Skirts on Sunday

Welcome back to Skirts on Sunday which showcases my skirt exploits of the past 2.5 years, warts and all. Having finished two skirts I wanted to try new things. I'd stumbled upon the obi apron by prudencerabbit on burdastyle.com and made myself a lovely green apron from rather cheap fabric and my sister asked me to make her one as well.

So we bought some fabric at Ikea and I added trimmed pockets to the pattern. I took extra care to match the pattern. Here's me modelling the apron.

We're calling it the Dorothy apron because she wore it as part of her outfit for her Childhood Icons themed birthday party. Yes, it doesn't actually scream Dorothy but my sister looked lovely with a headband and a plush toy Toto in a basket. Teaser: To find out what I wore at this party you'll have to return for future instalments of Skirts on Sunday.

Even though it's high-waisted, which I tend to avoid because it draws too much attention to my bust and optically shortens my torso, I consider the apron very flattering. That's why I thought I should tweak it into a skirt. Being less than expert I just fiddled my way through it. I made the back panel narrower than the front, for instance.

The hidden zipper ends underneath the yoke because I couldn't quite figure out how to have it go up all the way and have a nice finish with the ties. Full disclosure, I didn't feel like spending too much thought and time on it. The ties go round in the back and tie in the front. These days I'd probably make them short and either tie them in the front or back only to avoid the twisting that naturally occurs in the back.

To keep everything in place I sewed on a hook and eye. Not very expert looking but it's doing the job!

I kept the hem simple on this one.

This was the first time that I used a quilting cotton (Dandelion in Mustard by Patty Young for Michael Miller) to make clothes. Obviously I didn't have the foggiest idea about differences in hand and had never worked with something similar before, being the newbie that I was (and often enough still am). I know that many wouldn't mix fashion sewing with quilting fabric but this skirt definitely encouraged me to do so and up to now I've only ever had one occasion when it didn't pan out the way I'd hoped.

I like this colour and print of this skirt and wore it quite a bit that late summer and autumn two years ago. It looks darn cute dressed up with  knee highs and low heels. The only downside is that it does sit a little too high for my liking after all but due to the ties cannot be worn underneath a jumper. So it's wandered into the back of my closet. I should have known, you say? Well, maybe. The again I just didn't expect how much turning an apron pattern into a skirt can change the way it hangs you. The lessons we learn!

Still, I haven't had the heart to throw it away and probably never will. I think I'll give it another go after the move. Now and then we need to leave our comfort zone. I've acquired a couple of new jumpers with pretty high necklines rather than my typical v that might just transform the look. And there's always the option of re-purposing the fabric into something new!

Happy sewing!