A silver skirt

In my last post about the Burdastyle miniskirt I mentioned that the pattern is actually for a metallic imitation leather skirt. Spotting a roll of silver stuff in Spotlight recently, I thought I'd try version 3 of this pattern with the fabric it was intended for. And I'm rather pleased with the result.
Sewing this skirt was not the most pleasant experience, due to the tendency of the fabric to stick under the presser foot and the necessity to avoid using pins (which make holes that remain visible after sewing). Sewing with the wrong side up helped the fabric to move under the foot smoothly, but I found that wonder clips left indentations on the fabric and washi tape was less than ideal for holding things together. Still, I muddled my way through and managed to assemble the various pieces, even doing a bit of double-stitching on the front pockets and hem.

I modified the pattern in the same way I had done for version 1: I sewed buttonholes at the sides of the inside waistand, then threaded buttonhole elastic through the back part of the skirt for a better fit. The fabric is surprisingly soft and comfy on the inside due to cotton backing, and the fit is really quite nice. R's eyes widened with excitement when she saw the silver skirt, and she insisted on wearing it into town today. I thought she had quite a 60s vibe in her mini and black top and leggings!

Sadly, modelling was cut short when R realised she'd left her new water bottle at the Japanese place where we'd had lunch, meaning we had to hike across town to get it. After that, things went downhill rapidly - her feet were sore, she was tired, she didn't want to be photographed etc etc. Still, the skirt is a huge success and I know she'll wear it often!

Burda + Ottobre + A Sunny Spot = a new outfit

Three garments, made in bits and pieces over the past few weeks:

1. Ottobre (Autumn 4/2010) 'Montparnasse' hooded jacket
2. Burda miniskirt revisited, and
3. A Sunny Spot's 'Ribbon tie tunic'.

First, the jacket. Luckily for me, I noticed a tutorial for the jacket on the Ottobre blog - what a find! This made it super easy to sew, even though I mixed up elements from the two different jacket styles (I made the longer jacket with the gathered pockets and hood elastic of the shorter version) and ended up with a zip that was slightly too short (totally deliberate, naturally). The fabric is a midweight cotton French terry that I picked up at an op shop a while back, and the hood lining is a scrap from another op shop fabric, so all I had to buy was the too-short zip and a new double needle as my old one had disappeared. Love the fit of this jacket on R and will happily use this pattern again.

Next, the skirt. A while back I made a denim mini for R using the same pattern, which is actually called 'Girl's metallic skirt' and is intended to be made in metallic faux leather. I loved the skirt but R wouldn't wear it because the zip and waistband fastening were scratchy - it needed a fly guard. So I remade the whole thing in a denim that R chose, adjusting the waistband so I wouldn't have to elasticise it like I did last time and - of course - adding an improvised fly guard. Although R is really happy with the new skirt, I don't like it as much as the old one. The denim isn't as nice a colour, the less A-line shape doesn't look as good and the waistband is still too big. Clearly I will have to have a third go at this one!

The top is a simple little pattern from A Sunny Spot - you can see my previous version here. I made this one the same way, lengthening the sleeves and omitting the hem facing. Although it is not what I would call tunic length, the 'tunic' cut gives it a nice flare at the bottom. For this one I used cotton jersey bought on clearance at Spotlight, so it was another cheapie.

Yesterday was freezing and windy (and today is even worse!) so I had to photograph quickly, but I predict the hoodie in particular is going to get a lot of wear.