Thursday 28 April 2016

Think Pink! Pink skirt #2



You know when you make something you love so much that it just gets worn all the time before you even get a photograph or a blog post up? Well this is what happened with my last make, a proper 'woohoo make' as Kirsty would say! 


I like pink, a lot. My Wildwood Flower skirt gets worn loads so I thought it was about time to make another pink skirt to add to the wardrobe. This is the Great British Sewing Bee A-line tweed mini skirt pattern from the Fashion with Fabric book. There are so many lovely patterns in this book but I decided to start with this as I really needed a warmer skirt for winter.  I am so so pleased with this skirt and wear it at least once a week, often more!

One very neat invisible zip!
Making this skirt involved learning some new sewing skills. This was my first time attaching a lining, first time hand-sewing a hem, and first time using binding to finish a waistline.  The wonderfully vibrant pink wool came from a batch of fabrics gifted to me by a friend who works for a high street fashion store - they hold these fabric sales to get rid of left-over fabric from sample stock and she picked me up some wonderful fabrics! I splashed out and bought some Bremsilk Cupro lining from MacCulloch and Wallis, which is also where I got the brown faux-leather binding.

Hand-stitched hem and lovely purple lining

The instructions were pretty straight-forward as there are no pockets or facings and the directions given for adding the lining worked really well. I made up a straight size 10 but only used 1cm seam allowance instead of the recommended 1.5cm as I thought it would be too snug otherwise. However it's actually turned out a smidgeon too loose so if I make this again I'll just use the given seam allowance. I hand-tacked my zip down before sewing it and am really pleased with how it looks. I can see from these photos that I need to press the hem more but I was scared to as when I initially pressed the fabric it burnt a little bit, thankfully it's on the back and with a little bit of brushing the wool it's not noticeable at all.  Also, it looks squint in these photos but it really isn't, it must be the way I'm standing! I really took my time over this and, I think because of the influence of the quilting I've been doing recently, did more hand-sewing than I usually would on a garment. Both the hem and the back of the binding are hand-sewn, and the tacking stitches for the zip were done by hand.  It was so nice to challenge myself a bit with a pattern after lots of jersey sewing (with more jersey sewing to follow soon!) and I'm looking forward to doing some more sewing with wovens over the summer.



Summary -
Pattern: A-line Tweed mini skirt hack from Fashion with Fabric, Great British Sewing Bee book. This was a present from my husband for Christmas.
Size: 10, no alterations except reduced seam allowance by 0.5cm
Fabric:
Pink wool - present from a friend
Lining - £10 from MacCulloch & Wallis
Binding - £4 from MacCulloch & Wallis
Zip - stash
Thread - purple and brown thread from stash, pink thread £1.60 Hobbycraft
Total cost £15.60 - for a lined wool skirt, woohoo indeed!



This week though it's all about jersey again as I'm taking part in Katie's, from The Creative Counselor, 'Back to Basics week' - which is all about sewing yourself basics, as simple as it sounds. It's been a great push for me and I can't wait to share my next make with you when I get some photos!
And it's Me Made May soon! Who's taking part? Have you changed your pledge at all? 
Here is mine:
'I, Kathryn of Kathryn's Busy Town, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '16. I endeavour to wear one me-made/refashioned item each day for the duration of May 2016. I also pledge to start work on one of my vintage patterns during the month of May'
 
 








12 comments:

  1. Wahoo indeed. What a colour, it's fabulous. Can tell you took your time in this and the effort was worth it, you'll wear this for years.

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    1. Thanks Louise. I hope so! Though I definitely need to press the h again after looking at these photos. It's funny how you don't notice things sometimes till you see photos.

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  2. Wow! What a steal, and it looks lovely. So professional. I love the faux leather bias binding, it's a nice touch. Perfect zip too - I usually machine tack an invisible zip, it just makes insertion so much easier.

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    1. Thanks Helen! I'm really pleased with the look of the binding too.

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  3. What a cute skirt and a good-looking hand-stitched hem. Huzzah! Pink is your color.

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    1. Thanks Claire! I'll be hand-stitching more hems from now on, though I definitely need to press & iron more too from the looks of these photos!

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  4. Love this colour - great for Winter! I agree with Louise great you took your time as you will have this forever!

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    1. Thanks Emma! I hope it will last a long time, though I also hope I get to put it away till the autumn soon!

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  5. It looks great on you, and I love the way that sometimes you make something and you just own it and wear wear wear!!! I have gone back to the sewing Bee books recently, I often feel like I am a few years behind everyone else.

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    1. Thanks Charlotte! I got given 2 of the sewing bee books at Christmas & I'm really impressed with them. I can't wait for the new series to start, do you watch it?

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  6. Ooooh, what a gorgeous skirt, the colour is fantastic!

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    1. Hi Alison. Thank you! Isn't the colour the best?! It's so rich and vibrant, perfect for brightening up my winter wardrobe.

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