Woodland skirt

Fellow sewists, I'm on something of a skirt marathon. Do you get those too? Seized with an urge to make four of something at once - so you just cut 'em all out and sew, production line-style? That's what's happened to me.

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I'm two skirts in, but this is the first to be photographed. Because: look - so pretty!

It's a straightforward A-line, to which I added pleats at the centre front, just like here. And I lined it. With an invisible zip. And woohoo, it's tidy! All thanks to the wonderful two-step zip sandwich method explained here. 

You want to get google translate going on those links, these ladies know what they're doing.

The inside hem looks like this.  No matter how carefully I line up the blind hemming foot/stitch on my machine, I always have to sew around my hems at least twice before I catch everything properly. Does anyone else have that too?

The back of the main fabric being so light was the original reason I thought to add a lining, but I have been astonished to discover how much this improves the wearing of it too. Is it possible I'd never actually worn a lined skirt before? I admit: I was a low-end high street shopper, so that may well be the case.

I do like wearing all my autumn colours together.

This bird is my favourite:

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The notes:

• Main fabric: Kokka Trefle forest animals in sage, from Fancy Moon last year (they don't seem to have it any more). I think it's a cotton/linen blend: lovely and soft but with plenty of structure, and it holds the pleats well.
• Lining fabric: some sludgy green from the coupons corner at Le Chien Vert. I got 1.8m for 3 euros. I guess it's acrylic; it's beautifully swishy, and was a slippery nightmare to cut.
• Pattern: A-line skirt from Mme Zsasza's Allemaal Rokjes. Although I've used this pattern before, this one came out slightly too big. And I definitely haven't lost weight (on the contrary, I'm fattening myself up for winter :-). I hesitated between sizes 38 and 40, as I don't have much of a waist in relation to my hips, and went for the 40 assuming this was the safer option. However, the skirt is designed to sit on the hips, not the waist (which I knew!), so I didn't actually need the extra ease. I would say lesson learned, but I've already cut out the next two (see 'production line', above). So, I may experiment with slightly wider seam allowances.
• Verdict: happy! I knew it was a good pattern, and I'm very pleased with my first zip/lining process.

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I'll be over on twitter later today for the Sewing Social chat organised by Tilly: 8-9pm UK time or 9-10pm where I am (there's a separate chat organised on Australia time too).

I'm a very recent twitter user and still  getting to grips with how it works - showing my age that these things aren't as obvious to me as they no doubt should be :-)  But this kind of thing is exactly why I signed up - the chance to connect with fellow sewing enthusiasts in real time. The theme for discussions this time is "fitting sewing into a busy life", which I'm pretty sure we all have something to say about!

Join us? #sewingsocial, and I'm @jo_sews. See you later!