self-drafted | little home by hand

After trying out all these new (to me) patterns I felt confident enough to venture into drafting stuff myself again. I have this black high-waisted pencil skirt which fits me great. It was actually a hand-me-down from my mom, but I always get compliments on it when I wear it. I don’t wear much black and it’s getting a bit snug aynway (I guess my body’s starting to tell me I’m not eighteen anymore), so I wanted to try and copy it. Using this tutorial as a guide I traced the pattern onto paper and added the darts back in. And yes, I completely forgot to take photos of these steps or of the finished pattern.
I used the same blue flannel as for the Salme cropped blazer, which means I can wear them together as an ensemble.

It has two darts at the back and four at the front. Dark blue is really impossible to photograph. I lined it to prevent the flannel sticking to the tights and hand-picked the zipper (tutorial here). Making it up as I went along I got quite creative with the lining and the finishes.

It closes with both hooks and eyes and buttons with thread loops. The buttons were added as an afterthought, because the hooks kept coming undone but now I love the look and will definitely do buttons again for the next skirt. The buttons are just covered in fabric like this and there’s a great tutorial for simple thread loops over here.

I’ve been away from my sewing machine for way too long (something about a full time job plus a budding photography business on the side), but once I sit down at the machine again I just can’t stop.
Since much of my spring wardrobe planning never really materialized I’ve put off planning and just stay curious what strikes my fancy next, both in terms of patterns and fabrics and colors.
When I found this great lightweighed cotton fabric in town I just knew it was meant to be either a dress or a skirt.

I contemplated using the Wiksten Tulip Skirt pattern (yet) again, but decided to just wing it and go for a more flowy look. Two rectangles, a little gathering in the middle, a fitted waistband and a handpicked zipper…nice and simple.

Only on assembling the skirt I realized it would probably have looked great calf-length. Too late…a still modest knee-length it is.

I’m particularly proud of the handpicked zipper. I don’t have an invisible zipper foot and I do like to do as much sewing on the old treadle as possible (I could probably get a zipper foot for the 1965 Singer but haven’t tried yet). I used Tasia’s great tutorial for the handpicked zipper, super easy and I’m very pleased with the result.
I’ve worn it only once yet. We’ve got gorgeous summer weather at the moment, but I’m holed up at home with a tummyache which the doctor says is caused by a virus and I’m to stay at home and basically not eat anything tasty for a couple of days…so wish me luck I’ll be feeling better next week and ready to take this skirt out.