My Fun Skirt

Pattern from Sew Serendipity by Kate Wyatt

It was a beautiful morning yesterday. I have a little tree in my front garden, and the blossom on it looked so stunning against the blue sky that I couldn't resist taking a picture or two with the intention of including it in this post.

This one little act was clearly the kiss of death. The weather gods have noticed, and even overheard my optimistic murmurings about spring being on its way, and punished us all with torrential rain and grey skies. Local readers, for this, I am truly sorry. If it makes up for it, I am sporting the drowned rat look with spectacularly bedraggled looking fringe and rain all over spectacles.

Ready for the obligatory awkward looking self timer picture?

This skirt has taken me about three times longer to make than it should have done. And it took me back to being fourteen, when, my poor mother made me a dress for a very special occasion. Back then, no amount of persuading would convince me that the right side of the satiny fabric I had chosen was in fact the right side, and, it being the right side, the side that the finished garment would look best showing. My mum finished the entire thing, only for me to look at her and tell her I would rather she had made it on the shiny side after all. It was (like this skirt) made up of panels. How she did not murder me on the spot I will never know. As I remember it, she smiled (no doubt through gritted teeth) and said, `Okay', before unpicking the whole lot and making it the way she had tried to tell me it should have been in the first place.

The story of this skirt, and why it needed to be unpicked and made again, was that I finished it (all bar the ruffle at the bottom) and decided I didn't like one of the fabrics I had chosen for two of the four side panels.

Only once I could see the skirt looking wrong did I get a sudden clarity over how it would look right.

Much, much, much unpicking was needed. An entire evening of it. Because, I had well and truly finished off every raw edge in sight with that super over locker of mine. And while I was about it, I unpicked and re did the zip, too. This time, having bought a dark zip that matched the purple fabric, instead of the pale pink one I tried to convince myself wouldn't show. Silly girl.

The fabrics I used were all from Fabric Rehab, and were as follows:

Foxtrot Purple and Urbanista Glasses, both by Michael Miller, and, Vintage Rulers (not sure of the designer), Bella Solids in Eggplant and Dove.

I made the pocket detailing with some applique - the template came from Mollie Makes, so I didn't even need to come up with one myself.

And now, well, I do rather like my skirt. It is completely unique (there are probably not many skirts for grown ups with squirrels and foxes on the front), it has fabrics in it that I love and make me smile. I feel good wearing it. All that unpicking was worth it.