Sewing Scissor Themed Gathered Skirt

I feel like with all the excitement of me made may and those short bursts of hot weather we've been having I've not been left with a lot of time for blogging. I have however found a lot of time for drinking wine and relaxing.

But I'm trying my best to catch up with all of my old projects and photographs. It does mean that my hair doesn't look like these pictures though. I don't miss this shade of pink but I went a nice candy floss colour a few days after this and I really liked that.

I made this skirt during me made may because I had spent a morning trying to find a skirt to wear and had realised that I only have winter skirts or a few summer skirts that I don't really like [because of the print or because they are too short] In fact I threw a bit of a tantrum and there were clothes everywhere and I nearly quit me made may there and then before I gave myself a stern talking too.

Anyway after a morning of being stroppy I decided to whip up a simple gathered skirt.

It zips up the back, naturally I used a zip I'd recycled from something else so it didn't have to stopper things at the start. Which meant when I sewed the zip in and then went to make sure I could pull it up I pulled the bloody thing off. Ever tried getting a zip pull back on? Not as easy as it looks. 

Anyway I after I got it back on, I sewed the ends into the lining so it doesn't pull off anymore. 

Gathers wise I used the two lines of basting stitches method. After much deliberation I decided that I like this way better than the zig zag over some string method because the gathers shift about these when your sewing them! 

The fabric is a scissor print by rose and hubble that my cousin/godmother got me for Christmas. I really like this print because its still quite neutral and the grey will go with a lot of stuff in my wardrobe. Plus its always nice to have clothes that reflect that I love sewing!!!! 

The skirt is made from 1m of fabric so the construction is really simple. I did take a lot of care in how I finished everything though. I made sure the sew the waistband neatly, I used interfacing and I did french seams on the side seams. 

The length is actually pretty good. Its short enough that it does that magic trick of making my legs look a bit longer BUT I can bend over in it without showing people all my goodies.

In other news! 

-  I finished knitting a unicorn last week so that should be on the blog soon, spoiler alert its really cute and I might have to become a crazy knitting lady. 

- I'm officially addicted the 'love island'. Yes I know theirs only been one episode and its about as trashy as telly can be but my lovely neighbours Chels and Aaron thought I might like it and well I do! Its very easy to watch with a glass of wine and some chocolate. Or well a lot of chocolate! And I can't wait to see what happens next! It does make me feel a bit bad though because all of the girls are dead tiny, toned and tanned and I'm just sat in a dressmaking gown munching my way through whatever chocolate I can lay my greedy little paws on!

- I'm at Aakhans Hanley this Saturday!!!! 12-3pm demonstrating how to make newlook 6390. I'll be making the dress up whilst I'm their and I'll be able to answer any questions about what fabrics to use and what sort of techniques you need to know! Hopefully I'll get the whole dress finished! So if your free pop on down! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

A Failed GBSB Asymmetric Skirt

When I started writing about my sewing journey I told myself I'd share everything, the good the bad and the ugly.

I made this decision because I was sick of seeing people crank out perfection every week without talking about their struggles. 

Well cards on the table..... this skirt made me cry. Not cute cry either, hysterical, sobbing, snot on face crying. [Part might have been PMS but the skirt started it.]

Right so the pictures don't really show it clearly but this is meant to be the asymmetric skirt from the 3rd GBSB book. When they made it on the show it was described as being a very tricky make but I thought I'd give it a whirl. But what I ended up with was a lumpy bumpy mess.

Its supposed to look like this. 

Ya know lovely and swooshy and fabulous.

But instead mine was a hot mess. Now the reason I began to cry was because I felt like a bit of a failure, I'd read the instructions, I'd done everything to the best of my ability and I'd still messed it up! And because I'd actually applied for this series of the sewing bee and had an interview and everything, which meant that chances are I wouldn't have been able to do it then either. 

And that folks is what made me cry. [that and PMS] 

So I ate more chocolate than necessary and watched a few episode of project runway and decided to have my own make it work moment because god knows I did not want to have to throw the beautiful boiled wool away!

