only been a month, but she's 5 so they've had a few things spilt on them!!).

I cut out and started sewing the skirt on the same evening I realised the Ultimate skirt wasn't working for me.  I got quite far and felt really pleased with myself.  Until I put the zip in and it went in wrong twice!  I have never actually had a major issue with zips and was feeling quite smug so I probably needed taking down a peg or two!

Over the next few days I slowly carried on putting it together then took it with me to my daughter's ballet class to hand finish the hem.  It was then I realised, as I was showing it to a friend, that I was not happy with it.  The zip still wasn't in very well, the waistband was higher at one side than the other and because it wasn't lined it stuck to my tights really badly.  This is definitely more of a winter skirt so I WILL be wearing tights under it so it made sense to start again.

I took the waistband off and the zip out.  I made a lining using the same fabric as for my first Delphine.  I then took about 10cm of length off and used that to make a new waistband.  Instead of an invisible zip I used Scruffy Badger's excellent lapped zip tutorial to put one of those in, which went in nearly perfectly first time.  I didn't know how to attach the lining to the zip so I hand stitched that bit. I made a bit of an overlap on the waistband and added a button to close it (sorry, no picture but it's a really pretty button!).

I am so glad I went back and basically remade the skirt.  I wasn't 100% happy with it before and I didn't want to have two failures in a row.  I now love the skirt, even with it's frumpiness, and will wear it a lot.  Especially with the striped top, which I know doesn't really go but I love it!