Trendy Embossed Faux Leather Skirt - McCall's 6842-A In Review

Today's post is on trend with a little circle embossed faux leather skirt for my daughter. She loves McCall 6842 and has been asking for a skirt since I purchased this pattern several months ago. These days we are seeing fuller skirts in all types of textures and lengths. Also on trend for this fall are embossed leather minis. So for this project I decided to combination the two trends and came up with an embossed faux leather mini circle skirt. My DD is well pleased with the skirt and has already asked for another.

This isn't the first time I reviewed this pattern. I made it for myself last winter. So I won't take time to described it again. That information can be found in my first post. What I'd like to review is the sewing process and how I handled the faux leather. I purchased the fabric at Vogue about a month ago, thinking it would be a great fabric to make my daughter a skirt. It looks like some of the embossed leathers I've seen in stores. The feel is smooth and supple. The wrong side is knit. So the fabric has some stretch to it.

When sewing with the two wrong sides on the outside, I had no problems. But any sewing with the right side out was a challenge. I do not have a teflon foot. So I used waxed paper when sewing on the right side of the fabric. This made it easy to sew. Any holes made in the fabric are permanent. So it is important to take your time and know precisely where want to stitch.  Work out all fitting issues before starting.

When sewing the zipper, I used very fine straight pins to anchor the zipper until I sewed it to the fabric.  The pins were strategically placed where I would make the final stitching. It worked and there is no evidence of additional holes along the zipper. When top stitching with the right sides against plate and the foot, I sandwiched the skirt between two pieces of waxed paper having the edges even with the edge of the skirt.

Only minor changes were made: I used a size 12 (size 10 at waist) only adding 1.5" to the length of it. To minimize the stitching, I didn't stay stitch the upper edge of the circle. I carefully made 3/8" clippings along the edge as needed. I top stitched the waist for added security. No pressing; but I thought about top stitching where the yoke and circle are joined. No hem; I've seem this treatment on garments made with neoprene as well as other RTW faux leather garments. Besides I thought it would be a bear trying to hem this fabric in the circle.

This is a great project to start my fall sewing. The pattern is easy and the embossed faux leather adds a little interest to it. My daughter loves the new skirt. My too! ;-) I'm sure this will be a favorite skirt for fall 2014.

Happy Sewing and Have a Fantastic Weekend!
Cennetta

PS - I'm still reviewing some summer garments.