I was so looking forward to using the first of my Liberty fabrics purchased on a recent trip to London. And I’d thought that this ‘simple’ skirt pattern from issue five of Colette Seamworks magazine would be a perfect match, but I’m so disappointed! 😦
The Bristol is a simple, elasticated waist skirt, with a full skirt and ‘secret pocket’ under its centre panel. However in the marketing shots, it looks far more stylish than it does ‘in the flesh’. Maybe it’s the style that doesn’t suit me (my hips especially) or maybe I matched it with the wrong fabric, a combination of the two? The recommended fabrics were anything lightweight such as ‘rayon, silk challis, light twill or charmeuse’. I think my lovely, Liberty fabric (a wool mix I think, but fairly fluid and light) is just a little too heavy for it…
These were also the most confusing instructions I’ve come across from a Seamworks pattern. The pockets were constructed first and seemed straightforward enough to start off with, but attaching the rather unattractively named ‘pocket bag’ took a lot of trial and error before I finally cracked it. And the instructions for the waistband seemed even more impossible. They recommended you to prepare the elastic first, inserting it into the waistband fully stretched (!) before attaching it to the body of the skirt. I did try, but it looked so messy that I unpicked the elastic and just improvised, reverting to the method I’d used for the very first skirts I ever made, attaching the empty waistband first, but for leaving a small, unstitched channel and then feeding the elastic through with a safety pin, before stitching it and only then finishing the gap.
Teri did warn me about the pockets, but I thought I’d give them a go and see for myself. I really should have listened harder Teri! While they look cute on the Seamworks model, on me I’m totally non-plussed. While they raise the skirt in the style stakes above a simple, elasticated design to something more pretty and elegant in theory, in reality I’m not sure of the point of them either.
It’s typical that this had to happen to my first Liberty, dressmaking project. But still, it’s been a while since I made a bit of a dud! And it’s not a total disaster, just a bit underwhelming. I’ll probably end up wearing it to work, rather than for a meal out. After my shirt-making adventures, I’m pretty disappointed with the finish of the internal waistband in particular. There are a lot of raw edges and I’m wishing I’d have thought ahead to cover this up somehow. I’m thinking of covering them with something, but clearly it’s going to sit on my waist so I want to avoid anything scratchy like lace or ribbon. Maybe a velvet ribbon sewn by hand would do the trick? Any ideas, as always, most welcome 🙂
navybluethreads 