The Couture Technique Skirt

Long, Long ago in a galaxy far, far away I pre- ordered a book on Amazon. And then I forgot about it. Months later, much to my confusion (when the hell did I buy this?!) The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Technique arrived in the mail. After flipping through the beautifully photographed pages, I immediately started riffling through my stash to sew my first lined skirt. Lined skirt, yawn, I know, but this doesn't make me yawn at all. Not the way the author, Lynda Maynard showed her readers how to do it.

From The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Technique By Lynda Maynard

I chose some lovely wine colored stretch cotton sateen (purchased on fabric.com in bulk just to have lots on hand) and some light gray lining fabric acquired at my local thrift shop.
And here is what the inside looked like when I was done with it.
The wrapped seam edges and the color contrast look amazing. There's not a raw edge in this entire skirt.

An it doesn't look too bad, either! For the pattern, I used Simplicity 1690 from the 1950's.

This was an easy to sew skirt, I recommend the pattern to anyone who wants an easy sew.

Simplicity 1690

I also added a couple of inches to the skirt, my first experience with sizing a pattern. This pattern was a lot of firsts for me!

That's 1/8th of my fabric stash to the left.

 Yeah, I know, make sure you haven't gotten your skirt on crooked before you hit the auto button on your camera and mad dash away to pose. Lesson learned.

The front tab welts were a lovely addition to the pattern. They serve no purpose what so ever, but they look super sharp.

The pattern also called for facing the waistband with 1 1/4" wide grosgrain ribbon. Madly striped was the only grosgrain I had on hand, but I think it works.

There are soooooo many darts in the skirt, so naturally, I had to do twice as many after I put the same darts in the lining.

I have a great stash of single buttons, and sets of eight, but never the right number for a single project. So, my buttons don't match on the welts and the back... but did you notice that until I pointed it out, did you? That's what I thought.
My advice? If you're at the intermediate level and you want to take your sewing game to a whole new level, you want this book. It's couture eye candy with a how to attached, and I love it!