Denim Skirt with a Flare

Kia ora! Today is ANZAC Day, a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served". It is always 25 April, regardless of what day of the week it falls on. This year is a Wednesday, a day off in the middle of the week is a real bonus. I thought I would make the most of the day off and get into some sewing ... but first I thought I would share what's been on my sewing table lately.

When I moved my blog in March I was about to start Marfy 3885 .... this is how it turned out. It's a really interesting pattern that combines features of a jean skirt with the flare of a quarter circle skirt.

I did make a toile/muslin to check the fit before cutting into my fashion fabric. Not only that, I needed to work out my order of construction. I knew I had to include a lining for the skirt because the Merchant & Mills hand dyed paisley cotton that I selected for the bottom half was too light weight and NOT opaque! I couldn't apply the lining in a traditional manner by connecting it at the waist. Let me show you the inside ...

So as you can see the top half is very much a denim skirt with front fly and waistband. So how on earth was I going to connect the lining?????

Okay, so I worked out I needed to line the skirt pieces only, but then attach both lining and shell to the top half as one.  Does that make sense? This meant I had to start by hemming each individual skirt panel of the lining pieces, then baste the lining and shell of each panel together, attaching them to the corresponding top piece of the skirt. Then I could construct the skirt like any other denim skirt pattern with pockets and fly front. I added top-stitching and rivets to give it that denim skirt feel.

The lining and the shell of the skirt aren't connected at the hem and flow freely. I used a crepe satin for the lining to create some body and weight which matched the denim. The smoothness of the crepe satin against my skin makes it so nice to wear.

I did make some adjustments ... if you've taken a look at the pattern on the Marfy website you will have noticed my skirt is quite a bit shorter. I made the toile/muslin to the length of the pattern but decided that for me it needed to be shorter. I instantly cut 6-1/2 inches off the length so it sat at my knee.

Not that you will notice but I also dropped the fly front by 1/2". Getting in and out of the toile/muslin just seemed a little snug. The extra length makes it easy to slip in and out.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project - getting the fit right, working out the order of construction and how to put a lining into this one. The end result I'm super stoked with, I'm just not sure whether this is something I'll wear often?!?