Doileyed

I finally had a chance to finish my long awaited doiley skirt yesterday morning....

....and my favourite thing about it is..... (well, other than the super gorgeous fabric from Michelle)

...Pockets!

I'm a pocket girl. Can't leave the house without lip balm and tissues and my phone in my pocket.

The skirt ended up being a hybrid of various designs.

I initially made myself a pattern in January of this year based on the a-line skirt in Sew What Skirts. As my weight constantly fluctuates, I had a bit of a problem with the final fitment and had to take in the side seams a little.

I desperately needed pockets, so I took the pocket pattern from the Too Cute Tunic Dress in Pip's Sew La Tea Do book, and inserted it into the side seams of the skirt.

I drafted my own facing pieces and interfaced them to make sure that they sit nicely at the front and back. The zip at the back isn't perfect, but it's completely adequate for me.

Guess what I'm wearing out the door today?

My Creative Space

I've been wanting to make myself an a-line skirt since January, but of course, everything else kept getting in the way, and I just never got around to it!

I finally had some spare time on Monday, and so I made a start...

It's based on the a-line skirt from Sew What Skirts and I've used the gorgeous doiley fabric that Michelle gave me.

I wasn't happy with the facing the last time I made this skirt, so I've just used my own method (including some nice interfacing) this time (not sure if it'll work as I'm planning but we'll wait and see at the end).

I'm also going to add some pockets into the side seams before I put it together.

The back is a plain black denim.... that's the centre zip poking out the top. I've glue basted it from the back (not sure if that's acceptable for most but it works for me). 
I'm yet to actually sew it into place.

Here's hoping I may actually finish it today or tomorrow!

The home of my creative space

More skirts...

After the success of my first a-line skirt from Sew What Skirts, and then helping Bec to make one too, I jumped at the chance to make one for Liz.

Liz found the front panel fabric at the oppy, and I just happened to have the perfect brown fabric (some sort of linen blend I think - also from the oppy) in the stash for the back two panels.

After the first fitting, it ended up being a little bit short.... so I added a strip of brown velour type fabric (also from the oppy) right around the skirt.

My original mistake with the length has turned out to be a design feature instead!

Skirting Inspiration

Front View - Frances is quite a bit smaller than me - hence the pins!

I promised myself before Christmas that I would use some of my holiday time just to make some things for me. I'm always sewing for other people, and hardly ever make anything for myself.

At the very top of the list was a skirt. After my previous disastrous attempt, I needed to just start again from scratch. I've been watching in awe at some of the beautiful skirts that have been popping up about the place, so I finally made some time today to have a go myself.

Rear view

I borrowed Sew What Skirts from Bec a couple of weeks ago (I've since ordered a copy from Amazon... just waiting for it to arrive).

I decided to make myself an A-line tablecloth skirt from the book, using a.......eeeeerrrr tablecloth suprisingly!

To make the front pockets, I just cut two feature pieces from the tablecloth, interfaced the backs of both for some extra strength, and then added bias binding around all four sides, before sewing them into place.

The method in the book for adding a zipper was pretty simple too.  Mine certainly isn't perfect, but it's completely functional.

I decided to topstitch both the waistband and the bottom hem using red thread for an extra highlight..... not that this loud print really needs and extra highlighting.

I didn't quite measure myself properly in the beginning, so I did have to make an adjustment to the side seams for fitment, and I wish I had made it a little bit longer (again my own dodgy measuring skills). I would have also preferred it to be a little more A-line. My hip measurement is not much different than my waist measurement which caused the lack of A-lineness problem.

This ended up taking me about three hours in total, but I learned a few very interesting lessons which will make it much easier to whip up a few more with the correct measurements from the beginning!