Mabel Skirt x2

The moment I saw this pattern I fell in love!  I know I say that a lot about the patterns I buy.  I love the variations and the professional looking result of the pattern, as well as the close fitting flattering fit.  I own a few paper patterns for knit pencil skirts but they require elastic at the waist and that is not an area I want elastic digging into right now, so the Mabel pattern is perfect for me.  

After I bought the pattern I joined the Mabel sew-a-long and I planned to make a printed summer skirt, but then I realized I needed to make a second skirt to wear under the Cascade Skirt (for coverage reasons).  I'll share more on the Cascade Skirt in a different post.  I made the printed skirt out of a ponte roma knit and the the plain skirt out of jegging material.  I followed the pattern directions, except I used my coverstitch machine to sew the lining to the seam allowance.  I should not have done that, because it decreased the stretch in my waistband.  I can still slip the skirts on so it doesn't bother me, however I know better for next time...stitch the lining down on the sides (in the ditch)!

On a totally unrelated note, I have been having issues with my Elna 444 coverstitch machine.  When I get to a side seam, the stitches skip.  I tried playing with the thread tension and the foot tension but the stitches still skipped when I got to the bulky side seams.  I redid the hem of the pink skirt 3 times because there were too many skipped stitches and I knew that the skirt wouldn't last 3 washes.  I finally searched online to try and find a solution.  I found a great suggestion on a forum, which suggested using woolly nylon.  I didn't have matching thread so I only switched out my needle thread.  I did notice less skipped stitches so I left the hem in this time. #muchannoying #verytrouble #suchlaborious #endofrant 

I love this skirt and I'm already dreaming up more variations!