Woohoo, my first sewn item of 2015! A flirty Anna Maria Horner Study Hall skirt. I'm surprised that there doesn't appear to be many versions online as I think it's a fantastic little pattern.
Do you ever have days when your face just will not co-operate? I was suffering from a bad case of chronic bitch face whilst photographing this skirt. No matter how pleasant an expression I thought I was pulling, I looked pissed off in every single photograph.
I was going for casually gazing out the window.... instead I look like I'm quietly plotting someone's death.
And I look utterly disgusted in this one. "What the hell is this? You call this a cup of tea?!"
Perhaps I'm angry because my skirt is slightly squint in these photograps. *face palm* I'm clearly incapable of dressing myself properly. The number of times I've discovered that my skirts have swivelled half way round my body is ridiculous.
But wooh for my fairly well matched centre back seam! And you can finally see the lovely colour of my tights in these photographs.
Now down to the details. I cut out a size SM and....
- lengthened the skirt panels by 1 inch as I'm tall-ish
- removed the hem border as it seemed unnecessary when I wasn't using a contrasting fabric.
- finished the hem with bias binding so I could keep as much skirt length as possible.
- reduced the side seams to 1/2inch as I prefer my skirts to sit at the top of my hip bone rather than my waist. In retrospect I probably could have left them at 5/8 inch but meh, it's comfy.
- added a skirt lining to prevent sticking-to-tights syndrome. As the skirt doesn't have a waistband I attached the lining, tucking it in a few places, to the skirt facings (which I also interfaced) and then "stitched in the ditch" at the top of the side seams to hold down in place. I doubt that's a professional method but it worked for me.
- swapped the invisible zip for a regular one. Partly because I couldn't a find an invisible zip the correct colour or length, mostly because I prefer regular zips.
- finished the side seams of my lining with french seams. It made me feel fancy.
Tidy insides make me feel happy. I also love the contrast of bright pink lining. It's a fun surprise.
Would you believe I was originally 3-4 inches short of having enough pink bias binding to finish the hem? I had enough green but in my mind it *needed* to be pink so I had to wait a couple of days until I was next in town to buy the correct amount. Frustrating, but worth the wait.
After my (still ongoing) struggles of fitting dress bodices it felt amazing to have a skirt fit with minimum fuss - no tilting seams, weird wrinkles or pulling areas. Only having my hip curve to contend with makes things so much easier. Hurray for having a relatively pancake flat ass!
After my (still ongoing) struggles of fitting dress bodices it felt amazing to have a skirt fit with minimum fuss - no tilting seams, weird wrinkles or pulling areas. Only having my hip curve to contend with makes things so much easier. Hurray for having a relatively pancake flat ass!
Bonus points to those of you who immediately started singing The Kinks after reading my title. Such a great track. :D