Some stitchery

I have my first cold of the year, and it’s mild so far so I have the energy as well as the time for a post! And in case last month’s post left you wondering, I did not get locked out on Christmas Eve.

I made a skirt with some wool from the thrift store. The piece was something like 60 inches wide by a yard and five-eighths (and that will be my one concession to five-eighthses here), and I used up almost the entire thing — the waistband is pieced, asymmetrically because I’m bad at measuring — and I based it on 1890s skirts, though I didn’t do any actual research, so it’s very very twirly. I embroidered it in some wool yarn I had lying around. It doesn’t have a hem yet, but other than that it’s finished.

And I did all of it except the waistband on the machine! (Have I mentioned yet that I have a sewing machine? I’m not very good at it yet, and have practiced very intermittently, but this skirt hasn’t fallen apart yet.)

This post has many pictures and they may or may not be sideways, sorry about that.

It drapes very nicely on the hanger.

With the waistband up, in the usual way (though I prefer having it tucked under, actually), it almost makes me look tall.

With just a little padding underneath to hold the pleats out at the back, you can almost be tricked into thinking it’s a fairly straight skirt, even with the embroidery disappearing into what must be deep folds. You’ll have to take my word for it, but when you twirl all the fullness whooshes out dramatically and it’s very fun.

Here I’m just finishing a twirl, and the pocket slit has come open. My only tie-on pocket, still, is the bright yellow and blue one, not good at being invisible under dark skirts like these, but I have yet to remedy that.

With a removable piece of interfacing pinned on around the hem, it stands out quite a bit more and shows the embroidery off better.

Closeups of embroidery:

Now, before my brain fogs up for a week, I should write a bit. Maybe I’ll be back next month?