I MADE A SKIRT!!

Now I know all you expert seamstresses do this all the time and are thinking "Yeah, so what?" but for me this is a big deal!  The last time I made a skirt was 1987, from a rectangle of fabric with a piece of elastic through the waistband, no pattern and lots of help from my 'bestie' (the lovely Helen) who was very proficient.   I bought this pattern over a year ago and have been too chicken to try it out until now.  It's the McCall's 5430 which seems to have flikr and web pages devoted to it.  It claims to be a 1 hr pattern but I managed to make it over the space of 3 days.  Bearing in mind there are 5 children at home on holiday, I think that is pretty good going.

I hadn't intended to buy fabric but those crafty types in Spotlight ( see what I did there?) had cunningly placed this right at the entrance in full view.  I couldn't resist, didn't really try very hard, if I'm honest.   I figure it will make a fun skirt for Spring and Summer when it's too warm for trousers and shorts just won't cut it.  I went for option C, never one for frills and flounces.

 
I am delighted to say that I made no mistakes!  No cutting disasters (just as well, as I guessed how much fabric was required and guessed wrong...), no unpicking, no sewing upside down - thank goodness for the tip on someone's blog!  It is a little snug, but with Summer on it's way I will be dropping some of my hibernation weight so should be perfect.

My next plan is to attempt a semi-circle skirt with some other gorgeous summery fabric, got to make the most of this weather, not sure how much longer we'll be able to enjoy it... ;)

Picking mandarins

And this is how all photo shoots end up in this house.

I won.