Wednesday 24 August 2011

Summer Fields Skirt - My Crescent Skirt revealed!

Well I had planned to unveil my completed Crescent Skirt last Friday, but my iron broke (major catastrophe for a stitcher!!!) and I had to wait until this weekend to finish it off. My boyfriend and I took a little picnic trip to Murlough Bay (a National Trust spot) which is literally where the 'Mountains of Mourne sweep sown to the sea' - so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get some interesting photos:

Slieve Donard in the background - the highest point in the Mournes (and the whole of Northern Ireland).

 I promise these shots were taken after the purchasing and using of a new iron...but sitting in a car for an hour prior to photo shoot is not conducive to iron-free clothes!
 

I happened to have some red ribbon (with white stitching detail on it) in my stash so I decided to go for the trim version of the skirt. I made View A, which was less full skirt and I think it turned out just about the right amount of 'poofiness' for me (yes, very high-tech sewing terminology there!)


I decided to fully line my skirt as I know cotton skirts have a very naughty habit of creeping up when worn with tights (and believe me, it's nearly back to tight season here!). I went for a bright pink acetate lining and trimmed it with a very pale pink lace that I had in my stash. I really love this little delicate feature - it makes me smile whenever I see it peaking out from under the skirt! I also turned up the hem with red ribbon (you can just about make it out in the photo above) - again another feature that I love. One of the good things about it was I felt the full hem allowance would have been too short for me, so this allowed me to squeeze a little extra length into the skirt!



And some shots of the skirt on Flo:


 Hmmm....my least favourite part of the skirt - my sewing around the zip. Ah well, it's all a learning curve isn't it - next time I will be a lot neater!

 Close-up of the trim

The lining, with the sweet lace trim. I love the fact that most of the skirt is finished off with French Seams (more on that tomorrow - but not what you think!), including the lining - I made a point of doing that...the lining fabric frays like a demon!


I have to admit that when I started this skirt I thought it might end up too girly and poofy for me....but it turns out I'm obviously more girly than I thought because I love wearing this skirt! Another naughty fact - I couldn't be bothered making a toile/muslin and while piecing the waistband together I had a mini panic that it was going to be FAR too tiny on me and I almost didn't bother finishing it! It turns out that the size is spot on - well done Tasia for drafting such a perfect pattern that actually matches your body measurements without giving us 10 inches of ease!!!
I am definitely going to get a lot of wear out of this skirt...and perhaps we may see a few more pop up in my wardrobe soon. You can never have too many skirts right?

11 comments:

  1. Those are beautiful pictures! I strongly suggest learning to hand-pick a zipper. Threads has a great tutorial. It's soo much faster and easier than putting it in by machine and I really hate hand sewing...

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  2. OOoo - that's a really lovely skirt! I love the lace trim to the lining!

    I second Mollie's suggestion re the hand-picked zipper. There's also a tutorial on the Sewaholic website (Tasia is so good at explaining everything clearly). I used her method on my most recent make and I am never doing zips another way again!

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  3. Those pictures are stunning! I just love the colours :)

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  4. Wow, this is a lovely skirt, beautifully lined as well! Great pictures, what a location! I have to agree with the ladies on the hand-picked zipper front - I did my first one for my Lonsdale dress and it made such a difference, I don't think I'll ever go back to machining them again. Tasia has a great tutorial here: http://sewaholic.net/a-hand-picked-zipper-progress-on-the-picnic-dress/

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  5. Thanks for the lovely comments ladies. And thanks for the suggestion for the hand-picked zip - sounds like the favourite method for most of you! I was actually thinking about doing a hand-picked zip for this skirt, but I thought I would follow Tasia's instructions from the Crescent Skirt and see how that method worked - and it did work perfectly...until the final sewing around the zip which was just a bit wonky.
    I have read so many reviews about hand-picked zips around the web (especially Tasia's website - I know she is a big fan!) that I'm definately going to have a go!

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  6. Oh this is a lovely skirt Suzie, probably my favourite Cresecent skirt to date. And I love the extra secret trims on the skirt and lining. Your other commenters have made me want to try a hand picked zipper now too! Great job. x

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  7. beautiful skirt and beautiful pics - what a breathtaking backdrop! great job!

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  8. Very nice! I just realised I've only ever seen Murlough Bay at sunrise/in the dark, nice to know what it looks like in daylight :oD

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  9. These photos are absolutely gorgeous! I love how you lined the skirt and even added the lace. What a great piece to have in your wardrobe. (I just found your blog by looking through some of Tasia's older sew along posts.)

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  10. Gorgeous skirt! Definitely worthy of your favorite summer sewn item! Hooray for Crescent skirts!

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Thank you so much for your comments - they really do make my day!

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