Luckily I'd stitched the back seam so I just had to unpick the top from the bottom. The I decided to get rid of the wavy edge part by levelling the whole thing off. I did that by measuring from the waistband down and marking it and from the bottom up on the lower section.

Next I pinned the bottom half to the top half , pleating the fabric to make it fit. Originally they were pinned as inverted box pleats but I found myself liking the wrong side better so I repinned them the right way around.

Fabric wise I used this boiled wool from abakhan's and whilst it was beautiful it was tricky to get the seams to lie flat. I used a lot of heat and ended up cobbling together a clapper from some stray bits of wood in our shed.

Then I did some top stitching and popped in a Zip.

Then I spent about another half an hour battling the seams into submission. I even ended up cutting the darts open to make them sit flatter. I also used a tailors ham and sleeve roll to help with the pressing. 

And voila! A catastrophe made into something nicer. As gutted as I was to fail I actually like this skirt and I think it suits my wardrobe. Plus its lovely and swishy!

Now I am hoping to revisit the GBSB pattern at some point but for the moment I'm just going to take pleasure in this skirt. 

And try and get some more wear out of it before summer gets here! If it ever arrives! 

In other news! 

I have a poorly baby boy! Hes in bed recuperating and hopefully he'll start to feel better soon! It breaks my heart when hes ill.

And I've uploaded a new video to my you tube channel!

Hope you enjoy 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Blue Wool Check Skirt

My Christmas tree is up! I know its early but in my defence Rikki is at work next week so it was either put it up now or have to wait until a week and a half into December and I'd much rather have it up early than late! 

Okay so this skirt came about by complete accident. Basically my friend came over with some curtains that his mum had picked up for me. This check? Is it a check? Is it plaid? Is it tartan? does anyone know the difference? Anyway this pattern was one of the pairs of curtains and I absolutely loved it! 

BUT their wasn't a huge amount of it. Which left me with a dilemma, try and pattern match a plain pencil or a-line skirt which may or may not work due to the scale and repeat of the check and the fabric limitations OR throw pattern matching to the wind, say sod it and just make a slightly punky mismatched wrap skirt. 

The wrap skirt sold it to me because the front panel is cut on a slightly different angle making the checks almost diamonds which I think is a pretty cool look.

The pattern I used is a prima pattern that I have also used here. I love this pattern and I'm going to make a few more for winter. I'd love to make a version in suede and leather for a cool gothic sort of look.

I finished all the edges with homemade bias binding turned to the inside. It makes everything a lot quicker than standard hemming and I think its neater.

As you can see the pattern matching is totally jacked up. I mean its pretty dreadful from a sewing point of view but it doesn't bother me too much. Mainly because I've got a few Vivienne Westwood tartan skirts pinned on pinterest and I don't think they hold to the whole pattern matching thing.

I'm wearing it with a top I got from my Aunty Mary, it did have floofy bits on the ends of the sleeves but I cut them off. I think its meant to be a cardigan but I like to pull it into a cross over wrap top. I just wish it didn't show my belly!

The buttons are recycled and I even remembered to reinforce the button holes and where I sewed the buttons with interfacing. I need to remember to do this more often because it made my buttonholes go a lot smoother and I think they feel more secure. 

Although the button holes on one side are in slightly the wrong place. I got a bit confused because the front panel only has one dart so I marked and sewed them in the wrong place, and I;d cut them over by the time I realised. I don't think you can tell though?

All in all I think this has been one of my favourite makes recently. I love the style and the fit and the way the cutting layout made the plaid look. That said I haven't worn it much because its so pale. Maybe its just me but I sort of feel like winter is a time where I wear darker clothes? I'm not sure how to style this to make it look cute but still be warm. I think a white polo neck would be nice but what would I do for tights? Or maybe a grey polo neck and some grey tights? Thoughts? I'd love some ideas so I don't have to wait until spring to wear it! 

In other news!

