A Wintry Chardon - a sad tale of some terrible fabric...

Many months ago, I stumbled across Anna's gorgeous version of the Chardon skirt by Deer and Doe. Of course, after spying this perfect little number I had to have myself one! It is a high waisted skirt featuring inverted box pleats, and has the option of a contrast hem and bow belt. I am boring and a copycat, so I made up view A.

I was hoping to find some mustard coloured twill or drill for the project, alas, no luck, until I stumbled across this fabric on Ebay for a ridiculous next to nothing amount, for five whopping meters. Aaaannnddd impulse purchase. Without knowing fibre content, weight, drape..... There wasn't a lot of detail there. Anyway... mystery fabric of unknown quality arrives, and is the perfect colour. But is a horrible fabric. Poly something or other that won't press, melting under even the slightest heat and looks all bubbly at the seams.... So I cut the skirt out, and let it sit there. Shaming myself for impulse purchasing five meters of horrendous fabric. This week I had my yellow thread in my overlocker, so pulled it out and figured I may as well sew her up! And treat it like a wearable toile process...

This is the finished result! Not quite what I was after, but still good to see the fit, and it will get a few rounds in the wardrobe this winter before it gets replaced. I have just purchased a heavy navy cotton to make another, perhaps slightly longer, version, with the hope that it will hold the pleats better.

Because the fabric was so tricky to press, it didn't hold the shape of the pleats at all. So it has warped into some kind of weird tulip skirt. It still looks ok - and obviously I just pretend that I meant for that to happen.... #cowboysewing. Some of the versions I have linked to at the bottom look fabulous with the pleats looking very schmick and well pressed and tight seams... The aversion to heat and ironing also meant my seams are kind of concave-y. (Yes. It's a word. Google it).

The pattern is very basic sew up - and ticks all the boxes being a skirt with pockets! I was really happy it was my first venture into deer and doe patterns... Halfway through the construction process I lost my english patterns, so the last few steps I used the images in the french instructions to fudge my way through... It's a skirt... It didn't seam too tricky!

I purchased the Belladone, the Reglisse, the Anemone skirt patterns with this order, and now also want to add the Bruyere shirt to the stash.... The packaging is pretty (hello pink!) and the pattern itself is printed on sturdy paper - much better for tracing... although I still cut straight into this one... (that shows how long ago I cut this out... before my tracing skills evolved!)

I used some pretty blue gingham for the bias binding hem, and using a contrasting thread (white) and bobbin colour (the mustard), a tip I picked up in the finlayson sweater sewalong, I was able to skip any hand stitching. This kept the sewing time to a minimum... It would have been even quicker if I didn't have to recut the front skirt panel. An iron burn print on your vajayjay isn't a good look...

I also used some leftover chambray for the facing. Contrasting facings are always a win! I did end up needing to topstitch it into place. I am unsure if this is because of the poly again, or the differing weight of the chambray.. either way, the top stitch sorted it out! It feels like secret sewing when you have pretty insides... Although it wasn't until after I finished those little touches that I felt it was a bit of a waste because the cheap poly hasn't been what I hoped!

The deets:

Pattern: Deer and Doe - Chardon Skirt

Size: 42

Fabric: HORRENDOUS mustard poly/twill blend sourced on Ebay... The remainder since passed on to a friend to use for her own toile making.

Cost: Fabric $15 for 5m (enough said), I used about 2 (more once I had to recut the front piece), so $7.50. Pattern $25. Threads and Notions: $ 5-

= $37.50

Alterations: I left off the belt loops because the fabric wouldn't press nicely, so they looked pretty average. Otherwise, sewed straight up out of the packet! I think I may use a slighter smaller seam allowance next time to give me a just a touch more room through the waist.

Otherbits: RTW boring bits. A sweet as circus brooch (from Modcloth) which I wear EVERDAY and with EVERYTHING. Because I can. And ankle boots from Merchant.

See also: Anna of Paunett, Winnie from Scruffy Badger, Amy from Sew Amy Sew & Sally from the quirky peach.

I have taken a barrage of blog photo's for the last few makes (moneta's, astorias, kimono's....) 

Consider yourself warned for the spam alert for the next few days/weeks...

Getting photo's of my makes is always the tricky part for me... any tips fellow sewing bloggers!?