This is my contribution to Sew Dolly Clackett, a blogger challenge dreamed up by Sarah and the #sewcialists to celebrate the lovely Roisin's impending nuptials. The idea is to sew a dress inspired by Roisin's make-you-smile style. Erm... yes, the sharp-eyed amongst you may notice that this isn't actually a dress, it is in fact a skirt. What can I say? I just really fancied making a lobster skirt, I'm a shellfish seamstress (arf!). If Roisin were to make a skirt, she'd probably make one just like this, non? I hope she likes it!
So let's talk more about the amazing fabric. Modes4U, who sent me this fabric for review, is a super cute fabric shop stocking a wonderous selection of adorable designs, including stunning Japanese Echino fabric, which can be tricky to find in the UK. I seriously spent about two and a half hours browsing through their selection and trying to choose, it's just all so incredible! You'll be seeing more fabric from their shop on this here blog soon...
The pattern is the Picnic Blanket Skirt, a simple gathered button-down skirt which long time readers will remember I drafted a couple of years ago. The good news is that I shared a series of tutorials on how to make it yourself. So if you want to recreate it, go ahead!
The skirt is really easy to make and came together in a flash. The only problem I had was with one of the buttonholes - I made a total pig's ear of it. For some reason that I can't fathom, the automatic buttonhole function on my beloved sewing machine decided to rebel and do its own thing. When I tried to restitch it, it made yet another random shape. Urgh! I was in a hurry to finish up and have dinner, so in the end I just stitched over the whole thing. Luckily you can't actually see what a mess it is unless you look really closely, and I trust no one is going to actually get that close to my buttonhole, as it were, thank you very much. Apart from that, it's all good, and I love this skirt! It's really miserable here in London today but I'm dreaming of Summer so I can wear this outside. Bring on the sunshine!
If you haven't done so already, go have a peek at the other amazing creations (actual dresses) in the Sew Dolly Clackett Flickr pool. So much sewing inspiration! (Omigawd, including an actual dress in the same fabric!)
Happy wedding, Roisin and Nic! xx
