The mystery of "Himmmm"

I finished a 1960s pencil skirt the other day. It's very authentic. So authentic I had to give it a satin lining or I wouldn't be able to wiggle it on. If it were any more authentic, I don't think I could sit down.

Pencil skirts are structured garments and this one was meant to be tightly tailored, so I thought I ought to take a shot at following the design process properly for once. Looking up 'how to draft a pencil skirt' led me to The Closet Historian, always a fantastic resource for post-war/mid-century garments. She went to fashion school in at least two different countries, and if you want directions on how to derive standardized patterns from a series of measurements, she's your best bet.

After twenty minutes of her doing math on camera, she showed the pattern pieces, and I knew immediately that they would not fit. Her method results in front and back panels with the same rise (the distance between the low full hip line, or the crotch seam for pants, to the waist). This is the bane of my existence. While the absolute vertical measurement is, by definition, the same on both sides of the body, the curve traverses a much longer distance across the back on me than it does on the front -- and on top of that, both sides have to suck in several inches for the high-natural waist on this style of skirt. I lose and regain about 12" of diameter over 14-15" of vertical travel, which standard pattern blocks do not cope with gracefully.

I tried it anyway. By the time I had gotten the back to the proper shape, the darts were so extreme they were slightly curved, and the back waistline had dropped a full 2.5". I have come to expect this. If I'm making loose flowy things like pajama pants, I pre-emptively cut that chunk out of the front waist before I even pin them together. 

This is why I don't really draft patterns for anything. I didn't even technically draft a pattern for the Starfleet duty tunic, I eyeballed the shape of the things on the grid that pretended to be a pattern and used them as a rough guide. I drape garments instead. This is a two step process.

1. Cut some chunks of fabric into the approximate shape of a pencil skirt.
2. Pin the damn thing on.

If it fits, great. Slither very carefully out of the thorny monstrosity and sew it as-is. If not, move the pins until it does. 

In theory you are supposed to do this on a muslin test copy of the garment, but that sounds like extra steps, so I don't. It never takes me more than a couple of tries to fit things properly. Usually one, if I'm altering an extant garment. One of my friends refers to me as "the dress witch" because she's experienced my process through three or four bridesmaid dresses at this point. We meet in person, I get her to put the dress on, I pinch fabric and mutter mysterious incantations for a bit, I eventually return the dress and it magically fits like it's meant to. I think she was most impressed the time I asked if she wanted me to handle her accessories as well. She mentioned "outdoor wedding" and "July", so I gave the project back two weeks and one shopping trip later with a matching hat, sunglasses, shoes that were not heels, and a crinoline that the bride had not specified, but the dress really needed.

As with dance choreography, I find it difficult and boring to do anything exactly the same way twice, so I flatline everything. When I try modern bag linings, the corners never match properly. Felling the seam allowance is also a much more portable project than constructing two complete garments and having to match them up on construction lines, which is great because I drag these things around everywhere, and my "work table" is actually my floor.

Mind you, I am also doing this without 95% of the tools I'm supposed to have. An incomplete list of things I do not own: Rotary cutter, cutting mat, shears that cost more than $8, quilting ruler, French curve, tracing wheel, pressing ham, tailor's block, an iron, an ironing board, bodkins, thimbles, a dress form, and a sewing machine I am not borrowing from someone else in the house. I do recall buying some chalk at some point, to teach the housemate who is learning to sew how you transfer pattern markings to fabric, but I never mark anything so I don't know where that went off to. If anyone would like to fix this, there is a list of stuff here. Otherwise I will keep on keepin' on in my Stone Age fashion.