Donna Karan Vogue Inspiration with OOP Vogue 2813 and Butterick 5756

It's black (slimming), it has pockets (practical), it's cotton (feels good against the skin), it has spandex in it (comfortable but manages to hold wrinkles but not a sharp pleat), it's poplin (so it's lightweight).  

  It rustles a bit like the nuns gowns.  When I was putting it together I was reminded of the pleated plaid skirt I had to wear in school.

Here it is without the hem band (way too short).

Here it is with the hem band fully extended (way too long)


The waistband is 1 1/4" wide, and contoured, so I had to make the changes to the curve for a swayback adjustment. The new pattern pieces lie beneath the originals.



As you can see it sits nicely.

Here are the details on the pocket from Butterick 5756, which are hidden in the side seam pleat.  

This is what it looks like inside out.

Here are the pattern pieces for the body of the skirt, they are rectangular.  The round shaping achieved at the band is through the angles of the tucks at the waistline.


We have front and back pieces here with the side seams facing each other.

As you can see, there is a tuck that bridges the side seam front and back piece.

First you add the pockets to the front and back side seam.

You join the side seam as you would any other, about 2" down from the waistband, then from the bottom opening to the hem (see pins), then around the pocket pieces.

Then you open up the seam...

And sew in your tuck

The pocket sits within the fold of the tuck, out of view.

Sorry about the black projects, they are nearly impossible to photograph.

I will say that the nice thing about these pockets is that if you have something in them, the fullness in the skirt camouflages the contents, which might be a nice feature when travelling.

I bought the skirt pattern (Butterick 5756) in the hopes I had found a workable solution for that Donna Karan shirt dress on the Vogue cover back in January, it had some of the elements I was looking for but falls a little short.  It's almost there but not quite.  So a little more tweaking.  The black shirt from Donna Karan OOP Vogue 2813, the Butterick 5756 skirt.

The Vogue dress for reference

On the runway

I need a wide belt to go with it, but there's no way I can make it out of the scrap that's left.  I did a really good job of getting all of the pieces cut from a limited amount of fabric. So the skirt has a similar silhouette, and it has the bottom hem band, but in black you can barely make out the pleats or any details.

What this really needs is a skirt that's not as pleated, maybe just one pleat to hide the pocket on the dress, and a fabric with a bit of sheen.  Something way happier than this dull black. 

Front - medium width belt

Back - medium width belt

Front - Wide belt

Back - Wide belt

I think I like the narrower belt for this version, so back to the drawing board.