A late Victorian walking skirt: First attempt

Hello,

This video is not about a success story but about perserverance. I was happy to find instructions for a late Victorian skirt that needed no drafting. It seemed super quick and easy. Well, I managed to turn it into a three week project. It is wearable but I decided it is not going to be the skirt in my late Victorian gingham outfit.

Regardless the mistakes and extra energy I had to put into the making of the skirt, I had great fun reading contemporary sewing books. When I managed to put faces behind the books, these inanimate objects came to life, breathing out history.

The books I used:

[musicandbooklover-po]

Thank you for such a clear video - I have no idea how I missed this one as I've watched all your other videos - as this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I want to make some walking skirts but WITHOUT the huge bulk in the back - I mainly use a walking frame but also sometimes a wheelchair and if the hem is too full it catches in the wheels of both leaving me with dirty marks on the front panels. This will be perfect with a much smaller gore at the centre back and I even have a couple of metres of a beautiful woollen check fabric that will look perfect and is wide enough to - hopefully - pattern match sufficiently any mismatch won't be obvious. Thank you so much, this really is the BEST walking skirt pattern I've seen, it is so easy to make and adjust to how full you want a skirt to be.

[marga]

Love the clear pictures of your filming... and the microscopic stitches 😅

[LualaDy]

I FOUND THE USE OF (finally!)
They're HAND
I already tried pockets TWICE (omg miracle), first ones were a disaster, second ones, still not perfect, BUT! BUUUT!!! I can use them in winter to keep my hands
Who'd have guessed?

[jesuscordoba]

Great tutorial. You are correct to always buy quality fabric. It makes all the difference in the garment. Thank you for another great video showing step by step instructions.

[planningtolive_thebestlife]

I’ve had a somewhat productive day sewing-wise. This was a great way to relax my brain after sewing all morning. 😄 although I think a nap will feel great too😂 I’m looking forward to seeing what other versions of this skirt you’ll make!

[LadyLJOII]

You are correct about the selvage being distorted. Fabric companies create those just to finish the sides of the fabric. The only ways to fix that are to either pull and clip a thread alongside the selvage and use the space to cut it straight to the grain or clip and tear alongside. Tearing can distort the weave as well. To thread pull, pick a thread, pull it up with a pin or needle and pull it out. If it breaks, use the pin to work it out and keep pulling. Clip the other end of the thread as well.

[ChibiSugar]

14:37 I think you're either for pockets or against pockets, there is no in-between haha.

[TanteElster]

pockets are a must-have in all my skirts. and I know the struggle with the skirt length. my skirts always turn out to be a bit too short for my liking in the end, despite me adding to the length of the pattern pieces and using my dress form for pinning the hem. it's so frustrating.

[siameseire]

What a fun swingy skirt. I love the pattern.

[michellecornum]

I like this VERY MUCH! I have a couple of black and white ginghams. I never thought to make walking skirts out of them. This is lovely.

[xanthiasmile]

You may hate pockets because they're not as intuitive as they seem - they aren't installed the same way in modern clothing as in walking-skirt era. The top, sloped edge is not the entry to the pocket, merely more room vertically within the skirt. That short edge is kept folded, and a bit of twill tape added between it, which is then anchored (at the correct distance down) within the waistband. The entry to the pocket (the long vertical) is then sewn as you attempted to do, with the last 5-6" either sewn fully into the seam (so it doesn't flop around) or just french seamed like the bottom edge. The lower edge of the slope can also be anchored via twill tape, if you expect to hold extra heavy things. Try reinstalling your pocket! They're not terrible, I promise.

[Minerva]

I sew it within 2 hours. I do things so practical. Yoy go with long way. In the end it looks the same.

[mathildeincerti]

The skirt looks amazing!
Are you wearing any sort of "shapewear" (corset, bumbap...) underneath it during the reveal at the end of the video?

[helenekiraly]

Hi! Such an interesting video. Thank you so much for sharing your process, thoughts on it and detailed views of your work in progress. I am amazed at your hand stitches that is so beautiful, precise and regular. You’re very talented! I do have a question, because something puzzles me : when you do your backstitch at 6:40 and show us the result from the good side (the one that faces you when you stitch) the result is those marvellous tiny regular stitches, with a very small separation between them. But than, at 6:50, you turn your work to show us the “back side”(under side) of you backstitch and… surprisingly, it looks exactly like the good side (or right side or the side facing up). I don’t get it? They look the same front and back. How is that possible ? When I do backstitches, the underside isn’t so pretty because I get all those long threads overlapping each other, without any space between them. Hum… perplexe am I! How do you do it ? I would love it if you could make a video to show us closeup of both side? Would love to achieve your stunning result! Thank you so much (I saw in an other video where you show old thread from your grandparents and notice is was from Hungary. Are you Hungarian?)

[JN-plrt]

Tenho dificuldade de entender essa carcela, você poderia fazer um vídeo bem detalhado só dela?