FINISHED! Gathered spring skirt with a splash of fluro

This year really is the year of the skirts.. and here is another one!

When I went to Addicted to Fabric the other day (and came out with the fabric for my Tokyo jacket and O'Keefe skirt) I originally went in there to buy this fabric. At the time I didn't end up buying it as it is a very light weight voile (not what I had remembered) and of course I got distracted with the other fabric.  But it stayed in my mind until finally I decided last week that I had to buy it. Just in time too as I bought the last 1.5 m.

Due to it's lightweight nature, I thought a simple gathered skirt might work well and now that I have my Cami dress I am feeling slightly more comfortable with the silhouette. Anyway, forget how it looks, they just are fun to wear.

It is a pretty basic skirt. It has side seam pockets and is lined in a very cool aqua voile - I should have taken a picture of it.

I made up the pattern with major reference to Gertie's tutorial (and I used my Cami pockets). I used this Colette tutorial for attaching the waistband (I prefer the zipper to go up through the waistband rather than having a fold over waistband (if that makes sense)).  I thought about making the Zinnia which I have bought, but didn't think I'd have enough fabric for the way the pattern pieces are cut and I'll admit that I was just looking for a quick and easy make and didn't feel like printing out the pattern and taping it together. I am supposed to be doing fete sewing - not selfish sewing!

In general it is a nicely put together make and I surprised myself by hand sewing the waist band and the hem. There was no way I could match thread with this fabric for the hem.  The only thing I'm a bit disappointed about is the inside of the invisible zipper.  With my Charlotte skirt I handsewed the lining onto the zipper but for some reason I followed incorrectly the instructions for the Zinnia and thought I could sew the lining and the outer fabric together.  I shouldn't have been mixing and matching my instructions! By the time I realised the mistake my lining was already beautifully sewn into my waistband and I wasn't sure how to back out of the situation I found myself in.  I didn't take a photo of the innards.  It doesn't look bad - I did tidy up in there but it could be a bit nicer.  Is there a way of sewing the lining onto an invisible zipper?

Apart from that I made a lot of ''I'm thinking about too many things and I should be doing them rather than this skirt - but I really want to make this now'' errors, so the unpicker got a workout. It is always the way when I think it's going to be a quick and easy make!  But all's well that ends well and I have a fun spring skirt to wear.

What I really want is a stripy tee to wear with it. But out of the 8 stripy tops I own - none of them quite worked - can you believe it! The 8 tops? Or that none of them were exactly right? Both probably. I also popped by the shops this afternoon running other errands and to the moans of my boys who I dragged along with me - couldn't find the right top there either. I guess I'll just have to make one!
OK, no more selfish sewing. Got to get onto sewing for two fetes (first one this saturday if you are in Canberra), organising a 5 year old birthday party and getting ready for a Halloween morning tea.