The “What has it got in its pocketses?” skirt
Fabric: Cotton from a sewing meet in Norfolk organised by the completely gorgeous Diane of margueritedesigns
Pattern: self-drafted
Year: Contemporary
Notions: lining, thread, 7” zip
Time to complete: about 6 hours including making my own skirt block and pattern
First worn: for a morning out with my friend Sally and her daughter to Baytree
Wear again? Next summer, hopefully, we seem to be at the tail end of this one
Total price: Cotton was about £7ish, zip from a lot I bought from ebay so about 10p, lining left over from another project (call it free) plus I bought a reel of thread, let’s call it a tenner (just under $16)
Back in the day (ok, last month, you got me) I was completely bemused by the words “self-drafted” on sewweekly. What? That person made a pattern? Made one? Themselves? From scratch? How? Wouldn’t that be Very Complicated Indeed? Don’t you need the supervision of someone who knows what they are doing?
Luckily I go to a sewing class. A couple of weeks ago my sewing teacher Kate suggested I try making a skirt block so that I could draft myself patterns. She lent me a book which explained this process very clearly. In fact, so clearly that I was able to grasp the idea and had a skirt block drawn and a muslin made in two hours.
Once I got home and was not being directly supervised I lost my head a bit. A basic skirt seemed a bit, well, easy. (I almost can’t believe I just typed that) so I decided to add pockets. Usually when a pattern calls for pockets I leave them out on the grounds that they take too long, add 4 pieces to the pattern and are just a big faff. Then I decided to make piping to show where the pockets are (no point wasting time on unnoticeable pockets). Also I added a waistband. Just a big old oblong that I interfaced, basically. I like it.
Literary inspiration: in honour of the pockets, I am going for Gollum from Lord of The Rings.
Great job on the self-drafted skirt!
Thanks Erin, that means alot coming from you, your last things have been so lovely
Haha “I decided to make piping to show where the pockets are (no point wasting time on unnoticeable pockets)” love it….so true, you work those pockets girlfriend (ooh sorry I went a bit Gok Wan on you then). Well done on your self-drafted skirt, the world is your oyster now when it comes to skirts. I made the mistake of leaving pockets off a lot of my stuff at the beginning of the year but it doesn’t take much to open up the side seams and add some…I’m slowly working through everything and making sure they have pockets, because they’re preeeeccciooous (did you see what I did there?) ;) I wish you an indian summer so you can get some wear out of this before next year.
Thanks Tempest, I am working on another skirt just now (when I say working of course I mean pinning stuff on pinterest and thinking about it – not actually doing anything!). Really? Adding pockets? Good for you, I do love a nice pocket I’m just usually looking for the shortcut….
Self drafted- I’m impressed! And you were right to add the pockets and piping, they look great.
Thanks Taracat, I am secretly quite pleased with them!
Aw, thanks for the mention Charlotte and I’m so impressed! Have never attempted what you’ve done … I bought a book about it but it’s still on the shelf … perhaps I’ll have to delve into it (I just like looking at it at the moment!). I remember that fabric too and I’m glad you’ve made something you like from what you found that day.
Thanks right back at you Diane. The skirt block is the easiest of course, I have bought the book my sewing teacher has from ebay, I managed to get a copy for less than a fiver. It’s not a new book but apparently it is very well respected as is Winifred Aldrich. I think I’ll try out some more skirts before I get giddy and try a top, tee hee. Which book have you got?
Brilliant!and it’s self drafted YES! well done indeedy.
A very flattering fit and great that you drafted yourself, how cool.
It’s fun to experiment and learn new things! Looks like you’ve made a perfectly fitted skirt and also the nice addition of trimmed pockets. Nice work, keep it up!