Scandi Skirt

I've actually made a wearable piece of clothing for myself, which looking through my past posts I don't think I've done before, except maybe a neck warmer.

I made clothes for myself when I was doing my stuuuupid college course (I'm never going to mention it again, it was that stupid. I have a certificate saying I passed it but I never learnt how to sew a buttonhole. I may have mentioned this before...), but I wouldn't call them wearable :) For my final project I made an A-line under skirt with an apron over skirt, and this skirt was made using the pattern I drafted for the under skirt.


It's just a basic A-line block from Winifred Aldrich's Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear, and although I drew it up using my measurements in May last year I'm pleased it still fits around my post-Christmas podge :)

I look a little crazy - I can't tell if it's because of the recently blow-dried hair or the overuse of blusher...

The fit isn't perfect, as the darts could sit a little smoother at the back, but I think that's my sewing rather than the pattern. I did take a few photos of it without the cardi on, but blimey my middle has thickened over the last few months, so I'll not be sharing them with you. Because the waistline is quite low it sits on the widest part of my middle, and so definitely needs a long top over it or some sort of cardi to break it up. On the other hand it is remarkably comfy to wear :)



You might remember I made Munchkin a tunic using another version of the fabric, and this has been sitting in my stash waiting for my to gather up the courage to cut it since then. I lined it with some bog standard black polyestery type stuff, which was a bugger to sew but does the job. I've called it the Scandi skirt because the fabric makes me want to go to Stockholm and drink strong coffee and look at art :)


I'm very pleased with my zip skillz - inserted using the method that is in the Sew U book (sew side seam up to where zip will start, change stitch to long stitch and tack all way to waistline. Tape zip to wrong side of seam, topstitch using zipper foot, remove tape and tacking). I sewed the zip just into the outer fabric, and then I made the lining up separately. On the seam where the zip would be, I sewed up to where the zip would start then tacked the rest of the way up. I ironed the seam flat and unpicked the tacking. I then attached the lining to the skirt right sides together, flipped them, topstitched around the waist, and then carefully pinned the lining around the zip and re-topstitched where I had sewn the zip into the outer.


And I've found a brilliant new way to avoid failure when attempting new sewing projects - don't do blog posts announcing to the world what you're going to achieve over the next month / year / decade. Then if you don't finish them / they go horribly wrong / you never even start them, no-one will ever know! Success guaranteed :)



So all you're getting from me is the following statement:
I will be sewing things over the next 12 months. I will tell you about them when I have finished them :D