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'