As soon as Sew Magasine, issue 86, landed in my post box (well more like – behind my front door floor) and seeing the little blue skirt on the cover, I told myself ‘I am making this!’, even though it means a gathered skirt at the waist. If you also fancy making it you can  download the pattern here and get the instructions from the magazine.

I tend to avoid this type of skirts because they add buck around my tummy making it look huge. Not usually the look I am after.

For this skirt, I cut the medium size. I tried to figure out what is the sizing on the top from the same issue by the same designer, Amanda Walker, but I could not find it on the magasine website or elsewhere, so I think I won’t make it any time soon. It is a shame they don’t have this information with the pattern or the instructions. It just puts people off. At least that’s what happened with me. 

Any way, for the skirt I used what was left over from the fabric I made the drindl  (blogged about here) and a Love Sewing skirt I made before. And for the lining again some left overs. Both fabrics (corduroy and some satin) were bought from Abakhan.

Knowing that I usually need to add some length between the waist and the hips, I added about 1.3 cm then shortened it by 5cm below the hip line.

Again, I did not really follow the instructions , I only just skimmed them before starting to construct the skirt to make sure there isn’t  anything that needs to  be done in a certain order. I made the pocket first. After that, I inserted invisible zip at the centre back seam and constructed the skirt vent. Then I added the pockets, and over-locked the front and the back except for the top seam that is enclosed within the waistband, I then attached the back to the front  and gathered the whole lot after giving myself some markers for the centre front, so the gathers are even. I also managed to find some gold buttons in my buttons’ jar. However, I did make a little mistake, I added the lining fabric the wrong side to right side but it was too late to change it, so now that is a design feature. Ha Ha, I so love making my own clothes! I can always hide some of my mistakes because they become ‘design features’. I think the actual skirt fits very well. Although it does add a bit of bulk around the tummy, it is not massive, and I’ll be happy to wear it. I might even make another one, but I think I’ll make the pockets and/or pocket flap in contrasting fabric to show off that bit as it gets a little lost when made in same fabric as the rest of the skirt. Another idea is using plain fabric and use contrast thread and top-stitch the pocket flaps as well as the hem. In these photos I am also wearing my Anderson blouse by Sew Over It that I blogged about here.