The Penitent: Burda 2016/10 Skirt #106

More poetry! I’m sorry, but when I was writing the other one this came to mind and it seemed like a fun poem to build a post around. (Oxymoron for those of you who hated english in high-school, maybe, but give it a shot.)

The Penitent

I had a little Sorrow,
Born of a little Sin.
I found a room all damp with gloom
And shut us all within;
And, “Little Sorrow, weep,” said I,
“And, Little Sin, pray God to die,
And I upon the floor will lie
And think how bad I’ve been!”

Alas for pious planning —
It mattered not a whit!
As far as gloom went in that room,
The lamp might have been lit!
My Little Sorrow would not weep,
My Little Sin would go to sleep —
To save my soul I could not keep
My graceless mind on it!

So up I got in anger,
And took a book I had,
And put a ribbon on my hair
To please a passing lad.
And, “One thing there’s no getting by —
I’ve been a wicked girl,” said I;
“But if I can’t be sorry, why,
I might as well be glad!”

Come on. It’s awesome.

(I once recited this poem to a boy when he asked if I’d memorized any of the very large number of poems on my bookcases, and his response was, “Did she get the guy?” What? That’s not what this is about. Don’t be That Guy.)

(I mean, obviously the narrator of this poem has “got” any number of boys, which is probably the Little Sin she’s trying and failing to feel sorry about in the first place.)

Anyway. Here is a sewing project in which one can try and fail to feel gloomy, sorrowful, and guilty (pattern link). But also in which one might be able to accomplish a little light sinning.

The silhouette is a basic pencil skirt, but the front darts were converted to those lovely diagonal seam lines. It’s slightly more time consuming to make, but just slightly, and the front seaming makes it worth it. Other than that it’s fairly simple.

The Burda original was sewn in white wool and lined. This is hot pink cotton satin and unlined. It has a walking vent in the back and the most god-awful vent construction instructions in history, which I ignored with, I think, decent results. The seam allowances are serged.

For a while I toyed with the idea of doing some piping or hand embroidery along the front seams (Burda instructs a hand running stitch), but instead I decided to top-stitch at a 1/4″ with a rayon embroidery thread in a slightly darker shade. It adds just the right amount of emphasis to the seamlines for me.

Sizing Note

This is a petite pattern, but I found I needed no alterations to make it fit (I’m about 5’8″). It’s meant to be a fairly long skirt. As usual with Burda, I had to size down by one to get a good fit, so while I should be a 20/21 in their petite sizing I made a 19/20. It is not snug; I have easily an inch of ease in the waist.