Wooly and Wearable

September was rubbish in the sense that, although I actually got a few garments sewn (black sailor trousers, black stretch T-shirt top, black Port Elizabeth top, black Simplicity 3835 top AND denim sailor trousers), I was forced to unveil them on this blog as part of the mash-up of SSS documentation posts. This was due to having little time and no internets at home for the duration of that month. However, all is now well. I have a new self-stitched garment plus a little time and a lots of internets, so normal show and tell may commence.


Today's offering is an incredible simple A-line skirt last I finished last night. It's made using a small length of wool blend that's been in my stash for, ummm, about a squillion years that I 'appropriated' from the sample pile of a clothing company I used to work for. The fabric has all the appearance of wool but so much synthetic content that washing and ironning it are no problem. I've been biding my time using it up but now I have a job that requires me to wear black and what with winter on it's way, now seemed good time to deploy it.

The pattern used was a self drafted A-line that earlier this year I spent some time improving to fulfill my personal requirements (better darting to accommodate my round bum, longer length, waistline sittin on the upper hip). Although I did those alterations way back when I lived in bcn (oooh, whole months ago!), I hadn't got round to actually using the pattern, but I'm pretty pleased with the improved fit in this skirt.


Because making a basic A-line skirt isn't a massive challenge for me these days, I used this project as an opportunity to try something new and used this method of lining compared to my usual method. For those who can't be bothered to read the whole article right now, I'll explain that it's a method that treats the lining and facing as one. In fact, I took it a step further and omitted the facing altogether and tried an option the article gave which involved cutting the facing pieces from fusible interfacing and fusing them to the top of the wrong side of the lining to give more support. This avoided any itchy wool facing close to the skin or having to buy a scrap if alternative fabric just for the frikkin' facing as I didn't have anything suitable knocking around.

To make the skirt even vaguely interesting, I added a pair big patch pockets. I managed to find a pair of big shiny buttons in my huge collection of predominantly odd buttons and applied them which actually makes the pockets non-functioning. If I had left them as functioning pockets, I would have subconsciously spent too much time wandering round with my hands shoved in them which would pull at the skirt and eventually ruin its generally clean finish.


This skirt may be one of the more boring items you'll see knocking around blogland at the moment, but I don't care. I'm currently trying to create well fitting, useful and functional pieces that will get a lot of wear. And let's also not forget that, as previously mentioned, I didn't pay for the fabric. The zip, thread, fusing and buttons were also from my stash and the lining was a small piece of poly/cotton I recently picked up from a charity shop for about 50p. Subsequently, this skirt weighs in a total cost of very little, aside from my time that I probably would have wasted watching ANTM or playing Hearts anyway, so I've come away with a handmade garment that argueably actually worked out cheaper than buying the equivalent from a shop. A rare feat these days! Happy stitching (if applicable).