This post may contain affiliate links. Read my Disclosure Policy to learn more.

The Hollyburn Skirt has been tempting me and teasing me for ages now. I decided to bite the bullet and bought it during last year’s Black Friday sales when there were all those fabulous discounts! Yes I did not excersize restraint and I bought LOADS of sewing patterns 😉 But a seamstress never buys and tells!

In keeping with my sewing goals I  absolutely made a muslin first to check fit and whether the style suited me.  Basically I followed my own steps and voila!

Yep making a muslin helps! It took about 4 hours to make the muslin. By the time I came to sewing the denim it was a breeze. What was interesting was that since I sewed up immediately after the muslin I whizzed through the steps – they were still fresh in my mind.

The denim was originally purchased to make the Jalie 2908 jeans for The Monthly Stitch’s Denim Never Dies Challenge  but it became clear very quickly that I did not have the time to make jeans this time around. ( I did trace and cut the patterns for the jeans so at least some progress has been made towards those.)

I am so proud of myself for:

– not beginning the project until ALL the materials and notions were gathered,

– making a muslin,

– checking the thread tension,

– testing lightweight and medium weight interfacing on the swatch to see which was more suitable,

– testing the topstitching settings for the denim so it wouldn’t be wavy,

– doing a trial zipper insertion on denim to check if it needed a reinforced seam.

In taking all these steps beforehand, by the time it came to sewing it up it was such a pleasure and there were no bottle necks. Normally I loose momentum on a project when I reach a bottleneck , like realising the interfacing weight is not appropriate and I have to wait till i have bought more, or the thread doesn’t match, or the buttons etc. So I kept up the momentum through out. That was quite a revelation for me!

More details construction.

I cut a straight size 8. The pattern sizing was pretty spot on. In terms of instructions – they were great, allowing me to have a very neat finish on my interior.

The only change I made was to cut along the foldline of the pocket and added seam allowances so I could use a different fabric for my pocket lining.

For the hem I staystitched along the bottom edge, turned it under and pressed so the staystitching was just on the inside. I then folded the raw edge under and stitched. So my hem is visible.

The invisible zip went in in one go – without a fuss unlike when I was making the muslin! I did some handstitching around the zip but its not the neatest. Something I will need to work on.

Now for some gratuitous photos..

Obligatory twirl shot!

It works well with a short jacket.

SewaholiC Hollyburn Skirt

So chuffed with how neat my insides look!

Invisible zip and topstitching like a BOSS!

A spot of handstitching.

The fit is flattering and I like the length. I have been wearing this to work dressed up with a shirt and at home with a T shirt. Versatile style that fits well into my wardrobe.

I can see why a lot of people have made this skirt and why its quite popular.

Until next time when I will blog my belated January Burda Challenge make – another skirt!

Thanks for stopping by.

Links

Sewaholic Hollyburn Sewing Pattern