The pattern is a pdf dowload from Liesl & Co at Oliver and S. It's the first Liesl & Co pattern that I have made and I was very impressed with the simplicity of this pattern and the clear and thorough instructions.
It's a skirt suitable for beginners and it features front pockets, a gathered front, side panels and elasticated waist band at the back. The pdf pattern was easy to put together. I sized down to a small (US 4-6) as the skirt is designed to be fairly relaxed and this size fits perfectly.
I used some material is from my stash. It's a cheap and cheerful cotton purchased from myfabrics.co.uk last year, but I can't tell you anything more about it.
The waistband is cleverly constructed and finishes the inside of the skirt off very neatly.
The skirt has front pockets and I really like this feature. It's my first time making pockets and I'm really pleased with how they went.
The back of the waist is gathered which means that it's a relaxed and comfortable fit. It also means that it is fairly easy to fit as you just adjust to fit your waist. I left mine fairly loose as the pattern is designed to be worn below the natural waistline.
It's perhaps not the most elegant finish at the back of the waistband. My elastic was slightly narrowed than the half inch elastic stated in the pattern as it was all I had to hand.
I'm also pleased with the gathering on the front as I sometimes find it hard to get the gathering evenly spaced. I utilized my daughter's John Lewis Mini sewing machine to do the gathering as I didn't want to have to change the thread on my machine. Surprisingly I think using this machine was what made the difference as I seemed to be able to pull up the gathers better and they didn't drop out like usual.
Overall, I didn't make any changes to the pattern except I did not make a wide hem as this was the only bit of the instructions that I had difficulty following. The pattern allows for a 2 inch hem and gives instructions on sewing a row of gathering stitches 1/2 inch from the hem's raw edge and then pulling in the gathering stitches so that you can ease in the extra fullness in the curved sections of the hem. I had couldn't get this to work at all, so in the end, I trimmed about half an inch from the length of the skirt and turned under a regular 2cm hem. I double stitched this also for a decorative effect.
I really like this skirt and can see me making it again. It's a great basic pattern and would look good in a range of different fabrics and prints. And it's got pockets!
As you can also see I also now have a dressmaking dummy. It was my birthday last week, I got vouchers to buy her. Lucky me!
Have you made the Everyday Skirt or do you have a favourite basic skirt?
Catherine
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