First Finished Garment of 2012...

...and what a successful start to the year, if I do say so myself!

After having put my son to bed last night at 7:30pm, I sat down on my sofa feeling completely and utterly exhausted.  It had been a long non-stop day, I'd been up late the night before doing God-knows-what and up pretty early that morning.  Blurry eyed and yawning, I put the kettle on for a cup of my favourite Rose Yogi Tea and a hot water bottle.  As I scrolled absent mindedly through everyone's latest Pins, I remembered a beautiful skirt I'd seen... and a decent amount of red polyester crepe I had left over from this (still unfinished) dress and this pencil skirt.  Would there be enough? I wondered, as I poured boiling water into my cup.  Definitely for a paneled skirt, but what about a 1/4 circle skirt?  I certainly wasn't awake enough to embark on a self-drafted paneled fiasco, but after recent successes with self-drafted 1/2 circle skirts I thought I may as well have a go.

please excuse the nightmare mess of my studio, but I just had to get a shot mid-make, still exhausted and slightly unable to believe how beautifully this skirt was turning out to be!

I really can't even claim that the pattern for this skirt was self-drafted, but in fact completely eye-balled, as I literally lay out my fabric on the floor, and cut out a very rough curve from the corner that more or less equalled my waistline.  I didn't even bother adding a seam allowance as I knew this curved edge would end up stretching slightly.  Then I cut out and sewed a super basic waistband, inserted an invisible zipper, seamed the skirt up the back and attached the waistband.  And to prove exactly how haphazardly I went about the making of this skirt, just take a look at that hem (pre-hemming of course):

Almost shameful.  But quite funny.  Wouldn't have been so funny if this had turned out to be a disaster though...

By this time it was barely 9pm, my tea was cold, and I was feeling significantly less exhausted, possibly even a little adrenaline rush-y at the prospect of having pulled off a floor length, perfectly cut, disturbingly elegant skirt whilst practically half asleep.  All that was left to do was hand stitch the waistband fastening.  

I'd decided to make a waistband that, instead of overlapping, simply met at centre back so I could use a pretty metal hook & eye closure I once got in a vintage sewing stuff job lot on eBay.  Luckily I had 2 sets, as the hook part instantly snapped off as I was playing around with placement.  Obviously not a thing of quality then.  I sewed on the other eye part, so I now have 2 loops through which to thread a ribbon or lace to tie the waistband together.

(That old shoe lace pictured will not be residing with this fabulous skirt much longer... Just until I find something sufficiently beautiful to replace it)

still need to press that back seam...

And now to admire my new favourite skirt that took me little more than an hour and a generous dose of blind faith and spontaneity.

Actually, it seems as though recently my most successful projects have been the ones approached with exactly that let's-just-jump-right-in blind faith.  I wonder if I can apply this to other aspects of my life...?

Apologies for this narcissistic series of photos... I'm just really proud of this skirt and how well it fits!  And when I'm old and haggard at least I'll have evidence that once upon a time I had a small waist and a pert-ish bottom!!