more "summer" sewing

the equinox technically occurs at 2am tomorrow morning, so I suppose this is squeezing in at the 11th hour of the season that is on the way out. I've had this washable lightweight wool for a while and finally figured out what I wanted to make with it: a maxi skirt.

I used Very Easy Vogue V8232 again (just as I did for the skirt that I made at the start of summer) for the bias-cut skirt panels, but this time I altered the hem so that it was higher in the front and scooped down lower in the back (obviously, I'm a fan of the hi-lo hem). I also used the pattern that I drafted for a waistband for that white summer skirt. Then I cut three three-yard strips, each 12" high. I gathered one of them into the middle tier, and sewed two of them together to make the bottom tier of the skirt. The gathering took a while - I recruited Cass to help me pass the gathers all the way along the skirt.


The result? Voila! Wore this today with some heeled ankle boots and it's lovely. Hard to tell in this picture, but the back of the skirt is just barely above ground level when I am barefoot, so it doesn't drag on the ground. With all the fullness and extra length in the back, it kind of skims and swirls about a bit - a cute girl with magenta hair came over to me at a coffee shop to compliment it, comparing the movement to waves. I think I'm in love.

oh, and how cute are those thistle buttons? Found those (for 10 cents each) at a favorite antique/vintage shop in Fremont.