Simplicity 2449

I made this skirt back in April, and I was really happy with how it turned out!  I saw this beautiful embroidered linen/rayon blend fabric at Joann Fabrics and I knew that it would make a great skirt.  It has a nice weight to it and it flows nicely while still giving it structure.  I love the color (I seem to gravitate towards blue fabrics, it seems). The pattern was described as "easy to sew" so it only took me a few hours to make, even as a beginner!

I made view E with the cute tie in the front.  The tie is actually sewn into the side seams and only shows in the front so it's not meant to be functional.  I accidentally sewed one of the ties a bit too high so when I folded over the casing it pulled the top of the tie over too, but it's not really noticeable if you don't know about it. The skirt has an elastic waistband so it's very easy to put together (once I learned the ol' attach-a-safety-pin-to-the-elastic-and-guide-it-through-the-casing trick; that one is brilliant!).

The weird thing is I can't really remember much about making this skirt other than the fact that it was very quick to put together.  I cut out the paper pattern, the fabric, and put the whole thing together during the day on a Saturday and then wore it to dinner that night!  That's my kind of project!  I don't think I had any significant issues with it at all; because the waist is elastic, I could make it as tight as I needed so I didn't have any fit issues even though I think I was still in my making-size-12 phase.  This skirt probably set me back on my discovery of a 12 being too big since I was able to make it fit so well and it didn't occur to me until just now that the elastic is the reason why...this is why talking it out helps!  Thanks guys!  Blogging rocks!  Probably would have helped me back in April, huh?

I think this might have been the project when I first learned about the concept of finishing seams (ya know, just that little detail.  No biggie or anything).  I pinked all of the seams because I could tell this fabric would fray if left raw, and it's holding together just fine.  At the time, this was definitely the best thing I had made and it looked the most professional.  People at work would ask me if I made it and then when I said yes they were actually surprised and were like "no you didn't!"  Uh, yeah...I did.

I think I might actually bring the hem up another inch or two so that it hits right above my knee and not at the spot where my calves start.  Seeing it in picture form really helps me to see that even though I own a mirror and never really noticed that before.

If I made it again with a similar fabric, I might consider adding a lining because it is a little bit scratchy.  It's not really that bad, but I can imagine how nice a lining might feel against my legs.  I'd like to make some of the other views of this pattern, especially the gathered version because that looks fun!