I've started the second Jojo Moyes book "after you" Its a sequel to me before you and so far I'm enjoying it. I was trying to read Oliver Twist but I saw this in a charity shop and knew I had to bump it up my reading list. So I'll be going back to Oliver twist later. 

We popped to the Trafford centre on Monday. Lil man was school so we thought it seemed like a nice idea to go out.  Typically we go to Hanley which is 15/20 minutes away or we just stay at home and relax, but sods law the day we are and hour away is the day Lil man falls over at school and bumps his head. My heart sank when we got the phone call asking us to go in and decide if he needed to go to A and E. Luckily Grandad had a day off so he went and picked him up whilst we drove home and lil man was completely fine once he'd got over the shock. We knew he was fine after he conned Grandad out of a McDonalds!!! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Refashioned Skirt From A Handmade Dress

There is nothing I hate more than when I spend time making something only for it to languish in the back of my wardrobe. It's bound to happen its not like you can try it on before you've made it is it? And we've all stood in a shop before trying to work out why the dress that seemed so perfect in theory actually looks like a potato sack.

Anyway I loved this dress when I first finished it but I just never wore it. The back is cut in a low v and due to a fit issue the straps fell down quite a lot exposing the old bosom, plus you have to go braless which is never a day to day wear pleaser. 

Anyway I did LOVE the fabric which I think is a Singapore printed cotton so I decided to try and fix it and make something more wearable. 

First of all I ripped out the zip then I just cut off the skirt part and threw the bodice away. This meant I got to keep the pockets!!! Although I had completely forgotten that this dress had pockets so ya know!

Next I cut a new waistband from some stash fabric and put it on with a zip and a hook and eye at the top.

And bish bash bosh done! I actually think I like it a lot more now and it should be easier to wear it day to day.

PLUS POCKETS! 

In other news!

- I'm freezing, seriously when did it get so cold? I'm absolutely dreading this winter I'm finding it hard to get out of bed as it is.

- I've just finished Gone Girl and boy what a book!!!! I literally couldn't put it down!

- I'm currently watching 'Allied' with Brad Pitt and I have high hopes that he'll take all his clothes off......... Filth Absolute filth

- I'm feeling a bit perkier this week, the hills aren't alive with the sound of music just yet but I think I'm heading to a good place emotionally. I've even had motivation to do stuff!

Much Love

Frankie 

x

I'm A Princess, Of Course I Need A Tutu

I promised myself at the start of this year that I'd make more practical clothes. No more party dress or corset tops instead I decided to make good solid items that I'd get lots of wear out of. 

But whats the fun in that?

So I made a Tutu! Possibly the worlds most impractical item of clothing [unless your a full time ballerina] and to really amp up the wear ability I made it in WHITE! Because we all know whites the easiest colour in the world to wear and doesn't stain or look grubby ever! 

Okay so before I jump into construction two points about the photographs:

1- It needs trimming..... again, I swear this is going to be one of those things that needs leveling every time it comes out of the washer. 

2- Its really really hard to get pictures of a white skirt, against a white wall on a girl who is pasty as well a pasty thing.[I mean I could have fake tanned but it always turns out blotchy and orange] So these pictures are not great but hopefully they give you the general gist.

So right, the idea for a tutu came into my head as soon as my mum brought me this tulle back from my Aunty Shelias house [I think in a previous life it was long net curtains] But in the spirit of practical clothing I put it in my cupboard and tried to think of "practical" [read. Boring] ways of using it. And them one day I had an epiphany. This tulle was never going to be anything other than a tutu so rather than let it waste away in my cupboard I should just MAKE A RUDDY TUTU! 

As it turns out tutus are not exactly a walk in the walk. For example I wanted mine to be a circle skirt tutu not a gathered one. This meant I had to cut donut shapes out of layers of tulle...and you know whats shiftier than Lord Voldemort at a Harry Potter appreciation event? Tulle, It moves, it runs, it floofles! In the end I cut each circle in a single layer by laying the fabric over a template i'd already made. It took about 1 hour just to cut 6 layers of tulle. At which point I had 1. run out of fabric and 2. was painfully aware that the 6 layers of tulle I had already cut was not going to be enough to preserve my dignity [read. I had a high chance of everyone knowing exactly what kind of pants I was wearing. 

