Taking blog photos in the middle of a warm, windy, summers day is always bit tricky, but on this occasion Sharon and I decided to embrace the light, the shadows, the up-draft and have a few giggles along the way!  Did I mention up-draft?

When a girl makes herself a skirt with volume, twirling is a must.  Pattern Fantastique’s Aura Skirt , which is a PDF only pattern, has excellent twirlability… yes, I’m making up words!

Long time blog readers would know that skirts aren’t my normal.  I have only sewn a few over the years, and they don’t often get worn… but this skirt has already had it’s first outing to a pre-Xmas lunch and I felt  great in it.  That’s already a good sign right?

I sewed the size small with a few minor changes.  I left off the pockets, I figured they would be hard to find in the folds of fabric, and I added a touch of width to the waistband pattern piece to accommodate my non-roll elastic.  And by ‘touch’ I mean 1/8″ (3mm).

Speaking of fabric, I adore everything  about this print and the lovely cotton voile base cloth.  The fabric is called Paradise Lost and it’s still available.

This pattern is a fabric eater.  Fabric amounts are given for both 110cm, 120cm and 140cm wide fabric, which is very helpful.  My project took 3.5m of 140cm wide fabric and the leftovers will be perfect for face masks.

I french seamed the sides seams, made a fully enclosed waistband for the elastic, and used my Bernina foot #64 (narrow hemming food) to hem the skirt.  This skirt certainly got a little extra treatment during construction, partly because the fabric deserved it, and partly because it meant I didn’t have to re-thread my overlocker!

I let the skirt ‘hang’ for a a few days before hemming and it didn’t ‘drop’ at all.  I put that down to the tightly woven (think tana lawn) cotton voile.

You can see the movement of the skirt in this video.

Pattern:  Pattern Fantastique’s Aura Skirt (pdf only)
Size:  Small
Fabric:  Paradise Lost
Alterations:  Left off the pockets and added 1/8″ (3mm) of width to the waistband
Outfit:  Linen knit top from Caro, and the beads and mustard wedges are old favourites
Photo Location:  Daylesford