Well, Hello....New Look 6327 - Pink Leather Skirt

Well, Hello,  I have a blog.  First, to all of you who have continued to read my blog these past 4 months I haven't posted, bless your sweet souls!!! And to the new followers I have gained during the months I haven't blogged, bless your sweet souls too!!!  I actually did blog a couple of weeks ago, but I deleted it because I was unhappy with the way my hair looked  my blog post.  I thought about not explaining my absence, but the truth is that I had such a stressful semester at work at the end of last year, something had to go.  My stress put me in a funk so I just decided to (wo)man up and get through it.  I had so little extra time that I decided to use it all for sewing.   It was sewing or blogging that had to go, and well I did not want to give up sewing.  I did not want to give up blogging either, but if I don't sew, then there is nothing to blog about.  I actually was very productive in my sewing.  I sewed a lot of clothing.  I have alot to show you in the upcoming days and weeks.  This semester is going SO MUCH BETTER so far, so I plan to get back to regular blogging.  I have not commented on the blogs I follow as I should have due to the very little time I had, but I plan to be better.
   Well, let's get onto what I have to show you.  Last year during Fabricmart's huge leather skins sale, I bought the most delicious lt bubblegum pink lambskin leather that you have ever seen.  It sat, and sat, and sat in my stash because I was afraid to cut it.  I did not want to mess it up.  After studying up on sewing leather, I decided to take the plunge.  I wanted to use a simple pattern, so I chose New Look 6327.

I sewed the view that the model is wearing.  I cut out the pattern pieces and traced them onto the back of the leather.  I held them down using cans of vegetables.  Then I cut out the pieces.  Then I sat down because I thought I was going to faint--not really,  but that was a huge step for me.  

   I used paper clips instead of pins to hold together the pieces as I sewed.  A size 14 leather needle was used.  I did not have a teflon foot and did not want to buy one, so I used a tip I read about on patternreview. I put scotch tape on the bottom of my sewing foot to give it a smooth surface.  I did not use any special type of thread, just what I had in my sewing box.  I took a deep breath and started to sew.  It went like clockwork.  I never broke a needle--I could not believe it.    Let me tell you, this leather is like butter.  I saved every little leftover piece I had.  

   I did not make a muslin (I know that was stupid),  but I figured I could just adjust the skirt as I went.  Fortunately, it worked out.  I did find this skirt to run big.  I cut my usual size 12 and had to take it up alot.  I probably could have made it two sizes smaller.  I was not about to install an invisible zipper in my first attempt at leather, so I just did an exposed zipper.  

Here is how I wore it to work today.  

front

Outfit details:

olive cardigan - Alloy

ecru blouse - JCrew outlet

leopard belt - Spiegel

brown tights - Banana Republic

tan booties - Go Jane

back

(please forgive the wrinkles--these pics are after a full day at work-I didn't have time to take pics this morning)

Update:  The last post I did was about a dress failure.  I just decided to chalk it up to a bad sewing experience and not worry with it anymore.  I am going to try and salvage the fabric for something else.

Happy Sewing!!