So I needed an underskirt. I opted to use the lace tablecloth my mum had given me a while ago [Actually the tablecloth was a wedding gift to my mum and dad and she'd kept it for years but it was getting a bit scraggy so she gave it to me, with permission to cut it up!]

As it goes the table cloth may have been to scraggy for a table but it works very nicely under my layers of tulle. and in some lights you can sort of see it. Its a fairly thick lace table cloth as well so it gives the skirt a nice weight compared to the very lightweight tulle I used for the top layers [P.S If your making a tulle skirt like this you want a very fine tulle, not the stiff stuff, you want to one that drapes!]

Closure wise there was not a chance in hell I was going to try and insert a zip into tulle, so instead I over lapped the waistband and It closes with a button and a press stud for security. That means there's a 10cmish split from the waistband to the back seam but you can'y see it because of the overlap.

I used the waistband pattern from the Tilly and the buttons Clemance skirt for the waistband. I know that I can typically pull this waistband a bit tighter so I knew I'd have enough for an overlap.

All in all I really love it and I'm so glad I took the time to make myself something frivolous and fun! Rikki did a full eye-roll when he saw it on the mannequin though "when exactly are you going to wear that?"

Sweetie when am I not going to wear it! And if that fails I can always use it as a petticoat under my dresses! 

 I might wear it on my birthday though, I'm thinking with a white and red striped top and some red shoes maybe it'll look a bit more casual? Maybe even casual enough for the school run? And if not it'll be my blooming birthday so.............

In other news!!! 

- Its my birthday this week! I'm kind of in two minds about it because the older you get the less fun birthdays seem to be? I dunno maybe now I'm a grownup I should be okay with that, but a big part of me still wants ice cream and cake and party hats and all the excitement!

- I started knitting a new jumper! Yet again I'm using the double trouble jumper by wool and the gang and I'm hoping to have it ready to wear this winter.

- I've made a lot of progress with my embroidered tablecloth project, I had a day this week where both the boys were out and realistically I had a day to sew but it just wasn't happening and I was feeling pretty miserable so instead I binge watched "the crown" , ate a pot noodle and did embroidery.

-Lil man settled back into school, apparently his new teacher is kind and beautiful and lovely.......I think someone has a crush!

And that's it really!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Abakhans Brocade Separates

Shopping, tiddly winks, minion game, whot cards, strip jack naked, mouse trap, batman lego and connect four. That's pretty much how my day went, yerp lots of entertaining of a small child. And just to clarify "strip jack naked" is a card game, I wasn't just stood on the street requesting random men named Jack come into my house so I could undress them......... I only do that on the weekends!

Luckily I've already got a lil stack of projects waiting to be written up/photographed for the ole blog. Because god knows sewing is scarce at the moment!

This beauty was actually sewn up a few weeks ago! The brocade was sent to me by the lovely folks at Abakhans and as soon as I saw the the vibrant colours along with the little silver threads that are woven through it I was sold. Love at first sight is a strong word, but if this fabric was sat at the bar on a Friday night I would definitely buy it a drink and put "kiss from the rose" on the juke box. 

  That said it terrifies me for two reasons:

1. It frays like a mother. I mean seriously after two weeks I was still pulling bits of silver out of our dryers lint tray and we all have it on our socks! I would definitely consider sewing/overlocking the edges before pre washing!

2. It is very dressy! Which kind of terrifies me because aside from the school run and the odd wedding I don't get out much! Currently my idea of a meal out involves a big mac and a mcflurry.  

