Vogue 1247 still in progress; Hurricane Irene

Ah yes, the Rachel Comey skirt with the cute front pockets, known as Vogue 1247.  When I last left you, I was up to the step for inserting the invisible zipper. I used a combination of my Singer Complete Photo Guide to Sewing 2009 edition, Amanda's invisible zipper tutorial, and the instructions that came with the zipper.  My first ever invisible zip!

Shocker:  I didn't know I'd need an invisible zipper foot (I didn't know such things existed) so I used my regular zipper foot and improvised.  Also I wound up sewing the side seams down from a 14 down to a 12.  It was just too big as a 14.  Also my fabric has stretch.


Amanda's instructions were great for getting the horizontal seam in the back to match up.  But you can tell I had some difficulty with the bottom of the zipper.  I plan on fixing that tomorrow.

But I also had difficulty with the top of the zipper and the waist band.  I haven't installed the waistband hook and eye closure yet, but you can see the white of my shirt peeking out there between the waistband and the zipper top.  I have to play with that.

Here's the side view:



I still need to hem it too.


I was also thinking of ripping out the waistband entirely and just folding the top edge over and finishing it with ribbon or elastic or something.

band folded under


That would take care of the back zipper / waistband problem.


But I think it's cuter with the waistband.

So, Hurricane Irene.   My sleep was interrupted often last night by rain, wind, or a combo of the two. It was a pretty fierce storm and I am glad the trees behind my house withstood the weather and stood tall and did NOT fall onto my bedroom!  I wound up taking a 3 hour nap at lunchtime to compensate for loss of sleep.

I feel really lucky.  I have had power throughout the storm, my newspaper was delivered this morning, I don't have a basement, so no flooding in my house.   However, looking at twitter there is a lot of flooding in the Princeton area. Princeton University is closed tmw. The roads to my work and gym are flooded.

My parents live down the shore (~3 miles inland) and haven't had power since 11:30pm last night.  I read the electric company's twitter feed to my mom over the phone. They have a gas stove so she can cook, but she needed a way to light the stove and didn't have matches or a lighter.  So she went to Quik Check this morning and bought 4 lighters, whereas everyone else was buying coffee.  The clerk wanted to know if she was planning on starting a forest fire.

So I hope you are all safe and not flooded, and that you are well and healthy-healthy-healthy.  Good night!