Tea Party Skirt

It's still raining and quite chilly here in the UK. In fact, today we had hail! But, I've tried to ignore it and have begun preparations for warm, sunny weather. Don't be fooled by the photos, I was back in my leggings and cardy the minute we were finished.

I picked up the fabric for this cute skirt at the very lovely Raystitch in London a few weeks ago. What a fab shop! It's a wee treasure trove. Super duper trendy, with low hung lights, a big coffee machine and yummy cakes at the front, and shelves and shelves of glorious fabrics I'd only read about and seen on-line. Venture downstairs, and you'll find even more. 

We had taken the kids to the British Museum and afterwards Mr Myrtle suggested that I might like to  visit the fabric shop I'd mentioned. Oh, did I ever! He knows me so well. So, we hopped onto a bus and dragged everyone across London to our old haunt, Islington. To top it off, Loop is only down the road, and of course we had to have a peek in there too.... and buy a little more yarn, but I'll tell you about that another day.

I just fell in love with this tea party fabric. It's Ruby Star Rising by Melody Miller in the grey colourway and is a fabulous weight and grainy texture. I bought a metre and crossed my fingers. I was still crossing my fingers when I laid the pattern pieces onto my fabric, freshly washed and ironed. I've used a pattern, Simplicity 2152, and loosely followed version D with its funky faux pockets. It took a bit of jiggling around to get it out - I didn't want upside down cups and saucers - but I did it, just! In fact, I didn't have enough for the yoke facings or a decent hem so I had to improvise a little.

The spots were a tiny piece left over from Zoë's American Sportswear hat. They're a nice surprise inside, it's a fun skirt after all. I under-stitched the spotty yoke facing so that it lies nice and flat and then carefully sewed it down by hand down the sides of the zip and along the bottom. The hand stitching didn't take long, and it gives a clean finish.

And, I made the most of the fabric by using the left over bias binding from the birthday placemats for a false hem. I ironed it flat and sewed it over only a very small fold in the teacup fabric. I love how the stitching matches the grey and the red, and to do this I popped red cotton onto the top of my machine and grey into the bobbin.

The zip is supposed to be invisible - but clearly it's not! It's been a long time since I put in an invisible zip and I've forgotten how to do it with a regular zip foot... and I was too impatient to look it up... next time!

Now, be impressed. My sewing machine is throwing a wobbly. It won't always stop when I lift my foot off the pedal and often speeds up to supersonic speed instead. I have to madly switch the machine off to get it to stop! This whole skirt was sewn with a bonkers machine. The kind people at the shop are going to fix it for me, but I don't know how long it will take and I wanted my skirt finished!