Which is why I opted for separates, because they are 100% more versatile! And as an added bonus they look like a dress when you wear them together! The pattern is from prima magazine [august 2014 ] but you could also use the sleeveless shell top and the box pleat skirt patterns from the GBSB books. Or if you are fancy and go out and stuff go the whole hog and make an awesome dress!

Size wise I measured as a 14 but I cut a size 12 because the prima patterns tend to have a bit too much ease built in for my liking. [My measurements are 36", 27", 38" BTW] I also omitted the waist darts because I wanted a slightly looser finish on the bottom. 

The fabric is fairly heavy weight so its best to opt for something with cleaner lines for example pleats in the skirt not gathers. 

I changed the back from a zip back to a button up back to make it feel it bit more dressy. It also meant I could use these silver buttons I had in my stash [similar here]. I lined the top in a black lining fabric from my stash. This is mainly to keep the insides looking neat and tidy but it also adds a level of comfort. The fabric isn't particularly scratchy but I wasn't prepared to rick any chaffing near my *ahem* nipple area, especially seen as the button back may require me to go braless. 

I like how the three buttons give a little bit of skin without going the full Julia Roberts pretty woman. The button loops were made by hand using thread [the technique for this can be found in the 3rd GBSB book] Originally the top had sleeves as well but it ended up looking a lil bit grandma so I ripped them out and ended up finishing the armholes by hand using a really tiny slip stitch. 

But the best part!!! LOOK HOW CUTE IT IS WITH JEANS! I think I've finally cottoned on to the jeans and a nice top trend all the kids are talking about! Lengthwise I tried it on before I hemmed it because I wanted to go for a classy cropped sort of style. Its the perfect length for wearing with my skinny jeans and the matching skirt as they are both high waisted. You see a lil bit of skin without me feeling like I've got my whole tummy out.

I even think this wouldn't be too OTT for a trip to the cinema or a drink in a nice pub. Lol I'm totally lying I'll definitely be wearing this on the school run because I have no concept of dress codes! 

The skirt is a simple pleated version which is very flattering. I didn't line this but did make sure to finish all of my seams properly. I did two rows of stitching and then pinked them, so far its been through the wash 3 times and it hasn't frayed yet. The main part of the skirt has an invisible zip [This fabric is pretty bulky when layered so a lapped zipper is a no go] and the waistband closes with two press studs. 

I hemmed the whole thing by hand which gives a slightly nicer finish than machine hemming would. It actually means there is no visible stitch lines on this make at all. No top stitching are anything, I tend to think so stitch lines work better on a fabric like this because other wise you can end up looking really over worked.

This is the second attempt of hemming the skirt, the first time I was going for a midi length skirt but then I tried it on and remembered by I don't wear midi length skirts with my short little legs!

Now sadly this fabric isn't currently on the website [it should be soon!] But it is in store as well as some other great brocades! Although for my next version I think I might use a scuba like this one? 

So yeah all in all I love it and I can't wait to wear it to a special occasion! Hopefully we'll be invited to some posh christening/wedding soon! Heck I'd take a birthday party!

Much Love

Frankie

Disclaimer, Whilst Abakhan's sent me this fabric for free all thoughts and ideas are my own! As I always say honesty is the best policy! 

Liberty Pencil Skirt

Guess who's camera battery arrived? Yes mine so I spent a good half an hour today photographing the various things I've been making for the past two weeks!

This is the first thing I made. I had some of this liberty cotton cord from abakhans left over after I made my liberty Sunday dungaree dress. I had intended to make a nice circle skirt but after taking a look at the fabric I realised that it would have been a bit short, almost indecent really.  

So I settled on making a pencil skirt. This is the same pattern I've used for pretty much every pencil skirt I've made. But what can I say The pencil skirt pattern from the 2nd GBSB book just works for me!!!  

I added a waistband with a little lapped part that closes with two press studs. So the lapped zip only comes to the waistband, Its a great way of using a slightly too short zip in a skirt!

Its hemmed by hand because that's my favourite way of finishing these types of skirts! The inside of the waistband is also finished by hand, I just can't get on board with the whole stitching in the ditch thing. I also did a lapped zip because its fast becoming my favourite way of doing zips! 

