Sherlock skirt

Instagram snap of the Sherlock skirt

I don't fully know where this fabric came from. My grandad was a tailor, who sadly died when I was little. I wish I'd have known when he was still with us how much I would want to share sewing with him. I have so many questions I bet he'd be able to answer in a jiffy. Thankfully my mum also loved sewing and was awesome at it, and she's the one who taught me to sew. She also kept lots of my grandad's old fabric stash - mainly off cuts from expensive suiting, some really nice wools and tweeds. What my mum didn't use, I inherited. 

Lovely fabric

I found this lovely piece of wool in the loft, and have deduced it either came from my grandad or from a job lot of suit lengths my dad brought home from a car boot once for my mum, yonks ago. Either way, this fabric is gorgeous and I've wanted to make it into something fab for ages. It is quite a short piece, and I knew it would make an awesome winter A-line skirt. 

The buttons are vintage too, from my button box. Who knows where or when they came from! 

The pattern I used was McCalls 7316 (View C). This is a well-used pattern that I inherited from my mum, and it fit great straight out of the envelope.

McCalls 7316

^ I love the girl in the beret (who doesn't love a beret).

Construction was really simple, and I am in love with the finished result! I finished this in December and have worn it LOTS since. 

Yes I tried every possible way of catching the fading light to take these pictures...

I had to add a sneaky press stud as there was a bit of button-gape going on. I followed the pattern markings for button placement ... Perhaps I need more buttons and fewer gaps. Also I had just got a new sewing machine which does a one-step button hole. This excited me no end, since my old one only had a four-step button hole. However, I think for these globular buttons (definitely not the right term!) the button holes I one-stepped on my new machine are slightly too big. So I get a bit of movement and too much button hole on display. Live and learn, hey!

Attempting to show you the button hole issue

I cheated on a few bits. I didn't have any interfacing of the right weight for this fabric, so the button band and waistband don't have any. Oops. I am regretting this now, as I've noticed slight stretching of the waistband. Lesson learned - if you cut corners don't be surprised if those chopped off corners niggle at you (or cause stretch in this case). 

That said, I am so much in love with this skirt that I don't care about a tiny bit of waistband stretch. It's glorious, and warm, and made by me!