Final sewing project of 2011

I know some of you were expecting this to be a dress (Sorry Fofo!) but the Butterick dress I was working on simply got the better of me before Christmas, I was tired, frustrated with it and in danger of losing my sewing mojo. When I found a piece of turquoise wool in the charity shop, I decided to whip up a quick skirt using a pattern I had already fitted.

I have sewn Burda's Jenny skirt before in a grey doubleknit and loved the fit and the style. The front and back darts make it easy to fit. I had previously halved the depth of the waistband as I found the original pattern too high-waisted for my liking.

My charity shop fabric was a pretty small piece - less than 1 metre in length in fact. So an above-the-knee pencil skirt was pretty much all I could squeeze out of it! This is a label that came with the fabric. I love how it shows a maxi skirt and a pinafore as sewing options! Perhaps for a child! I had such a tight cutting layout I had to cut the inside of the waistband from a different fabric!

Since I had nothing to lose with such cheap fabric, I machine washed and steam shrunk the wool (with no negative consequences) and altered the skirt pieces to a more A-line shape. The A-line thing didn't work (it just looked shapeless) so I quickly cut the pieces back down to the original Jenny skirt pattern.

If I had planned from the start to make a pencil skirt, I would have added a vent for walking ease, rather than the slit you can just make out in this back view. A vent looks so much sleeker, I think.








I used some Amy Butler cotton for the inside waistband. I used basic poly lining and lace along the hemline. For me, one of the fun parts about making your own clothes is adding little hidden finishing touches. The only thing I had to purchase (n addition to my £2.99 piece of fabric) was a zipper as I had everything else in the stash.

The turquoise fabric is bright -much brighter than the photos suggest. I started referring to it as my Pan Am skirt as it kept reminding me of the cute uniforms the stewardesses wear on the show. I have been "pinning" lots of fashion shots online showing turquoise with black and white, and with brown and blue so I'm sure I have things in my wardrobe which will work with it.

Giving up on my Butterick 4443 dress was actually the best thing I could have done. Without a dress to wear for Christmas I went shopping, trying on a number of RTW dresses which I hardly ever do these days. I tried one on in Oasis (which I now can't find online) I loved it but it only took me a split second to realise it was so similar to the Butterick dress with a better skirt silhouette and that is something I could easily adapt in my pattern. I'm going to go back to my dress now and try it with a shorter half-circle skirt. I will also underline the skirt for extra body.

So that pretty much sums up my sewing for 2011 and leads nicely into my first project for 2012. I'll be updating the "Completed projects" tab when I get chance but I already know there was more knitting than sewing last year. In 2012 I hope to re-discover a little balance but more importantly to continue to learn new things and to enjoy it!