This isn't a great picture of the back because its hard to get decent pictures because of the print. But you can see the zip only goes up to the waistband. This gives me a great chance to use my shorter zips but still be able to get the skirt over my backside!

I didn't quite have enough of the liberty cord to line the waistband so I used this burgundy upholstery weight stuff. I actually think it helps support the waistband because its slightly thicker!

So yeah all in all I love this skirt, I just have no idea how to style it? I've got a lace crop top I could wear? Maybe with a leather jacket? or I could try and style it down with a band tshirt? The difficulty is whilst the background looks white on these pictures its actually a sort of cream? So it looks kind of strange with white tops!

In other news! 

After feeling pretty rough over the weekend I feel much better now

I am still ploughing on with Me Made May and trying to wear as many different things as possible.

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

DIY Embroidered skirt

Anyone who's been within three feet of a shop recently might have noticed the huge trend for embroidery on clothes at the moment.

Now technically I don't "follow" the most recent trends. However I do love a bit of embroidery so it would be rude not too. I briefly considered making a little denim skirt and embroidering that but as luck would have it Rikki's Nan was getting rid of two button front skirts and offered them to me.

Well that was one job saved, next I just needed to decide what to embroider. This is actually my second attempt, my first attempt was a much more densely embroidered design in reds. It didn't complement to colour of the skirt and the idea of having that amount of embroidery focusing everyone's attention on one of my hips didn't exactly fill me with good feelings. Plus the embroidery had made the skirt all puckered up and nasty looking.

Naturally instead of giving up I spent an hour and a half unpicking all of my hard work and started again. This time I opted for pinks for the rose because it worked better with the blue and decided just to embroider the outline. 

Its a lot more of a subtle effect which I'm hoping means I won't be put off wearing it even after the trend is dead and buried. Luckily the skirt was a good fit out of the bag I just took an inch off the length [short legs]. Looking at these pictures its a bit snug but LOL Easter! 

I definitely prefer this to my first attempt. I used two strands of embroidery and a simple back stitch. I didn't use a hoop instead I just kept things taught using my hands.

So yeah I actually kind of love it and on the plus side no one else has one like this! 

In other news!

We are halfway through our second week of half term, we have no car and lil man has a cough..... Its great.......... [He made me drag the playdough box downstairs yesterday, spent five minutes playing with it and declared himself bored]

We still have a house full of Easter eggs and its far too tempting!

I cannot wait to be able to sew properly again! I've already said to Rikki the first chance I get I'm having a good long session!

I ran down the road in my pj's this week after the bin men. To add more detail, my pj's are a camisole and "french?" knickers? and I heard the bin lorry but thought I hadn't put the bin out [we have fortnightly bin collections so if you miss it you end up with a months worth of rubbish to get rid of!] Anyway as it goes Rikki had already put it out when he left for work, which the bin men took great delight in telling me! #mortified 

Much Love 

Frankie!

follow me on instagram 

follow me on bloglovin 

Tape Measure Print Skirt

I'm so behind with posting my makes! I actually made this skirt about two weeks ago after a bout of feeling fed up and miserable about my sewing. This project was a quick fix to try and get me out of my funk.

The fabric was what was left over from my Tape measure Lilou dress and came from abakhans.

As far as quick fixes go I think it turned out pretty cute [its a bit long in these pictures but I have since re hemmed it to make it a bit shorter] I didn't use a pattern I just cut a waistband and then gathered my piece of fabric. Its not as full as my usual skirts but it doesn't bother me too much. 

It was a nice and easy project because its cotton so all of the pressing and stitching went in perfectly first time! Even the invisible zip went in okay. I mean its not perfectly lined up at the waistband I think its about 3mm off but I've been wearing it with a waspie belt anyway so you cant even see the waistband! Plus as I said I wasn't about to get my seam ripper out for a quick fix.

