United Stashes of Awesome Skirt

Could you guess why I was making thread chains yesterday? You might have spotted that the fabric I was sewing was (only half of) the fabric sent to me by the lovely Kristen.

A pattern I have been waiting to sew for ages has been the Colette Ginger and I thought this would be the perfect fabric for a fun skirt, but I totally ignored the instructions and put it together in my own way. I joined all the front parts, including lining, together and did the same for the back. Then I sewed the entire left side seam in one go, lining and all, and repeated for the right side. Why? Well, I’m hoping that if when I lose a bit of weight it will be super easy to adjust*, without having to mess around with unpicking waistbands – the only thing to be mindful of is getting the angle where the two arrows meet right for a flattering waistband.

I wore the skirt today, and went for a lovely walk through Westminster to the National Portrait Gallery. En route I passed lots of London landmarks that I thought would be great to get in a photo with the USA landmarks on the skirt. In the gallery I saw some amazing photos and paintings, including ones of Her Majesty the Queen and Olympic stars (including the caterers), and got lots of ideas for framing perfect photos. Then I left the gallery and discovered it was pouring with rain! I grabbed a quick shot on the way home, but I should add it was the first self-timer outdoor photoshoot I have done.

Just as I had hoped, I think this skirt looks pretty sensible from a distance – I certainly didn’t feel like I was wandering around with

In true blogger-style I spent ages thinking of the perfect name for this skirt, until I was dropping off to sleep last night. United Stashes of Awesome! Why? Apart from the obvious print of the fabric, it came from the stash of Kristen in her giveaway. I found a black invisible zip in my box and had just enough black lining left over from my trousers* so this skirt was made from nothing but sewing stashes. I think that is pretty awesome, and after a day wearing the skirt I think it is rather awesome too.

*There is an article in the current issue of Threads about incorporating men’s tailoring for women. Apparently the way men’s tailor-made trousers are constructed makes it easy to change the size at the waist.
** If there is a way to cut out trousers without having a long strip of fabric/lining left in the middle, please let me know! When sorting my stash out there were lots of these pieces, that might just be wide enough for panels of a skirt if I am lucky.