Alright, it wasn't the first thing I made...that was a dress made from a pattern, with browny-purpley material, that ended up looking like a browny-purpley sack with arm holes. Although unwearable it made me quite proud and I was undeterred, even motivated perhaps. I had thought that as a novice using a pattern would be helpful but it turns out that, while the lines to cut around are kind of obvious, there are lots of squigglies all over that make certain parts incomprehensible. Not incomprehensible like reading a book in french and you know the page has meaning but you need to translate it, but rather so unexplained and alien that you don't even register that there is meaning let alone seek to find it, let alone find it.
And so I set aside the pile of patterns patiently printed and glued together. I picked up some rather nice chinese inspired material, blue on one side, orange the other with little flowers. I cut a strip, a rather regular rectangle, and wrapped it around myself. This would be the starting point for all my creations to follow (no tailors dummy you see, they are rather expensive). It seemed like the most obvious enterprise to create a wrap-skirt.
I had two weeks in the house by myself, having graduated form university, with no job, and parents on holiday. I sat in the kitchen watching the Olympics, and while Michael Phelps produced modest achievements in his field (or pool, har har har) I created something to really be proud of.
I hemmed the material all the way around to make a neat rectangle. I folded the top (the waist) over so that the orange side of the material now showed and created a band. And that was that. The hardest part was fastening on the buttons, and creating button holes. I very sensibly put them on the underwrap (which is covered by the material when it wrapped over, basically I hid them). They went wrong the first time, and the second but they were usable and unseeable so who cares.
The skirt was essentially completed. However, being slight of waist and less slight of thigh, I found I needed to take in the waist to stop it slipping as I walked. I folded the material at the sides, with the fold pointing into the skirt towards my body, so that when sewn it did not show on the outside.
The result was very pleasing, probably the best thing Ive made so far. And the easiest. There's a lesson there. If only I knoew what it was. Something to do with the American Male swim team I bet. Sigh.
