Skirting the Issue

I've been wearing pants for so long that I've almost forgotten about skirts. When I found Butterick No 3672 at the charity shop it reminded of how attractive a plain straight skirt showing an inch or two of knee can be. I think I've avoided skirts because I can't wear high heels these days. Fashion now decrees that high heels are not a prerequisite for the wearing of a skirt. Hooray. Looking back to the ’50s, Audrey Hepburn always looked fab in flats and a skirt. Well, let's face it, she looked amazing in anything.

Rummaging through the fabric pile I came across the material I bought back in August, featured in FabricFind of the Week. I planned to make summer pants to go with the BluePeter Shirt as the fabric is an exact match for the mulberry coloured buttons. But why not a skirt? In fact there's enough fabric in the piece for both skirt and pants. A good buy for $6.

You know the gods are smiling on you when a pattern needs no alteration: cut it out, sew it up. Well that's not quite true, I did have to shorten it by an inch or two.

I should have followed the 'shorten here' directions, but I didn't know until I sewed it up how long or short I wanted it to be. The result was that the kick pleat at the back (actually just a split on the pattern, but I prefer a pleat) became shorter than it should be. I originally had the stitching to hold the pleat in place on a nice 45 degree angle but had to resort to this straight 90 degree when the hemline went north.

Looking at this photo I'm not too worried about that pleat. It's probably one of those faults you only notice yourself.

I had some pink satin that seemed perfect for the lining. The pattern didn't provide for one but I think it makes a big difference to the wearability of a skirt. It's a loose lining, just hand-stitched at the waist.

I made the skirt with this shirt in mind, but a plain colour goes with lots of things so I flipped through the wardrobe for take two.

I have a very comfortable and versatile black top that I bought on line from the Shortlist Shop, a small business supporting Indonesian women artisans. 

My scarf featured in this post also works well with this combo.

Because this pattern is such a good fit I'm encouraged to give the slacks a go too, but that will not be until AFTER Christmas.