A new skirt

I have really enjoyed the recent TV series "The Great British Sewing Bee". It made me remember how I am not very good at dressmaking. I usually get in a flap over patterns followed up by a phone call to my Mum to help decipher the instructions. (All this from someone who studied Costume Production  at college - oops!).

I made myself a skirt last year from a kit I bought at a big craft fair at the NEC. It was a bustle skirt kit from Clothkits and I fell in love with this fabric with the viewmaster reels on - It's so lush (as we say round here!). It was also on special offer for the fair (Clothkits are quite pricey). This fabric is a cotton linen fabric so it has a really nice weight to it.

I followed the instructions and made myself a bustle skirt which got lots of lovely comments when I wore it to a party, but I didn't find it particularly comfortable (probably due to my own dressmaking skills rather than the design). The bustle skirt is made from sewing two straight rectangles together so it was easy to unpick and be left with two large pieces of fabric. 

I found a great pattern for a reversible A-line skirt in the March issue of Sewing World , which is the one with my fabric eggs on the front cover. I had just enough fabric to cut out the pattern for the skirt. It was supposed to be reversible but I used a white polycotton as the lining instead so I had enough fabric to complete the under skirt layer too. 

This skirt is much more practical to wear and, as I am getting a bit fed up with jeans, I think it could get a lot of use this summer - and later in winter with tights and boots. It fact I like this so much I have already bought some more fabric for my next skirt. You can see a sneak preview of the fabric here - it's quite quirky!