IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (Corduroy)

 

First they came for our Christmas sweaters. Next they appropriated Sally Jesse Raphael's sassy red specs. Now, corduroy. Is nothing nerdy sacred anymore?

I missed the 5th annual meeting of The Corduroy Appreciation Club last month in Manhattan, mostly because I'd never heard of this band of ironic wale-wearing hipsters but also because I didn't have anything to wear (there's a two-Corduroy-item rule, and yes, they capitalize the word "Corduroy" out of respect). I would like to join the never-ending battle against velvet. But I guess I'll have to wait until next year. From the Corduroy Club's official website:

Both the NY Times and Gothamist jumped on the warm and wintry textile bandwagon with tongue-in-cheek stories about the club's annual meeting. I can't believe this is what the cool kids are doing for fun these days.

Anyway, the skirt below is the first project I've sewn from the book "Twinkle Sews," a great collection of unique and fashionable tops, skirts and dresses — many of them quite difficult. This was not, and printing out the zillion pages of the pattern, taping them together and then cutting it out was the most laborious part. It makes drafting your own pattern easy in comparison. See front:

and back:

 

When it comes to corduroy, there's a fine line between hipster and Hasidic. I had to cut four inches off the bottom of the skirt because a) I'm short and b) when I tried it on I looked a little Orthodox for my liking.