Clemence Skirt – Take 2

2015 is going well so far. I made a Clemence Skirt (from Tilly Walnes’s Love at First Stitch book) that FITS!!

[If you’ve been reading my blog a while you may remember that I made a lovely Clemence skirt that turned out a good few inches too big for me. Gutted!]

The fabric I used was very expensive. Ha, only joking – it cost me 50p. It was a tablecloth I bought from the car boot sale! I picked it up and my 5-year-old said “you could use that for fabric.” She knows me too well!

I think it’s polycotton and I don’t know how many washes it’ll last before it goes funny, but it actually feels nice and looks almost denim-y.

So I chopped it up and – ta-dah!

It’s great fun using a pattern for the second time. It’s such a breeze.

I totally winged it in terms of sizing, though. I wasn’t sure exactly how big my first Clemence was so didn’t know exactly how much to chop off of the pattern. So, I didn’t chop the actual pattern in order to not mess it up. Instead I chopped a couple of inches off the waistband at the cutting stage and hoped for the best. And I thank my lucky stars because it was pretty much exactly the right amount! Phew. I also remembered to try it on before inserting the zip (pinching the seam allowance together at the back) to make sure I didn’t end up with the same problem as last time! I’m learning!!

The best thing was that my unpicker stayed firmly in its little drawer! OK, so you are meant to use it to unpick the gathering and tacking stitches, but… I put my gathering stitches in the seam allowance so left them there, and I skipped the tacking stage [tacking the gathered panel to the waistband before stitching it down]. I was feeling all confident that I could do it without tacking. And I did! 😛 Plus I saved time by only sewing two lines of gathering stitches as opposed to three… luckily none of the threads snapped so I got away with it!

I found the gathers much easier to pull than those on my first Clemence. I don’t know if that was because I used fewer stitching lines, or because the fabric was thinner this time – or maybe a mixture of the two. Either way, I had a better time with this skirt!

I did all right stitching in the ditch but missed a few places as you can see below. Luckily the thread I used is pretty much bang on colour so it’s not visible unless you’re taking close-up photos of that area!

The zip went in easily but it’s not quite concealed at the lumpy bit where the seams join. Never mind! I’m impressed that my seams match up nicely. But not so impressed with my corners. They’re a bit bumpy… but at least I can’t see it when I’m wearing the skirt; out of sight, out of mind and all that!

I made the basic version, without any pockets or fancy details. I’m thinking about embellishing it somehow, though, as it’s a bit plain. Any ideas?

I would have liked to put pockets in, but wanted to finish the edges with French seams more – so that’s what I did! And I’m pretty impressed with the insides:

I think I owe a lot of the neat-ness to the fabric I used. The hem was so easy to do because the fabric was very easy to handle.

I must also give credit to my new iron, which I love! It has made my life a lot easier! I was using an cheap Woolworths(!) one and after using my new Philips one I am wondering why I didn’t get a nicer one sooner. Pressing is SO important and I was very happy to get some boring presents for Christmas!!

Yep, I’m really happy with how this skirt turned out. Bring on the next one!

Beth x