The Birds aka Another self drafted skirt….

| Hila

Hi everyone!

Its nearly the end of August eek! Must get on with finishing my summer projects – my head cannot stay buried in the sand forever. I will have to say “Good bye summer I hardly got to know you this year“.

Anyhow, allow me to present another self drafted skirt. This one is a taffeta lined, high waist A line skirt with pockets. It’s nearly the same as this one I made in Feb however it has a waistband instead of a facing. Drafting it took about 45 mins because I faffed around with whether I was going to keep the front waist darts or not. This was important because of the pockets. The positioning of the pockets is in the dart area. In the end I just kept the darts because I wanted a fitted look. I lengthened the skirt by about 6 inches to hit my knees. The pockets were split into 2 pattern pieces – one of the pocket bag lining and one for the visible part of the skirt. I did this to reduce bulk as my fabric was a cotton canvas. A Cath Kidston cotton canvas…

Say WAHHHHHHH!!!! Yes I bought 1m of Cath Kidston ‘Birds’ fabric. For months I had been looking for something to make for the Monthly Stitch Put a bird on it Challenge (I had voted Foxes and have plenty of foxy fabric in the stash but no birds). Took a while of searching but I finally found this birds fabric as something I could get down with. Unsurprisingly I first saw it on InstaGram (Thanks IG…for a free app you are turning out to be quite expensive!)

The fabric came in this lovely spotty packaging (which I still have). It was so exciting! – the thrill of receiving a fabric package. Waiting till I had enough time to savour opening it (little people having naps ;-).  My next issue was the lining. I went shopping specifically for lining and found this red taffeta and I knew it was prefect.

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Happy mail day!
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Thought of making a sarong..lol
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Playing around with outfit ideas
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seriously just love this fabric.

All things assembled cutting was next. Took longer than normal because I had to get the optimal pattern placement. I did not want decapitated bird heads. So everything was cut single layers. Because cotton canvas frays it had to be overlocked straight away. I also overlocked all the lining pieces as well since I was at it.

Sewing it was quick work. I use an 80 sewing needle which made a nice difference to the stitch quality. For the waistband there were a few options for me and I tried the fold a band which was a first for me. It creates a crisp sharp waistband without a lot of work. I also did a button waistband for the first time and used a hook and bar.

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Reminds me of Cinderella the Disney original animated movie
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I think it called waistband tape..picked it up at car booty. Its make quick work of the waist band.
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Crisp fold.

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To maximise length I went for  a bias hem and it looks so neat on the insides. Its a very nice skirt – I feel very To the Manor Born in this. Love it very much, all that’s missing is a wide brim sunhat and Daiquiri with me swanning around saying “Dahlin…”.August blog photoshoot1 498Cath Kidston birds fabric skirt
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Overall I am very pleased with this skirt …Despite the invisible zip not being quite invisible (DONE is better than PERFECT)– I enjoyed taking my time over the new techniques and getting a neat finish. Plus, the fabric is lovely, it has pockets and I think that the shape of this lends itself well to a few more skirts in different fabrics/colours that could become easy wardrobe staples.

In all honesty, I’m immensely proud of how far my sewing and dressmaking skills have come. To think just over a year ago I was tentatively dipping my toes into sewing, now I am designing, drafting and creating my own clothes!

Anyhow, you know the drill guys, til next time…
Hila

xox

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52 thoughts on “The Birds aka Another self drafted skirt….”

    1. Thank Carmen! I bought Suzy Furrer’s Patternmaking Basics: the Skirt Sloper during Black Friday sales last year. I actually watched the class in Jan this year and started drafting. I have since bought the other classes she offers. I highly reccommend this class. Its excellent.

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      1. When I saw your skirt, I found the fabric amazing. No wonder when I see the brand… Well done ! Your skirt is really nice, with a perfect finish. You could enter the sewing bee competition with your skills !

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  6. Another great fitting garment in a beautiful fabric! It’s great that you’re still extending your sewing skills by trying new things. I cannot believe you’ve been sewing just over a year!

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  13. Ha! I have the overnight bag in the same fabric!
    Love it. And really like the flash of red of your invisible zip. My zips have been a little too invisible recently, in that I’ve tried to make them so invisible the zip gets caught up in the fabric. So I’m all in favor of not quite invisible.

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    1. I am a sucker for interior canvas fabric. Good point on the zipper. I did that with my barkcloth Hollyburn skirt and have since had to replace zipper. Its time I learnt lapped zips.

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  16. Well done indeed! You really put a bird on it and very well! Thanks you for sharing a bit of your process! I am new at sewing and this helps a lot! Anyway…zipper lining fabric…and shirt…are good match!

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    1. Thank you! I bought a Craftsy class called Pattermaking Basics – The Skirt Sloper by Suzy Furrer. Its an excellent class and thoroughly worth every single penny and more. Cant reccommend it enough.

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  18. Lovely, beautiful fabric! I too went looking for a bird-print when that challenge was published, and in the end designed a fabric myself over at Spoonflower. Naturally I was waaaaaaaaaaaaay too late to post anything at The monthly stitch by then, so I never made anything out of it. Seeing this I kind of regret that 🙂 I also like how you combined the pockets and the front darts, and the whole skirt fits you perfectly!

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  24. You have done well Hila, and all the more amazing as you have so much going on in your life. This skirt looks so cute. I also liked the sarong with the red cardigan and striped T shirt. A great look.

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