Love the A-line

Have you checked out Nicole Mallalieu's A-line skirt pattern yet?  I've had a hankering for a new skirt, 'just' the fabric in my stash, and amazingly no A-line skirt pattern in my collection.  I bought Nicole's pattern, and am so glad I did.  I made this skirt yesterday while the Cyclist and the boys were in Bendigo for the day, and was waxing lyrical about it by the time they got home.

The pattern comes together really well, fits fantastically (she includes an instruction of how to modify the pattern if your waist is a size larger than your hips), and definitely doesn't look home made.  Its also very adaptable.  I've cut out a second version which I'll show off as soon as I've got it finished to show you what I mean.

Here's the details of my 'butterfly skirt':

Pattern:  Nicole Mallalieu's A-line skirt
Size:      12 

Modifications:  

• Trimmed the yoke by 1" at the waist to make this measurement equivalent to a size 16. 
• Added a panel of butterfly print fabric (underlined with a white poly-cotton) to the right side of the front.  Nicole suggests that for denim you can applique the panel over the top of the base fabric.  I found that the combined weight of the print and the poly-cotton was similar to the denim, so I pieced the front instead.
• Added a side pocket on the right side.

Butterflies in my pocket!

Materials:  
Black stretch denim and a remnant of  'Illuminating Spring' (by Stephanie Marrot for Wilmington Prints) from the stash

Lessons/Comments:  

• Nicole's directions really are fantastic.  They gave me the nudge I need to try blind hemming for the first time.  I also used the same foot to help me edge stitch and stitch in the ditch more accurately.
• My feature panel's 1/4 of the width of the front piece, which's probably a little on the small side.  
• This was my second attempt at putting in an invisible zipper, and the first time with my new invisible zip foot.  Her instructions are really good, and I was thrilled with the results yesterday.  Looking at the photos, my job's not perfect, but I suspect that no one else will notice.

• I love this skirt so much that today I was tempted to tuck my top in to show it off, something that hasn't happened for a long time (probably since the waist grew to be two sizes larger than the hips!)

More butterflies on the inside