This weeks Crafty Bloggers Club post is from Rudy, you can find more of her makes on Instagram @roodlesrunique

For my latest blog post I have made more bottoms... ha! After doing me made may I realised I have a lot of dresses, and a few tops but not many bottoms or separates at all really! So I decided I needed to make a few separates to wear this summer. I decided to make the My Handmade Wardrobe 'All The Cute Skirts' gathered skirt option but modify it slightly. I used this beautiful viscose cotton from Crafty Sew & So, which is very like a lawn and perfect for the small gathers and floaty effect the skirt gives me.

I wouldn't normally opt for gathers around my middle because they aren't very flattering but I decided to raise the waist on this on so it hits me at the most flattering point, and I wanted to put pockets on and I wasn't sure they would look right on the pleated version. 

I lengthened the skirt by 6”.  I'm not sure why I still work in inches when I'm sewing it’s the only time I do but it feels more normal maybe it’s because I started as a quilter and everything is in ¼ inches. This pattern was dead easy to lengthen, as a gathered skirt is made from rectangle pattern pieces.  I just moved the piece down 6” after cutting the top pieces.

To create the gathers I used the dental floss hack. This is the first time I have over done this as I normally stretch elastic across and let that make the gathers.   I did try my usual way and it didn’t gather enough to fit my waist band. With the dental floss option I can keep gathering it until its small enough for the waist band. To do this you just do a wide zig zag over the dental floss, just like the picture, all the way around then pull the floss out once it’s attached to the waist band. 

I also drafted my own pockets, this sounds much fancier that it was! I basically cut all my pieces out and looked at how much fabric I had left. I spread out my hand on the fabric and drew a rectangle around it. This then gives me the oversized pocket look I wanted and I know I’ll be able to fit plenty in it!

Top tip - If you are going to do the same, just make sure you cut a rectangle as you will be hemming the top of the pocket and you will end up with a wide pocket if not. To attach the pockets I just turned the top of the pocket twice and straight stitched across the top, and overlocked all the other edges and sewed them directly onto the skirt.

The pockets ended up a little flappy so I decided to put a popper in the middle just to keep the closed. They are so big I can still get my hand in either side of the poppers, I don’t even need to undo them! I used the same button on the back of the skirt too and I think the red really pops with the fabric.

I have been wearing my skirt quite a bit since I’ve finished it. It’s perfect for the office and its cooler and floaty for the muggy weather we have been having. It’s perfect with a plain top and will be great with tights as well once it gets cooler again. All in all a new staple!

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“Crafty Bloggers Club Contributors are given products and materials to test from Crafty Sew&So. We hope you enjoy their honest and impartial reviews of the products. All opinions are their own.”