True to my word, I'm on a mission to build a full wardrobe of mini skorts now that the band are up and running. Can't be wearing the same one twice when then photos come out right?!
In all seriousness, it's great to have an excuse to make clothes that aren't for sitting behind a desk all day. I sometimes see patterns and think- thats lush or looks fun to make, but when the hell would I wear it? Between work, gym and sleep, and any time off I have always seeming to be freezing cold or pissing it down, its been easy to talk myself out of making fun things with the fear that they will just sit unworn in the back of the wardrobe.
We played a sold out gig in Sheffield this month and have another big one in April. I wore my new denim skort for the last show and it felt really good to play in, very liberating, smooth fabric so there was no weird friction from my guitar (think pleathers and leathers) and easy to move in. In my mind there is just no other option for what to wear on the bottom half now.
I wanted my next skort to go a step further, and really wanted to utilise the way the panels are layed by using different fabrics. I wanted the base colour to be black, simply because it's easier to find something that matches to wear on top, and always looks classic on stage. I did however want the panels to make a statement.
The great thing about this pattern is it uses very little fabric all in all, so I felt quite free to search for unconventional panel fabric. I knew I wanted somthing embroidered, a denim or a linen or a soft cotton with a bit of body to it to keep its shape. Recently I have been really interested in Eastern Europe and was hoping to find some fabric that used emboidery motifs that nodded towards this.
So naturally I hit up Vinted, and my algorithm became a frenzy of embroidery, peasant tops, Persian rugs, Eastern cookbooks and Russian trinket trays. I was routinely browsing cushion covers as a nice pair would likely be just enough fabric to utilise for panels, and the fabric would have a good structure to it to allow the corners of the flaps to look really crisp.
Eventually though, I was drawn to this more Aztec-looking fabric, which was orignially a linen skirt from H&M. The fact that the motif didn't totally cover the fabric meant that it could blend nicely into the areas of plain fabric without it looking like I'd just mashed to items together. I liked the blue and white stitching, and the beading was an added bonus.
Using the reverse image search function in Vinted (this blog's new best friend), I searched for all the listings of the skirt, filtered out any I thought cost too much to be cutting up, and selected the largest sizes so there was as much fabric as possible to play with. I ended up spending about £7 plus postage for the two skirts. I will be able to use the linings and the zippers for future projects too 🙌
They'd arrived within a week, which timed nicely with some annual leave so I could get making. It was worth taking time to lay out the pattern, as it was really important to me that the fabric motifs didn't look higgledy-piggledy and result in the skort looking more jumble sale than chic. Luckily the embroidered design has a lot of linear elements to it, so it was easy to find the centre and to line up the grainline so the panels looked considered not random.
I knew I wanted the lower panel to be in the patterned fabric and the top layer to be plain, thinking this would visually enhance the cut and the flap design, but I thought only using the patterned fabric here a) Would potentially look a bit random and b) Would be a damn shame not to use more of it! I thought about how I could use other panels or trims, but decided the best way to incorporate more of the fabric would be to use it on the back piece that attaches at the side seam to the lower panel, and hopefully result in the motif looking like it wraps around, with the plain black fabric wrapping around from the other side.
Due to fabric restrictions, there was no way I was going to be able to match the motif at the side seam, so I decided to cut the back panel 'upside down', to help the two pieces look visually different, and therefore less 'disappointing' that they don't match, even if thats only subconciously. I used the arrow-y style motif on front panel to point 'up' where the upper flap slopes down from (did I explain that well?), essentially making the pattern placement look really well balanced.
I was a little worried that the embroiderey band that was orignially along the bottom of the skirt would look 'off' at the top of the back piece, as it is intersected with the dart, and cuts off at the waist at an angle. There wasn't enough fabric to just move the pattern pice over a little to avoid the band, so I didn't have much choice in the matter... However, on completion, I really love this feature. It's like a nod to the fact the fabric was something before, without giving away what it was. A lovely bit of thrifting there I would say.
Before sewing I needed to remove a few of the beads from around the seam lines and the dart to save anything getting jammed in the machine. I saved all these and attempted to stitch then back on where necessary. Don't look too closely and you won't notice which ones it was that I reapplied 😅
The base fabric is a linen from Hillsbrough Fine Fabrics. I think I must have touched all the black linins in South Yorkshire on the hunt for a linen that was a good black-match, not too starchy, not to crease-y, and not too see through! Luckily with warmer weather on the way, I think a lot of fabric shops have been stocking up on the linens and I found what I was after.
The fabric pressed well and matched nicely with my contrast fabric, I'm really glad I shopped around a bit for it.
Overall I'm super happy with the skort. I do feel like I would still be keen to make one with a more Eastern European theme, but I'm also getting excited about all the Aztec style jewellery I'll be able to pair with this one. It's also given me the perfect excuse to stock up on source books about embroidery so I'm a little more educated in what I'm looking for.
See you on the front row.
Big thanks to @the_yorkshire_croc_hunter for lending me the bike ! 🏍️💖
x
Location: Kelham Island
Currently listening to: Lie To You, Franc Cinelli
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