A tale of two skirts

I've recently made two long skirts for my summer wardrobe.  If you've been reading along you will have already seen one being made from an op-shopped dress in a few posts from late last year.  The final result was this:

It's nice to wear, very light and summery, but its unlined so I am aware of the fact that it is a little see through in certain lights...it's still great for wearing around the house on hot days, or wearing at the beach.  If I get too self conscious then I could whip up a little petticoat to pop underneath I suppose.

The second skirt I made with a voile, which is a new fabric for me to sew with.  I was reading a blog post over at MADE that talked about how a lot of sewers are caught in a "cotton rut" and don't often venture to sew with other fabric types.  I thought, gosh, that's me!  So I decided to branch out and try working with something new.  Yes, voile is a cotton fabric, but its a sheer cotton, quite slippery and drapey, not at all like the standard or quilting cottons that I am used to sewing with.  I made a "Flirting the Issue" skirt using this tutorial on Anna Maria Horner's blog.

Because voile is rather sheer I lined the skirt with a light pink cotton lawn.  Both of these fabrics are so light it surprisingly doesn't feel like too much total fabric with the lining in there.  If I did this skirt pattern again I would actually use less fabric than suggested in the tutorial, its perhaps a little too full for my personal liking, but only by a whisker.

The elasticised waist is great, a lot of sewing around and around to create the four channels to thread the elastic in, but the end result is very, very comfortable.  The first time I wore it out a lady stopped me in the supermarket car park and asked me where I had got my skirt from, she thought it was very pretty and I was very flattered!

It's years since I have worn long skirts on a regular basis, and apart from the occasional tangle factor around the legs I am enjoying having something a bit different to wear this summer.  I'm also thinking of making a few pretty voile tops if I can find the time.  I seriously have to get out of the habit of wearing boring t-shirts all the time.