Blog Post Numero Uno – A Self Drafted Skirt

Hello non-existant readers (yet… you may yet exisit in potentia) OR if I have become a SUPER FAMOUS BLOGGER and you’re all ‘oooh how did she start out’ welcome to The Beginning.

The following is a self-drafted skirt – I had some scraps of linen-poly blend left over from another project. I say scraps, I am ALWAYS, INCREDIBLY ECONOMICAL with my pattern placement, and therefore end up with TONNES of fabric left over. Happy times! Styled here with an off-the-rack blazer (charity shop win) and top.Essentially the front is an a-line piece and the back is a rectangle with two darts added in at the top to shape it over my rather-larger-than-I’d-like-it-to-be bottom.

As you can see I made the waistband too big – I wanted it to sit on my hips, which it does, but it is also too big around the waist department. This seems to be a fail of mine I have in skirts that I draft myself – not sure how it happens as, um, I make them too my measurements. But perhaps I always think I’m fatter than I actually am.

In terms of finishing – I French seamed the entirety of this beauty, I’m quite proud of it, and it’s stood up well to a LOT of washing. It’s also lined, but I’ll talk about that in a bit.

As I mentioned the fabric is a poly-linen blend which is pretty scratchy and wrinkles worse than anything, but it’s also pretty… and as the fabric doesn’t really ever touch me, I’m not bothered about the feel (it’s also softened up with all the washing I mentioned).

Fastened with a skirt hook and a zip – here’s where I made an error – the skirt hook fastens from back to front, which is obviously wrong, but by the time I’d realised what I’d done I was fed up with the whole project and couldn’t be bothered to fix it. And as the waistband is never visible (not a flattering look on me, I always wear long tops) I figured it’s only me that knows, so it doesn’t matter. Obviously, you know too now… damn. I hand stitched the waistband down, so I could do invisible stitching, and invisible stitched the hem by hand as well. I don’t usually go to that much effort (I hate hand-sewing) but because I wanted a skirt I could be proud enough of to wear in real life I felt it deserved the extra work.

Did I mention I French seamed the WHOLE THING… and yes, THAT INCLUDES THE ZIP. I totally French seamed in the zip… it looks BEAUTIFUL, and was actually not as much work as I was expecting. And it hides that nasty nasty zip edge which I do not like so much and never looks pretty. Quite proud of that.

Onto the lining, as visible in that picture… yes, it is lined in an old sheet. This is a favourite of mine. I don’t know what the fabric is called, I know it as ‘flanellette’ but I’ve seen it labelled in shops as ‘wincette’ I tend to think of it as ‘that soft stuff that sheets were made out of when I was small.

I line my skirts in this, I make petticoats in it, for several reasons: it doesn’t seem to ride up against tights or stockings the way that regular lining fabric does, and it is WARM, it is so warm. I am one of the coldest people ever, and I live in ENGLAND, so being warm, is a complete priority.

Anyway, to sum up – I’m pretty proud of this skirt, particularly all the little finish details that I did myself. I’ve worn this skirt to work and to social functions and have not once had anyone said ‘Wow, did you make that yourself’ WHICH I COUNT AS A WIN.

I have also worn it in front of Mr P’s grandmother, and she didn’t have a heart attack (she often does, I like to show my knees when I dress… shocker that I am). Which is a double win. Definitely a success skirt.

Hopefully successful skirt = successful blog post

Katy x