FO: Natural Linen Fiore Skirt

 

After the success of my Mustard Fiore, I immediately wanted to try out the version with the drape front. I had a mental image of a chocolate brown linen one, so I tried dying some of the same heavy weight linen from my mustard version only to have it turn out a strange purple color. Since I really wanted to get this made up, I decided to just make one in the original natural linen color while I worked out my dying problems.

This skirt is unique to any other I've made in that it is deliberately designed with only one pocket. It's a wrap design (which I actually didn't know until after I was making this, lol), so one side has a massive pocket but the other side has the button closure. The fit of the back and side are the same as my previous version, which is nice.

This skirt was a beast to cut out. I have a 3x3 foot table I use for cutting that has 2 leaves and folds out to be 3x6 feet - very handy - but this particular pattern was still a pain. My fabric was 60 inches wide, so I needed 2 yards for this skirt, which would normally be no big deal, but given the asymmetry of the design it meant that this entire pattern had to be cut flat. There are only 2 pieces that are identical and mirror each other (the back pieces), unlike every other skirt I've ever made where both sides are mirrored. The pieces are almost all on different grain lines too, so I couldn't just lay the pieces straight and cut them out. I don't think I've ever stuck so close to a cutting diagram in my life, but in the end it was the perfect layout to get all the pieces in the space. The big problem was the 60 inch width on a 36 inch wide table. I wanted to pin all the pieces in place before I cut any out just to make sure I fit them all fine, but the skirt back piece had to be cut out twice, so I had to start by cutting one of those and then moving the pattern piece, which meant sliding the fabric back and forth on my cutting table. The whole cutting process took over an hour and a half, which just feels nuts, but I managed to get it all cut out in one evening so it was ready to sew the next.

The sewing of this was extremely straight forward - I had to keep the pattern pieces with my cut out fabric pieces while I was assembling it because my fabric has no front and back and I didn't want to accidentally flip the pieces the wrong direction, but other than that it was kind of mindless. The sewing itself went by without a hitch and I had the whole skirt assembled and seams finished off in about an hour. Then I had to make buttonholes. I really love my new sewing machine, but my one HUGE complaint is anytime I need to sew buttonholes with it. You wouldn't think a machine that could stitch an image of your face onto something would have such a hard time with something as simple as a buttonhole, but it seems to screw up royally if I need buttonholes in any slightly thick area or close to the edge of something. I've never seen another machine use this type of foot for buttonholes, and I can absolutely tell you why - because it sucks. This whole project made me even more motivated to learn how to use my old mechanical buttonholer and my featherweight machine next time I need buttonholes. 

We got there in the end with the buttonholes, but it took me as long to sew these 2 buttonholes as it took to sew the entire skirt together. Now that they are done, I love how they turned out. I just don't ever want to look at the holes themselves too closely ever again. I used buttons from my stash, which incidentally are the bigger version of the same buttons I used for the mustard version. What can I say? It's a good button. These are 19mm and solid metal, so I know they will hold up for the life for this skirt. The pocket is also absolutely fantastic - it's big enough to hold whatever I want, but nothing shows from the outside - no pulling or sagging fabric of any kind - it's all completely hidden inside. Love it.

I have to confess that I was very skeptical of this skirt even as I was making it. .I didn't know it was a wrap, which I've never gone for before because I'm always worried of a swift breeze exposing me, but now that it's done... I absolutely love this skirt. It feels so swishy without being too fancy for daily wear. The wrap covers the entire front and I have never once felt in danger of exposing anything (not even when I sit with my legs crossed). I love it with the top in these photos, but it's such a neutral color that it goes with a lot of tops in my wardrobe. This skirt is comfy but feels very put together. I'm already planning a black version in a medium weight linen and I can't wait to have that. I bought this pattern for the button front version, but this one just has that little extra ~je ne sais quoi~ that you can get from home-sewn clothing. I definitely recommend sewing this up if you haven't yet!

Summary:

Fabric: 2 yards of 7.1 oz Natural Rustic Linen - $28.54

Pattern: Fiore Skirt by Closet Core Patterns

Notions: Pellon SF101 Interfacing - $1.00, thread - $0.50, 2 metal 19mm buttons (La Petite style 938) - $1.00

Time: 5 hours

Total: $31.04