Simple straight skirt in chicopee corduroy

Remember the lovely Chicpoee corduroy I showed you earlier in the week?  I managed to make the skirt I had planned.  The pattern I used is from Burda Style Magazine - it is a downloadable pattern, with instructions, bought from their website.

When I say with instructions I am more than a little tongue in cheek - although I have sewn quite a few clothes in the last few years they have all been from Indie pattern designers and my goodness I can  tell the difference in the level of detail and thought put into the pattern writing.  I really doubt I'd have been able to develop my skills the way I have if I had started with patterns such as this*. And that's not to say I have reached any great heights but that I can now sew moderately difficult garments....providing I have instructions to follow!

Yes, the pattern was cheap but not all that much less.  So if, like me, you need your hand holding I'd suggest sticking with, and supporting, our wonderful Indie designers.  I did manage to work out what to do but it took a little head scratching and grumbling along the way.

I'm so pleased I stuck with it though.  The skirt fits perfectly and is very comfortable.  The lining really helps with that I think.  Perhaps I should explain the lining ?!  I bought it from Belle and Boo a couple of years ago.  I think I bought 3 metres because it was incredibly cheap...I had no idea what to do with it but was sure I'd find a use in the end.  Now there's only just over 2 more metres to use!

I only needed 1 metre of corduroy (from The Village Haberdashery), much of it which was paid for with a voucher I was lucky enough to win after completing one of Annie's surveys**.

I found taking photos of the skirt very hard.  We don't have a decent sized mirror (the skirt photos in this post show what I mean!).  My little helper was a bit of a hindrance too.........especially once she started making her way inside the skirt.

I couldn't resist making a zip pouch with some of my remaining fabric.  I used Noodlehead's open wide zip pouch tutorial.  Quick and easy although I dread making the box shaping.  I seem to be a complete failure at getting the seams to line up properly.  You can see in the last photo that it lines up perfectly on the left hand side but not on the right (and that was better than the first attempt).  I'm not sure whether I'm missing a little trick here or if it is just a mental block I have.  Oh well, I don't suppose it annoys anyone except me especially since the pouch is to hold my gubbins and to save important things - like plasters - from getting lost in the bottom of my bag.

*I have noticed that Lynne of Lily's Quilts has been making similar skirts this week and has written a wee tutorial.  The end result is similar and looks very simple.  I think the method is a little different but if you'd like to try this sort of skirt it might be worth a look - Lynne's has no lining and the shaping comes from cutting a taper in the sides rather than front and back darts.

**You can sign up to join Annie's Customer Advisory Board and from time to time you'll be asked if you want to complete a survey giving your views on potential new fabric lines the shop could stock.  The surveys only take seconds to complete - and I enjoy taking part, seeing what fabric lines are coming up and potentially influencing the choice - and each time one participant is randomly selected for a £10 voucher.