That said I did take the time to hand stitch the inside of my waistband but that's only because stitching in the ditch brings me out in a cold sweat. 

The skirt was sort of inspired by the novelty print skirts that were so popular in the 1950's and because I am really trying to incorporate more separates into my wardrobe.

In other news, I have been furiously knitting whilst wearing my double trouble jumper! OMG its so warm! Although Rikki has made a few jokes about me looking as though I've been tangoed.

And this morning I manged to survive another one of Lil mans school assemblies [BTW his school have open assemblies, its not like he was in the assemblies you can just go and watch either the head teacher or the vicar speak] Anyway I survived and I actually spoke to one of the other mums afterwards. So if someone wants to give me some grownup social skill points that would be awesome!

In general I'm feeling a bit more perky!

Much Love

Frankie

x

Simple Wool Skirt

This skirt was a bit soul destroying to make to be honest. I had originally brought the fabric with the intention of making the wrap skirt that I've put on my #makenine board. But Lo and behold I didn't have enough fabric so I had to do for a more simple skirt.

Okay so here's the deal I went to Abakhans the same day that I went to pick up my copy of sew style magazine [because I'm in it!]. Anyway I had already decided to get myself some fabric as a well done to myself but had set myself the princely sum of £5. Yeah I know right this girl really knows how to spoil herself! So I was torn between this wool mix which I;d be able to get one metre of and a cream snake skin shiny thing that was on sale that I could have had two metres of. Long story short I chose this because it looked more practical and then I didn't have enough fabric. FYI the fabric cost me £4.99 for a metre.

Anyway In stead of making a wrap skirt I used the same pattern and just made a simple pencil skirt but with the added extra of having a funky full zip in the back. I decided this would be a sort of wearable toile. And BOY am I glad I did!

1. The skirt comes in three lengths, really long, long and flash your froo froo. Luckily I had already spotted that it was looking a bit on the wee side so I added 4 inches to the length of the mini length.

2.I cut a size fourteen because that corresponded with my measurements, actually I corresponded at a 16 but I knew that Prima patterns do tend to have quite a bit of ease built in, Anyway the dammed thing was huge! [yet another flash your froo froo moment] So I took 1 inch of each of the side seams and half an inch out of the centre back. 

The zip looks way off centre on this picture but I promise its just how I stood. A photographer told me everything is more flattering if you rest all of your weight on one leg but it does make zips look wonky.

That said the skirt went together really quickly the thing that took longest was all of the hand finishing I decided to do. Because of how thick the fabric is I was able to hand stitch down all of my facings and hem it by hand. The hem is practically invisible.

Okay so good points:

I like the style its a classy skirt

I love the long zip at the back because it stops it being too boring. [The zip is recycled from an old hoody by the way.

I love the hand stitching on the inside.

Bad points:

on one side the pattern matching sucks. I'm blaming this on not having quite enough fabric.

I think it makes me look a bit wide at the bottom? I think maybe I need a waistband to help emphasis my waist.

Its a really thick skirt. Which is great in winter but means I won't get a lot of wear out of it in summer. So I dunno if that's a bad thing or not. I mean its a bad thing now because summer is coming [No seriously I had to close the curtains because the sun was making a glare on my laptop screen] But I think when winter rears its ugly head again I'll be glad that I've got a thick skirt to pull out of my wardrobe.

So yeah all in all I like it, I'm still miffed that I didn't get to make my wrap skirt but some fabric arrived this morning that will be perfect for it!

In other news:

I'm pretty much recovered from the CHSI stitches show and have started to write up some of the samples I received.

I tried to make a shirt dress last night and the instructions for the bodice just SUCKED. Anyway I;ve worked out what I need to do now so hopefully that'll be coming soon.

I also had knitting woes last night. The k1 p1 wasn't creating a rib it was just making moss stitch so I had to rip it back and go off the pattern and cast on an even number of stitches instead of the 25 they suggested.

Needless to say I gave up on being creative last night and just had a long bath!

Sometimes its just easier to walk away!