With a little help from my friends.

It occurred to me, if I waited to sew until my new space is completely unpacked and perfect, I may never sew again. So, I cleared off my desk and found my power cord. I chose to wade back into the water with a simple and satisfying project. A skirt fit the bill.  

Some things I've learned about my wardrobe during this, the coldest, longest winter EVER: First, I am lucky I'm a knitter who has loads of wool socks and sweaters. It is amazing to experience the warmth of wool. Second, I have ZERO, zip, nada wool pants or skirts. It makes my  closet incredibly lopsided. And, it's really difficult to stay warm and wear cute separates without winter appropriate bottoms. I need to work to fix that. 

Fortunately, I have several pieces of bottom-weight wool stashed. Before setting my sights exclusively on spring, I thought it might be nice to whip-up a wool skirt. This particular piece of wool has been in my stash for a little over a year. I loved the colors and pattern when I bought it. It also feels deliciously soft, merino, maybe. And, bonus, I think it will look amazing with my Channel cardigan!

I took my time with pattern placement and felt really good about the whole thing until after I finished sewing my darts. By then, I could visualize the finished garment and I was suddenly at a loss trying to figure out what exactly I had loved so much when I purchased this fabric. It looked a little, no, a lot, matronly.  It was definitely not what I had in mind. 

In my quest to work on something "basic", I had eliminated all elements of detail and style from this project.  Before getting overly discouraged, I set down my scissors and walked away. I took the night to think about it. I came to the conclusion that the skirt was salvageable. It just needed a little bit of PIZZAZZ!  

I really love leather and wool together, and I used that concept as a starting point. I bought some faux leather trim and fussed around with the placement before settling on a double chevron-like hip detail, an exaggeration of the chevron/herringbone design in the fabric. Once I had the trim pinned where I wanted it, I applied it to my skirt pieces with a short zig-zag stitch. I attached the trim prior to assembly. It was surprisingly easy.

Then, I was stuck again. I liked it, but the skirt still needed something. Rather than wait to be inspired, I turned to my sewing friends for input. Sewing friends are THE BEST! They don't bat an eyelash when you send them awkward photos of you in a half finished project. It was Liz's genius to add a bit of trim to the waistband. So simple. So brilliant. It completely transformed and completed the skirt.

Things should have wrapped fairly easily from that point, but I found myself incapable of making any decisions regarding skirt length. I kinda liked it long. But, I'm fairly short (5ft2in). Did it look too long? Also, very importantly, would I be able to wear both boots and heels without looking legless?

This was far too important a decision to make on my own. I took to twitter, consulted my grandma, and texted my most fashion forward friend before whacking off a few inches. Everyone had roughly the same advice and suggested either an inch below or an inch above the knee. Definitely not at the knee. Probably above the knee for boots.

I'm not sure whether my indecision stemmed from being out of practice or not. I do know I wouldn't be as happy as I am with this skirt if it weren't for the help of my friends! 

Mother Nature was kind enough to provide us with a snowy backdrop for our early morning photo shoot. Entertainingly, today is the first day of spring. And, as you can tell from our dead (dying?) tree, we're still waiting on signs of life. Turns out, making a cold weather skirt on the eve of the season change wasn't such a bad idea. If the weatherman is right, I'll likely have another opportunity, or two to wear this before next fall. 

I did struggle getting my trimmed chevrons and the print to line-up perfectly. I got a little off in a few spots. But, it's not glaring. I avoided having to match any print at the waistband by changing fabric direction, which I really like and will do again in the future. 

I hemmed and sewed down the waistband by hand, but I did everything else, including my lining hem, on the machine. I pinked my seam allowances, but I'm a little concerned it won't be enough to prevent the wool from unravelling. It's very loosely woven, and it doesn't need a lot of encouragement to come undone. 

I moved the location of the zip to the back center seam. The pattern has the zipper located at the side seam. Putting the zipper there wouldn't have worked with my embellishments. Also, I think a side zip can look a bit bulky. I don't need any help adding heft to my bottom half, so I likely would move the zip to the rear on future projects. 

It feels good to be back to sewing. I had forgotten how satisfying and fast sewing is compared to knitting. I'm dreaming of spring and summer projects already!