Wiggle Skirt

Pencil skirts have always had a place in my wardrobe & a new one was in order for the Simplicity meet up. With my plan of wearing more colour I fell for this stretch cotton from Stone Fabrics earlier in the year then thought about what I could make With it for a little to long…. only a remnant was left when I returned. Luckily it was just enough to squeeze in the pattern pieces for the wiggle skirt from the Love Sewing Mag.

  

Transferring the pattern markings onto the wrong side using dressmakers carbon paper & a tracing wheel gave me a clear line to sew the darts. By stitching the last few stitches close to the edge & leaving the ends free (not back stitching) to knot loosely gives the dart a smooth flat finish when pressed. 

  

Side seams sewn & waistband added it was time for the zip. I haven’t got a concealed zipper foot yet so had to use my piping foot, it’s a bit fiddly but gets the stitching close. Marking the seam line I pin the zip along it then I tend to sew down each side twice, getting the second row of stitches even closer to the teeth. Once the zip was in the rest of the back seam could be sewn. 

  

To finish off the waistband was folded in half & stitched into place from the right side carefully following the seamline. Finally the hemline turned, pressed & stitched. 

  
I love this pattern, it’s a relatively quick make & a great shape. I did find it generous in size & ended up making a size smaller than my measurements suggested I should, but then I do like these style of skirts to be reasonably snug & my fabric did have stretch😊

Simplicity meet up

  

Well today was the day & although I wasn’t feeling my best I was so excited to be attending. It was a great chance to meet like minded people, put faces to the blogs & learn from May Martin (who I must say is a lovely lady). 

I arrived early & sat in a coffee bar watching people pass, guessing who was on route to the meet! I was sure no one would recognise me from my blog so resisted the urge to wave frantically when I saw Scruffy Badger pass by. 

May started the day by telling us a little bit about herself, her training, her work & how surprised she was to find herself becoming a judge on Great British Sewing Bee before moving on to demonstrate various techniques & pass on some of her tips.

  
I think we all learnt something new & everyone was encouraged to join in asking questions before posing for photo or 2! 

  

Much to my surprise a couple ladies did recognise me from the Bloggers challenge😃 I got to talk to so many interesting people, some of which I realised I already follow on Twitter or their blogs.

 With tea, cakes, sewing chat & a goodie bag..what more could I ask for! Ok maybe a bit of fabric shopping would make it even better so a quick stop off at Berwick Street happened & these lovely bargains were picked up from Misan Textiles

  
Thank you Simplicity for the invite, I look forward to your next meet up😃