Construction of 1912 Scalloped Edge Skirt

So this is my first of two posts about the construction of my first pattern from the 1912 Titanic Sew Project .

This is a pattern for a lovely scalloped edge skirt from 1912. The skirt description states that the "skirt is made of heavy gray silk or taffeta, and is trimmed with covered buttons in any fabric desired." I really liked the striped looked in the illustration, so I specifically sought out a striped fabric.

I ordered mine by mail, as to avoid the pesky taping of pieces together (I've done that before and was not a fan). I'd like to comment on the quality of the paper of this pattern, I don't believe I've used a pattern on this type of paper before, but I quite liked it.  I went straight into cutting out the pieces in the beautiful linen I picked up from JoAnn's..I spent several days scouring local fabric stores till I found something I really liked, and I happened upon this really nice striped linen. Linen is, of course, not taffeta or anywhere close, but I do always tend to go my own way.. If I were a patient person, I would have started with a muslin version, but I tend to skip that step a lot. I typically only do a muslin if I'm really unsure of the construction of something. I was delighted to find that this pattern came in my waist measurement as is, so there was no need to make any alterations to the pattern. So I happily cut into my fabric and started sewing right away.

I started with the scallop edge facing. I knew the scalloped edge would be the most difficult thing to tackle, so I started with it. I cut the scalloped edge facing from a nice, dark brown linen/cotton blend (I tend to sew with only natural fabrics, I just love them so).

Here I folded over the straight edge of the scalloped edge facing and ironed as per the instructions.

Here's a better picture of the facing as I'm preparing it.

And here you can see that I just sewed down the folded over edge to create a finished edge for the edging. 

So here I lined up the facing with the scalloped edge side of the skirt, and topstitched it down, with the facing on what will be the inside of the skirt. 

Here I used my bias tape maker tool that I found in the quilter's department to make my own bias tape for the edge around the scalloped edge/facing.

I just ironed it in half and then pinned it along the edge of scalloped piece.

I then very slowly and carefully topstitched the the binding on. This was painstaking, and time consuming, but I think it turned out pretty well.

Once I finished attaching the binding on the edge of the scallop front, I pieced the panels together. I left an opening on the scalloped edge side (left front), probably about 6 inches long, where I later attached hooks and eyes for closure.

Next I used covered buttons, which I covered with the same brown linen/cotton that I used to bind the edge of the scalloped front piece, to decorate each scalloped edge. This was my first time using covered buttons, and it didn't occur to me that the fabric was so thin that you might be able to see the metal through the buttons..it's not as noticeable on the skirt, so I decided to leave it as is, and consider it a lesson learned.

Here is a photo of the skirt about halfway through it's construction, I think it's turning out rather well, so far.

 I then attached the waist band to the body of the skirt. The directions recommended using canvas to reenforce the waist band, but I didn't have any on hand, so I used denim, which seemed to do the trick. I then hand stitched down the waist band to create an invisible finish from the front. I forgot to take a photo of this step!

I then finished the edges of each piece with a zig-zag stitch (one day I'll get a serger!)

Last but not least, I hemmed the skirt using an "invisible hem" stitch, because I absolutely deplore hand sewing and will avoid it if at all possible..

So this concludes the construction of my scalloped edge 1912 skirt for the Titanic Sew Along Project. I will be following up with a subsequent post with photos of the finished project very shortly!