On the plus side

At least I can successfully make things that aren't dresses, lol!

I made another Burda pattern for myself, and I have to say that I'm enjoying making things from the magazine, now that I've finally started. There's always at least one point in the process where I have NO IDEA what they're talking about, so I sometimes have to fudge things a bit, but the end results have been worth it so far.

So this time I made pattern 122 out of the Dec 2009 magazine. It's a corduroy skirt with a cute little flounce in the back, and I really think the end result looks close to ready made. I don't often think that about my creations!

Front view:
Back view: (no, it's not actually crooked - it's just sitting weird. But I'd been trying to get the pictures to work for a while, so I decided crooked was fine. You get the idea, anyway.)
This skirt involved a new skill for me: the front fly zipper. I read instructions, which I thought I understood until I started the process! Then I found this great video from Threads magazine, which I highly recommend. It made the whole process very clear. And it turns out that it's not actually that difficult, despite my fear of the whole thing. I did skip the welt pockets which were supposed to be on the front of the skirt, though. I really didn't understand the instructions, and I didn't feel like figuring them out. I actually like the way it looks without the pockets better anyway.

I was unimpressed with the waistband instructions, but I more or less already knew what to do with that. And the belt carriers made my needle explode (literally - there were at least 3-4 pieces!) because there were so many layers, so I ended up having to turn the wheel of the machine by hand, even with a jeans needle on there. But at least they look nice. ;)

So now I'm thinking I should just give up on dresses for a while and focus on other things... Actually, now I'm all in love with my Burda magazines, so I have a bunch of options available. I have a baby gift to make, too, so we'll see if I do that first or try some more patterns. I'm thinking about trying some shorts. And I definitely want to make a couple of skorts. I've more or less already figured out my plan for that. (Did I post about the failed skort? I guess it's not a total fail, but it's not quite right, either.) Busy, busy... In the brain, whether I'm actually at the machine or not! :)