When Liz from The Craft of Clothes released her Clair Skirt I wasn’t sure it was for me as it seemed so pouffy and I thought it might swamp me. Then Wendy posted her version on Instagram and I was smitten.
I dug out my Mum’s long compass, which is pretty old and a tad rusty, but it did the job of drawing my quarter circles really well.
Armed with my waist and hem pattern I headed off to our holiday place and dug out a thrifted doona cover – the other side of my spotted zero waste playsuit, in fact. I knew that this large print was just the ticket for the Clair skirt.
As usual I took no in progress photos, so here I am in the completed skirt.
I didn’t worry about pattern matching but once I had finished it, I did notice that I could have done better!
This is the perfect pattern for a large scale print. I don’t buy too many but I have had a rummage in my stash for another one as I’d love an evening version of this skirt.
I love the fact that the design gives the impression of movement. The bottom of the skirt is quite narrow and a funny shape. The line drawing shows it better than the finished garment.
Construction was quite interesting. A rectangle of fabric was cut in half, one had the waist template applied and the other had the hem template. At this point I was scratching my head, but went with it.
There is a very neat pocket inserted in the right front and then the top and bottom pieces are joined together with the bottom twisted round so it doesn’t align with the front. This gives that bulbous shape.
Liz had written that the long skirt suited stiffer fabrics as the bottom would hold its shape better. I had thought that my doona cover was quite stiff, but it turned out that it wasn’t. I considered my options and decided I didn’t want a floppy skirt, so I underlined just the bottom section, using a piece of another doona cover which was left over from the Sew out of Bed challenge with Magamsewalong.
This little bit of lining made all the difference. Even when I am still the skirt has a bit of body, and I don’t mind that it’s a little bit visible.
The back is quite interesting too, and I really like how the pattern has worked out. There is an invisible zip in there, which I decided I wasn’t happy with after I took the photos, so it has since been removed and reinserted!
The skirt is designed for someone taller than me, I think, but I’m really happy with the slightly longer length on me as I hate my lower legs sticking out. I just checked out Liz’s photos and decided that my skirt looks nothing like hers. But I’m ok with that as I still love mine! Although the skirt is quite wide, it is narrow at the bottom, so I do have to modify my stride a bit. I could have chosen better shoes to wear with it…
I find that cropped or short tops look better with the skirt, although I’m ok to tuck longer ones in. The top that I’m wearing with it is pretty old and is just a shape cut out of a piece of stretchy lace I found at the op shop.
There is a smidge of fabric left over which can be turned into a bag, an apron or a hat, the instructions for which are included, but I haven’t decided what to do with mine yet – I might do something completely different!
I know that the lack of an actual pattern puts people off zero waste patterns, but it is fun to create your own pattern, decoding instructions and doing general problem solving, all of which are really good for the brain and it slows me down a bit, which is no bad thing. This pattern is relatively simple and I am really pleased with the resultant skirt. I’ve already worn it a couple of times and, although it will be too hot in high summer, it’s perfect for our spring weather.