One of the joys of sewing is to be able to make garments work for our body.  We sewists say that a lot, but this post is another example of how sewing for ourselves gives us power to make fashion choices that increase our self confidence.  In this instance, it was a pattern that I sewed and didn’t love the way it fit…so I tried it again and ended up with a garment I’m absolutely going to wear over and over again.

This skirt is the same pattern from my chambray post.  I’m so glad I tried working with it again, because there were a couple of fit issues with the last skirt, but I felt like the pattern was worth trying again.  If you look at that post, you’ll see I have at least 1 hand in my pocket in every picture.  The problem was the fit around the hips was too big.  But because I made the version with inseam pockets, I could not correct the issue.  

So this time I made the version with patch pockets, and could correct the fit through the hips because there were no pockets in the way.  Let me tell you how much happier I am with the fit of this skirt!  As you probably noticed, I also added enough length to make it maxi length.  (If I remember correctly, it was 10 inches which meant I also had to redraft the angle of the side seams.)

For the fabric, I used brown rustic cotton/linen blend fabric, and it’s perfectly suited for a  summer skirt.  It works really well for both the structured pleats on the cargo pockets, and for the drape of the flounce around the bottom. 

Because there is cotton in this fabric, it does not wrinkle as badly as a 100% linen fabric.  Truth be told, I’ve even worn this without ironing it because just hanging in the closet pulled out enough of the wrinkles.

Now that I had a new summer-weight skirt, I just had to make a summer-weight top to go with it!  This tan and off white damask lightweight burnout knit fabric was calling my name.  I sewed a Union St Tee pattern from it and lined the front and back with solid white fabric (like this one) and left the sleeves unlined.  I also used the solid white for the neckband for a worry free installation. 

In fact, I just had to do something special for the sleeves, and you can check out my tutorial on how to make flutter sleeves for any knit top pattern over at Skirt Fixation.  I left the sleeves unhemmed so the eye wouldn’t be drawn to that point.  For the shirt hem, I folded the two fabrics together and hemmed them as one.

So let me know, have you ever sewed something that didn’t make you feel great, but because of your sewing superpower, you tried it again with some changes and ended up with something you love?