Finally Finished Skirt - New Look 6056

It's finally done, and to be fair, it is an easy pattern that took me far longer to do than it should.

The skirt is a circle skirt, made from two panels cut on the bias and sewn together, with a waistband and zip.  There are no real complex steps to this, however the sheer volume of fabric can be daunting.

My biggest issue was with the lining I decided to add.  The fabric, a lovely blue satin lining fabric from Pennine Fabrics (£1 per meter!) was a bit of a nightmare to work with, being very slippy. The hem that I did is dreadful, but I can live with it for a first real project.

For the skirt, I opted to follow this tutorial from Colletterie, which worked brilliantly and I have a lovely even hem.

I forgot to take a photo of the skirt close up, and will add one when I remember, but I chose to wear it to go to the Graduate Show for the Art School in Aberdeen, where a few of my friends were showing their work.  A few drinks may have been provided, and I found myself having great fun spinning around in my new skirt...

The skirt cost me around £25 to make once all postage is taken into consideration.  The main material was £2.50 a meter from Greens of Blackburn, who unfortunately appear to have stopped trading online.  As I said before, the lining was a steal at £1 per meter, and I really can't rate Pennine Fabrics highly enough.  I needed 200m of Gutermann thread and one zipper.

I got lots of compliments about the skirt, which felt great, there really is something about being able to say that you made it when asked what shop it is from.  What have you made that gets the most comments?

So, next project is a top to go with the skirt, I have some issues with the pattern, so I'll be addressing them as I go along.

Easter Weekend Sewing Marathon

I am all alone over the Easter weekend, as hubby is taking the dog down to see his family, and I have a course on the Saturday so can't join them.

To keep me from feeling too sorry for myself, or from munching my way through all the Easter eggs, I have planned a marathon sewing weekend, and will attmpt to finish three skirts...am I mad!!!

The first one is already almost done, and is my curtain lining Burda skirt.  My zip arrived from Plush Addict so I can get that inserted and pin up my hem.  I plan to just do a basic turned up hem with a straight stitch, so should be easy enough.  Plan is to finish this on Friday morning.

Skirt 2 is New Look 6056

This looks like a super easy pattern, the biggest challenge will be the tracing and cutting out as the pieces are huge! You need 4.7m of fabric for this one, so I got 5m of this lovely polycotton from Greens Fabric and it was only £2.50 a meter! It is a bit thin, so I have also got 5m of a blue lining fabric from Pennine Fabrics who are a dream to deal with, happy to help and will offer suggestions or alternatives to help you out.

I am hoping to do most of this on Friday afternoon, so that I can take it to my friends' house on Saturday night for a bit of help pinning up the hem.  By Sunday, I should have my new blind hemming foot, so planning to try that with this one.

My final skirt was one I found on a blog post, and thought it looks so easy I had to try it. One Simple Bliss gives really clear instructions and lots of photos to help, so I bought an increadibly fun jersey print to make it with, and a 50mm elastic for the waistband.  The material was £5.99 for a meter, so more than I normally spend, but I only needed a meter so felt I could justify it.

So, am I crazy or is this possible?