Completed: Petrol-Blue Kelly Skirt

I went to Walthamstow Market the other day for my very first time and was surprised how cheap the fabric and haberdashery was! You could find linings, jersey and chiffon for as little as £1/meter. 

Naturally, I couldn’t hold back and came home with a big stash of fabrics and some zippers. Most of the fabric is already dedicated for a certain pattern and as I really need a plain skirt I went ahead and made the Kelly Skirt from Megan Nielson. Originally, I wanted that skirt to go with my Hawthorn Blouse, but their styles don't fit together! Now I have a petrol-blue skirt and I am not sure which colours to wear with it! Any suggestions?

Fabric and buttons: I used a petrol-blue poly cotton that I got for £1.50/meter, yeah. I lined the skirt with golden polyester and used some white cotton lawn from my stash for the piping. The buttons are vintage and I got them from eBay.

Pattern: Kelly skirt, beginner’s pattern, from Megan Nielson. The skirt has a waistband, two front pockets and pleats in the front and back. I decided to add some piping as I had never tried it before. I also added the lining myself and I am super happy with how it turned out.

Construction: Very easy. It took me only 1 day to sew the skirt and I am a slow sewer. 

What have I learnt?

(1) To make my own continuous bias tape (I followed the tutorial from Colette) and piping (I followed the instructions in my sewing book). I sewed the piping on the skirt after I had stitched front and back together. I used my zipper foot for this, which worked perfectly fine. The only problem is that the piping at the front waist is not finished! I thought it would be encased by the waistband, but it isn’t. Does anybody know a good tutorial about how to do this?


(2) To make a nice skirt lining! I am quite proud that I figured that out by myself :) To make the lining, I just traced the skirt and back front which were already pleated and sewn together (I hadn’t made the button stand yet). By tracing the pleated skirt, I did not have to add pleats to the lining yeah! I sewed lining front and backs together, finished the hem with a rolled hem foot and then attached the lining to the skirt waist. Then I just followed the instructions of the pattern.


(3) Not to iron too hot! I always iron on the hottest setting, because most of my fabrics and especially the quilting cottons are 100% cotton. So no shrinkage here. But when I tried to iron fusible interfacing to my waistband, I noticed that my interfacing puckered! First I couldn’t understand what happened but then it made click! My fabric had shrunk but interfacing not L It actually shrunk ½”. Luckily enough, I had cut the waistband bigger, so it just fits!

What do I like about it? I love the piping and the big pockets. And I didn’t have to fit the skirt – amazing! And the buttons are they not cute?

Have I worn it yet? Yes, I wore it the other day to work. It felt great! The only issue I had was that after 2 cups of tea and lunch the waistband was quite tight! But if it would be bigger, it wouldn’t fit snugly. So, no choice here.