Some new Evan skirts

Some new Evan skirts to show you. This is my sons name and when I told him earlier I had been working on my Evan skirts he laughed and thought it was terribly funny!

I have actually been refreshing the instructions for the Evan skirt pattern as they may have been lacking in illustrations for some of the steps. It was the pin tucked pocket trims on the skirt front that seemed to really fox people, so hopefully this area is a lot clearer. Of course once you start to look back at something you can't help but tinker in other ways (or at least I can't), so I reworded some bits and ended up re-doing all the illustrations. I have developed a more consistent way of working since that pattern and just could not help reformatting bits and bobs. Essentially it is all still the same, but a bit prettier! Nothing has changed on the actual pattern, but if you have previously purchased the pattern and want the updated instructions then contact me via etsy through your order receipt (should be stored on your account somewhere) and I'll send it to you.

These two new samples are totally instant favourites of mine. I have been wearing this red one all day and it is so light an airy. The fabric is very soft and I want to say it is silk? It has a look of linen, but is much softer like a silk noil without the slub. It was gifted to me, but silk tends to have a smell about it and this smells of that smell.

I still find taking photos for patterns a bit of a nightmare. These were taken in my living room and the light is so bad that they are pretty bad quality. I don't know how to get a better set up, but these are definitely an improvement on the ones that went before!

I am wearing the skirt with a Mexican top my mum bought me and it seems to work well with these heavily embroidered tops. I think a good stripe tee will be a good match also.

This next one is my dream denim skirt. I actually salvaged the denim from a pencil skirt I started making before Christmas and was starting to hate (it can be seen at the end of this post)! I regretted wasting my good denim on it so carefully unpicked it and together with the fabric I had leftover was able to cut this skirt. so happy!

I am on a printing frenzy over here and was planning on the black spots, but they looked like they would be a bit lost on the darker right side of the denim, so when the bright idea to print the wrong side instead struck I was pretty excited. The denim was pre-washed and has gone a little streaky from the blue dye, but it kind of adds to the effect. I love how this turned out so much!

The pockets were printed to match the spots on the skirt backs. I did this by laying the pockets in position and laying the stencil in line with the print on the skirt backs. I should probably mention the print was stencilled using screen printing ink and a sponge!

So that's my new skirts and it means I have new pics for my shop and new skirts for me! Yippee!

Stretch cotton Evan skirt

Spring is here and tights are off! I love dressing for winter, but there is something so satisfying about being able to wear dresses and skirts without tights!

This Evan skirt is one of my pre-final pattern samples. The only difference from the final pattern is the length of the split. This one's a little shorter and more modest by about an inch or two. I have also put belt loops on this one, which I have left off of the line drawings for view A.

I have already worn this quite a lot with navy tights and a cropped jumper, but love how it looks with my watermelon printed top from last year (another pre-final pattern sample from the Maya pattern). This is the outfit I'm wearing now, so I thought I'd take a few quick pics.

The fabric for this skirt came from my lovely friend Lucy and is ex-barbour. She also sent me the cotton drill for my Freemantle/Maya coat mash up. It is a really vivid dark turquoise in real life, but the colour keeps getting sapped from the photos for some reason and I'm not good enough to know how to adjust any settings. It is quite thick and feels like it contains a good amount of spandex, as it has good stretch and recovery. Lucy thinks it would have been used for jegging type trousers, so it's good stuff!

It is quite difficult to sew the pintuck details on the pockets on a fabric of this thickness, but on the other hand they are highlighted quite well. The stretch did make this a little difficult to sew and my topstitching is not going to win awards here, but overall it is a great skirt and nobody is going to get that close anyway.

Yay for spring and summer and being able to have bare legs again. These clogs are out of hiding again and it's time to pack away the feather down coat and big boots (did I speak too soon?).

I hope everyone else is getting some positive energy from the sudden turn in the weather. I shall close with one last picture of my behind just to show off those pintucks a bit more.... Ta ta for now x

Hand woven Evan skirt - View A

Pattern making can be very wasteful at times. First of all you have to make the pattern, which if you are trying a new shape does not often work first time and then you have to make sample garments to test the fit and detailing. Again, if you are trying a new shape then this can take several tweaks before it's how you envisaged. For my coat pattern this was especially true, as there seemed to be a lot of minor changes before I was happy to say it was ready for grading.

For this most recent pattern (the Evan skirt) I made a conscious decision that I wanted to avoid this cycle and only made two test garments before cracking into some good fabric. The two test pieces were made from some surplus vintage cotton from ebay (don't worry nothing amazing) and then I sewed up this chambray version, which needed tweaking still, but functions perfectly as is. The following versions (3 in all) were all made up from fabric that was re-purposed with the exception of this one.

This is the only fabric bought specifically for this pattern and it's an ethical, low environmental impact, hand woven denim. It's this one here from Merchant and Mills and is the same I used for my hand sewn jeans. I am consciously trying to be a more environmentally friendly sewer, which means that I will do my best, but I'm not sure how far this will stretch just yet. Now more about the skirt!

I love wearing this denim version with a chambray shirt, but I also love how it looks with my tan leather boots and bright red sweatshirt. I am doing my best here to imitate Farrah Fawcett in this amazing photo I found on Pinterest, but I don't look great in trainers with skirts. If I did then I would be reaching for the Nike Cortez (incidentally these are too narrow for my fat feet)!!!

This is a straight up View A and is thicker than the recommended fabric. The pin tucks are a lot less sharp looking because the fabric is not only thicker, but also very soft and drapey, but I don't think I could be unhappy with anything about this if I tried.

 I sewed two buttons onto my waistband. Large one on the front with the thread going through the little one on the reverse side. I just felt it was more secure somehow on an area that can get a lot of stress depending on how much I've eaten!

The beauty of this fabric is that I have a pretty red selvedge on the fly front and centre back seam.

I even had enough left to make the shortest length Maya top. I was literally left with tiny scraps and had to patchwork a bit of contrast denim in at the back, but I'm stupidly excited about donning the double denim.

Lovely denim nubbly bits!

Now, this style of this skirt lends itself perfectly to denim type fabrics and is probably what first springs to mind when you get a closer look at the detail, but let me assure you that the testers made some beautiful versions and really surprised me with their choices. If they pop up on any blogs then I will be pinning them here, so keep your eyes peeled.

Evan skirt pattern release

I've just been putting the final touches to my skirt pattern and I'm happy to say it is done! Here is the Evan skirt. It has a retro seventies appeal with a hint of the nineties thrown in for good measure, which as a seventies baby (tail end of) and nineties teenager/young adult is not really that surprising.

 

 

What's that, just another skirt pattern??? Well yes I guess it is really, but it's got so much to give. Pockets, check! Belt loops, check! Zip fly, check, check, check!!!

 

Here's the description from the pattern instruction's, so that you can get to know this skirt a bit more.

 

This style is a classic a-line skirt with back yoke, fly front fastening and front/back pockets. The waistband is curved for a flattering fit and sits at the natural waist. There are two different length options with interchangeable details as per below.

View A - This option hits just below the knee and key features are the front split and pin tuck pocket details.

View B - An ankle length skirt with plain pockets and belt loops at the waist.

 

It can basically fit in with a variety of dress styles and you can swap around the pocket and front split details to suit you.

 

There are more details regarding suitable fabrics and available sizes etc in my Etsy shop, but I will be back to tell you more about the versions I have made and share some inspiration, so stay tuned!

 

Right, I'll leave you with this last shot and I'll see you later! xxx