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! 

    

High Low Wrap Skirt!

When I started blogging I swore I would blog the good the bad and the ugly. And to be honest I'm still not 100% which category this falls into.

Okay so its another wrap skirt, I'm becoming a huge fan of the wrap skirt. Mainly because I find them so flattering. And the idea of this was to create a sexy sort of tulip silhouette, and to be honest I'm not quite sure if I've achieved that? I do look nipped in at the waist but I think maybe there's a bit too much gathering around the whole thing? And maybe that parts not overly flattering? 

Especially from the back the whole thing looks a bit meh? The fabric is the same artificial poly silky stuff that I used for this. On this picture you can see that I haven't even finished the ties ! I'm waiting to see what you guys think! [See I keep you lot in very high regard!!!] 

I drafted it myself straight onto the fabric because I like the sew dangerously! I didn't even measure I just free handed GASP! 

Okay so good things, I like that I can switch up where the split is, at thew moment I like it central or to one side [which always reminds me of Catherine zeta Jones?]

And I'm pretty proud of the hem I've done, its not a rolled hem but its pretty tiny and very neat!!

And I like that its a wrap skirt because well, I heart wrap skirts!!!!

The more I look at these pictures the more I realise I kind of love the front view but hate the side and back views? I guess its lucky I don't have a permanent view of my own derriere huh!

So what do you think?

Is it worth finishing or shall I just sack it off now?

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Dress to Wrap Skirt Refashion

I'm not even sure if this counts as an actual make, its barely a refashion!

This skirt started off life as a 1950's style dress that I got from Ethel Austin back in the day! Well actually my mum brought it and she brought one for herself for when we went to Goodwood. Yeah we used to rock the whole mother daughter matching thing, there were even headbands.

But on a side note, Ethel Austin how class was that shop!

Anyway the fit of the dress was pretty hit and miss to be honest so it ended up in the refashion pile. The fabric is a very light cotton and the dress had a circle skirt. Well I'm guessing its a circle skirt but to be honest I doubt its a proper full circle! the garment industry to tend to cut corners! It also had a fabric belt in the same fabric.

Anyway I separated the skirt from the bodice and then put the zip in my zipper drawer! Never waste a zipper in this house!!!

And then I gathered the skirt onto the fabric belt. To work out how long to keep my skirt section I measured my waist and did that measurement+half of that measurement [for example! - 28+14=42] naturally the belt was longer so that's how you get the tie.

I also added a button hole to make the ties fit easier but I judged that when I tried it on so I don't have a measurement for that.  

I love it it kind of reminds me of the Clemence skirt by Tilly and the Buttons, but with one added bonus.  

As it ties at the back [or the front or the side whatever floats your boat] then you have a nifty little secret! 

If you got out the dinner and say order a cheeky starter, and then eat all of your main because its just so darn good! And then well its not really a proper meal with out pudding is it? And then your feeling all bloated and like you might be sick, but it was worth it because everything tasted good! And you skirts cutting into you and your wishing everyone else would just finish up so you can go home and pop on your onesie? Well usually you'd have to sit there feeling uncomfortable and trying to wind up the conversation but with a wrap skirt you can just pop yourself off to the toilet and well loosen yourself off!!!

Its like magic honestly, nearly as good as your onesie! [I mean not quote as good as your onesie but close enough] 

Outfit Stats:

Choker - Handmade

Top - new look [was my sisters so about 15 years old?]

Skirt - Handmade

Shoes - mother in laws [snaffled]

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Brown Suede Wrap Skirt

Okay so this stemmed from some of the wrap skirts I've seen on topshop and new looks website. Basically I wanted something smart, comfy and practical. 

Construction wise I used the GBSB pencil skirt pattern but cut two of the front and didn't close one of the side seams. I also added a long waist tie, in hindsight i shouldn't have done this central I should have done it to one side because now when its tied one tie is longer than the other.

After watching an episode of the GBSB I switched out the darts for box pleats. I have no recollection of how I did this now [I'm forgetful I can't help it!] But I think I just worked out how much the darts took out and tuck out the same amount but using a box pleat. So for example it your dart take out two inches of fabric then you box pleat needs to be 1 inch deep on either side, luckily because of the nature of a wrap skirt its pretty forgiving fit wise. 

And it gives a pretty nice tulip shape. In fact if I make it again I might redraft the Skirt pieces to make it wider so I can do bigger box pleats and make a more exaggerated tulip skirt. 

Here's lil man posing with me, he likes helping with blog photos.

Oops nearly forgot, I also curved the edge on one of my front skirt pieces so I finished it with bias binding. 

The tie is a slightly different suede to main skirt because I ran out of the brown suede. In fact to be completely honest I had to make the skirt twice because I badly burnt the back of my first version and had to bin it. Hence running out of fabric!   

I like to wear it tied at the side but you can also have it tied at the back but it does make me feel like I have a tail. To make sure the ties lie flat I added a button hole above the side seam on the waistband to thread the tie through.

Overall I think it looks pretty cool. and its really comfy to wear.

I think it evokes quite a curvy silhouette, which I like very much! And after I finished photographing this lil man decided it was his turn..... apparently this is what mummy does! 

Hand on hip standard pose.

Back view, I'm starting to think he's more photogenic than me!

I have never done this pose!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx