Kyoto Skirt preview

The Kyoto "muslin" is done. Here's a preview (it's midday, but dark and rainy at the moment, not good for anything but a quickie on-the-hanger snapshot. I'll model it for you as soon as conditions improve and I can corral Mr. de H. into photog duty.)

As you can see, my fabric choices started out a bit silly, and got worse, which is what happens when you decide to make a muslin from all the stuff in your stash you aren't likely to ever use for anything else.

I didn't bother with elastic at the waist, just made some ties. I forgot to leave the little tie openings in the side seams when I sewed them up, so figured, "it's a muslin, what the h*ll, I'll just put the openings in the facing and put that on the outside" -- which is a design option, not just me losing my mind.

Once I'd done that, I figured I might as well put the hem facing on the outside, too. It's a bit much. I kinda like it ("a bit much" is not necessarily a bad thing in my world), but can't decide if the overall effect is waaaaaaaay too young for me, or overly grandmotherly, or somehow both.

I almost left the pockets off, but I'd already made them (double-layer, with the polka dots on the inside), so slapped 'em on, and discovered that patch pockets alone made the whole thing look too much like an apron, so I added the polka-dot pocket flaps, too.

You can see the godet in back hangs lower than the front, which I gotta say is one of my fave features of this skirt. Booty issues mean that a "straight" hem ends up not straight at all on me, unless I make adjustments. With this skirt, all that is a non-issue.

I was a bit optimistic when choosing to muslin a size 12, which is snug around the belly and hip area. But you know what? It's a bit less snug than when I first did up the main seams a couple weeks ago. Another month or two of workouts with Tony *, and it might even be wearable. 

* Totally not my idea, but hubbie's into it, so I've been doing it too. Even at my wimpy pace it's having a nice effect.