Oh, I’m so glad you liked my Wearing Yesteryear series kick-off post! I’m working on a button for it if you’d like to add it to your own blog and join in on the good times.

Today I’d like to share a simple project I worked on during the heat wave we had here in New York. It took me a little longer than expected to finish it because finding energy in this hot weather was a little tricky!

• Pattern: Cambie (skirt portion of view A) by Sewaholic Patterns
• Size: 6 at waist transitioned down to 0 at hips
• Fabric: Less than 1 1/2 yards of “Pocho” Nani Iro double gauze from Purl Soho; light yellow cotton voile for the lining
• Notions: Dark teal regular zipper
• Alterations: Used a regular zipper instead of an invisible one

I bought this fabric not too long ago and I’m glad to see it’s made a quick turnaround. It was one of those purchases made when I was in the store looking for something else (you know the kind!). After being slightly delusional and thinking I could make a circle skirt with 1 1/2 yards of fabric, I tried different skirt options until I settled on view A of the Sewaholic Cambie dress. There’s a small amount left over that will go to the remnant pile.

I think of this double gauze as having tons and tons of snowflakes on it, perfect way to mentally stay cool even with sizzling temperatures in abundance, ay?! Didn’t hurt that a song from “A Charlie Brown Christmas” randomly played on my iTunes as I finished pressing the skirt.

Even though I declared my first Cambie dress a no go in my first Wearing Yesteryear post, the issues were all in the bodice. This means this project was pretty easy in that I made no changes to the skirt from the last time. I did my typical “de-pearing” of a Sewaholic pattern by going from a 6 at the waist down to a 0 at the hips.

I had grand plans to use the waistband piece from the pattern to cap off the skirt, but with the temperature in the 90s (30s C) I was feeling kind of “meh” about the extra work required. Really, it’s not that much extra work, but something about it being so hot outside made me want to just take the easy way out and have a project done with minimal effort.

The pattern calls for an invisible zipper, which I was planning to use (I’m in the “yay invisible zipper!” camp), but I went ahead and stitched the back seam below the zipper opening before installation by mistake. Once again, I blame the hot weather for the goof hehe. Anyway, I didn’t want to unpick the seam so I went back to my roots and installed the first kind of zipper I ever learned to use.

Have you heard of that wash away basting tape? The one I use is made by Collins and it’s very handy for keeping regular zips in place as you stitch it to the skirt. The glue from the tape doesn’t gum up your machine’s needle and it washes away after your first wash – genius! I also reinforced the zipper portion of the seam with fusible interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric, which is something I was taught to do but ashamedly often forget to add. Always good to reinforce that zipper opening, people!

Tip time! I found placing my sleeve roll under the lining and placing pins through the lining and zipper quite helpful. The pins are anchored into the sleeve roll so the lining stays put during the hand-stitching.

Because I wanted the lining to cover the zipper all nice and neat (rather than have the zipper tape exposed), I opted to hand stitch it using the ladder stitch. It’s also called an invisible stitch and I think something else, the name of which is escaping me. This is a pretty useful stitch to have in your arsenal so don’t be afraid to practice! Due to the sheerness of the voile you can see that I ended up pinking the seams for the lining.

The weather has cooled down to a comfortable temperature (in my opinion anyway) and I wore this skirt on a lazy afternoon in the park. Summer in New York is a good book, a bagel and lox, a handmade skirt, and a cool East River breeze.