Nana curtain skirt!

 

A while ago I was lucky enough to be given access to my husbands mums and grandmothers stash of old clothes and fabrics. Squeeeeeel! I know, I know, the thought of pawing through, at times, grotty and moth eaten remnants is not every ones idea of a good time, but I thought I had gone to heaven. There were bits and pieces, odds and ends that dated back to the 1930's. Hand made dresses that all came with fantastic tales of being made for country dances or so and so's wedding. Amongst all of the material I discovered some of the coolest retro patterns. More squeeeels!

I have slowly worked through my pile of goodies, with some of it making bags, hair flowers and even being framed. (Some fabric is so beautiful it should become art!) I also decided to make a skirt out of this lovely.

I have long had a love affair with mustard yellow, so how could I resist these amazing colours and the vintage psychedelic craziness of it all. I have also long  been on a quest for the perfect skirt. oh it seems like a lifetime that I have longed for "the skirt". A magical skirt with a nipped in waist, full gathered skirt. Not too short, not too long. And for ages my quest continued, never to be fulfilled until......



So with much swearing at my poor old sewing machine, Nance, ( she was my 16th birthday present and she is very cranky and temperamental. Likes to have a chew on fabric, doesn't like any material thicker than one layer of denim and has some tension issues - literally) I cajoled and coaxed her into helping me make a fabulous new skirt.

Yeah, the waistband had to be taken in a fair bit but I don't think it is too noticeable  because of the

busy-ness of the print. I'm pretty proud of this skirt and have more plans of lovely skirts born of my vintage fabric haul. Ofcourse, now I have discovered several etsy shops selling beautiful pieces like Ananya. But isn't there something special about a piece that you have created yourself.

So, with the help of Casey's circle skirt tutorial ( go check out Casey's Elegant Musings) I'm off to attempt a rockabilly circle skirt in the greatest cherry design. Now I just have to see if Nance, my sewing machine, is in a good mood.....