Made by Me: Cherry Surprise Skirt

As I mentioned last week, I was hoping to make myself a skirt over the weekend – specifically the tulip skirt (view B) from Simplicity 2263.

And as the weather was so atrocious I had plenty of time inside sheltering from the rain to achieve my aim!

I was inspired to make this skirt after seeing ScruffyBadgers gorgeous teal linen skirt, and knew I had this pattern in my stash that was very similar.  Sadly my pattern didn’t have pockets, so I took the plunge and added some, using this excellent tutorial from Casey of Elegant Musings.

The skirt itself is stretch denim.  It was wide, 165cm I think, and I ended up using less than a metre.   I made the pocket linings and waistband lining from navy cherry print cotton, partly to reduce the bulk of several layers of denim, and partly because I thought it was cute (and partly because I loved Scruffy Badger's polka dot pockets!). 

As I was adding pockets, I was also concerned about extra layers of fabric whilst inserting the side zip, so I moved the zip to the centre back seam.  I used an invisible zip, and followed the instructions in the Colette Sewing Handbook for inserting it and finishing it along with the insertion of the waistband facing.  It worked perfectly and gives a great finish.  My zip isn’t completely invisible (I think I need an invisible zip foot for my machine) but it looks pretty good.

For another touch of fun/cuteness I finished the hem with some bright red floral lace. 

I can definitely see more of these skirts in my sewing future.  I got the fit spot on, and it’s a great shape for me. 

Here it is paired with the top I made last week - view A of the same pattern.

 

On the knitting front, I've almost finished my orange Pebble cardigan, just the ends to sew in and buttons to sew on (once I've decided which ones to use!) so hopefully I'll have that to share later this week...