Denim Prima Wrap Skirt

Hey guys! I'm gonna start by saying I put makeup on just so I could take these pictures........ Thats how dedicated I am. 

Anyhoos this is one of my make nine projects for this year! I was sent this prima pattern by my lovely pen friend Jeanette [you can find her on instagram as pin_n_tonic but be warned she binds a lot of the inside seams of her clothes and it will make you feel like an underachiever!] 

Anyway nobody really blogs about Prima patterns which I thinks a huge shame, yes they build loads of ease in and sometimes you have to trace the patterns off but they have some really great simple styles like this awesome wrap skirt. [Plus chances are your Nan/Mum's got a subscription anyway so you can just snaffle the patterns from her!] 

Right so naturally being me I went completely off piste and threw the instructions out the window! For starters I added 4 inches to the shortest skirt length, BUT because I decided I wanted to use the raw hem this ended up being far to long and I think I hacked at least three inches off so that was pretty pointless!

Next I omitted the back zip purely so I could just have a button front. Now I finished my button holes by hand which is a new thing I'm loving because it gives a really awesome finish! but because of spacing there are also two press studs holding the under skirt in place.

The buttons are recycled from an old coat I had before I had Lil man! Funnily enough as soon as I was pregnant with him a lady a hospital told me what a lovely MATERNITY coat it was and I never wore it again because I was convinced it was the coat making me look pregnant and not you know the baby I was growing! Hormones eh? 

I also top stitched all of my seam allowances down to give it a flat felled sort of feel. I was going to do flat felled seams but I had to do some major taking in on the side seams and back seam so this way seemed easier.

I also skipped the facings and just used bias binding to finish it. I think I;d rather have a bias bond finish than a facing because there's less flapping around. And its already hard enough to keep the under and over skirt at the front from getting rucked up on each other. 

That said I do love the wrap front, and I love it in this denim because it has such a contemporary feel to it. Rikki even said this make is "quite nice" which is high praise indeed! The skirt is pretty simple and only has three pattern pieces [Realistically you could create something similar using a standard skirt pattern] this has 3 pattern pieces the back [which you cut two of] the under front [which you cut on the fold] and the overlap which you cut in a single layer. The overlap is also shaped so that it hangs slightly lower and is angled.

The denim was sent to me for free by the craft cotton company to have a play around with.  and its a really nice sort of lighter weight denim. And the best part is it washed so much better than the last lot of denim I had! 

I have been distressing it slightly though using a cheese grater and by leaving all of the edges raw. I just like the grungy feel it gives. Although I am now picturing a nice version in a classy fabric for going out and stuff [ I say and stuff because I genuinely can't remember the last time I went anyway classier than a wacky warehouse or a McDonalds to eat] 

All in all I LOVE it , even if I do keep finding stray denim threads hanging off things! And its really nice to make separates that will go with everything in my wardrobe!

In other news I feel like I should kind of address how my blog has changed over the years. Basically when I started blogging it was because I was a lonely stay at home mum who felt like she'd lost her entire identity because a baby had popped out. That was roughly four years ago and now I'm a stay at home mum/blogger who loves writing about sewing and spending time with her kid which leads me to my next point. You may have noticed I've been doing a lot more reviews and basically getting free stuff than I did in the beginning. 

I just wanted to be straight with you and say yes I do get gifted items and yes sometimes they do ask me to post about them and add links to their sites. But I am always honest because I respect you guys far to much to lie just so I can have something. I also always disclose where things have come from.

I do it because 1. Momma didn't raise no fool and 2. because If I wasn't gifted things I wouldn't be able to review some of the great things that are in the sewing world. Realistically we are a young family and my sewing budget is basically whatever money I might get given for Christmas and birthdays! So I wouldn't be able to afford them.

But please rest assured that it will always be me blogging here and you will always get to here about sewing, general mumming, knitting and whatever other random stories!

I hope that's okay!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Disclaimer - this fabric was a gift from the craft cotton company but all denim wrap skirt love is my own!