Thanks pjz99 - Thanks for clarifying.  I at least can narrow down the list of things that may have gone wrong!

I think I'll unheck Collision, from the Skirt's Properties Palette, becasue the New Simulation button has Self Collision, also? 

I'm sure I've been able to run a simulation through this figure, now that I think of it, but not since I've shortened the skirt so as not to hit the floor.  The belt's slipping wasn't too big a deal.  I really only want to make the morphs for the transparent/skirt part.

And thanks for PhilC's Tuts.!

I still wonder what's caused it to choke, though?