Charlotte Wiggle Skirt

First of all, I just have to say, I LUURRRVVEE this skirt!!!!!!!!!

As I mentioned previously I picked up the pattern in the Anthropologie sale along with the Anna dress pattern. I hadn't planned to make it just now but after an invite to a flat party and a tidy up of some of the fabric I bought when I first jumped on the sewing band wagon I realised it just had to be done. After a lot of measuring I traced out my chosen size after work on Friday by Saturday lunch I had my new skirt party ready.

Although the pattern envelope says that fabric with slight stretch are most suitable for this skirt I decided to completely ignore that and throw all caution to the wind. Instead, I decided to use this totally random fabric that I picked up in the St Coloumbus Hospice charity shop on Leith Walk in Edinburgh at the beginning of last year. The selvages read Vantona furnishing so it is clearly of an interior/curtain weight. This made choosing which size a bit tricky and because it is designed for slightly stretchy fabric there were no finished measurements to use as a guide. Never the less I powered on. 

When I bought the fabric I knew I wanted to use it for a skirt that would show off the print really well. However, at that time the only pattern I had was the Megan Nielsen Kelly Skirt and I didn't think the buttons down the front would be a very good idea. The other problem was that I only had 1.2m x 1.3m so there wasn't much to play with. After looking at the layout pattern for Charlotte I realised that with out the peplum you really don't need half as much as the 2.5m of fabric recommended. Instead I just did some creating folding by putting the selvages together in the centre so I had two folds rather than one. Fortunately, this worked however if I had chunkier thighs it might have been a bit of a push to get the pattern pieces to fit.

 

After finally managing to get my skirt panels squeezed out of my fabric the acctually construction was a breeze. to be honest I didn't look at the instruction much but I did use the sewalong posts in the By Hand London website to make sure I was heading in the correct direction particularly with the waist band. I also used their post for putting a slit in the back to help make the skirt a little more user (aka me) friendly. I wanted the skirt to have the wiggle factor but I also wanted to wear it without the need to waddle like a penguin. The slit was definitely essential in this! 

I measured the pattern I lot when I was deciding which size to go for however, I was still a bit surprised when it fit so well on the first attempt. I never have much faith in myself choosing the correct size to I tend to make everything with the expectation that it wont fit. That way I have either already come to terms with the fact that it is a disaster or I am very pleasantly surprised. Pretty sad I know I hope I will be more confident in my abilities as time goes on. Anyway, I made two little changes after trying it on. First, I took the side seams out by about 3/8 inch at my most curvy point, I think my curves hit just a little lower than the pattern but no big deal. I also lengthen the two central darts at the front by about 1.5 inch each. The engineer in me was saying that this would just reverse the work on the side seams but I knew it had to be done. I was right and it looked great afterwards. I have marked up my pattern pieces so I can replicate them next time. Although, if I use a stretch fabric I might not need to make the same alterations, so I might trace the pattern again if using a stretch.

Check out that invisible zip. I think this is the best one I have done so far. I have put a couple in before using a different technique but after reading Lauren's (Lladybird) post on how to install a concealed zip I though I would try her method for this project. It worked a treat and went in perfect first time. On a side note, I really need to get an invisible zip foot for my new machine as I was forced to use my old machine after realising that my foot doesn't fit the new one. Why do they never give you that foot?? Anyway, it did create a funny moment when I had to explain to my man why I needed two sewing machines to make a skirt!

The waistband also went on really easy and I like the neat finish that you get with the waistband covering the top of the zipper. I added two press studs to hold the tab in place. I decided to finish all of the seams in my skirt with the faux overlock stitch on my new machine. It gave it a lovely professional looking finish but it is a really slow stitch. Even with my foot on the floor it still required an annoying amount of patience. 

I am definitely making more of these. In fact I was in Mandors with my half finished skirt to pick up a zip when I found some lovely black/grey denim in the scraps bin. The ticket said that the piece is 80cm x 170cm so I'm hoping that if I make it above the knee length and keep everything else the same as before I should have just enough material for a lovely casual but saucy skirt. I would also love to try one of the peplum versions some time soon too.

PS: The flat party was great and someone even asked where did I buy my skirt from? Yippee, made my night :-)