Fabric Happy

This week I made this skirt. Pretty cute huh? It's my first skirt with a zipper! I used a pattern from Sew Over It, the gathered skirt pattern. I don't normally like gathered skirts on me, so I'm not totally sure why I bought it except that it seemed like a good, easy project for fun zipper practice, and I really liked the sample they had in the store. But as I suspected, I don't like it on me! Update (see below)! I think I'd prefer something more flat and A-line, like this, which might be my next skirt project. It's just a bit poofy in all the wrong places. I don't want to walk around looking like a muffin top rising in the oven, and the gathers just give that poofy muffin risin' in the oven look that most of us just don't need. I imagine it would look really good on some other people, but it's just not so flattering on me. I need to take it in to Sew Over It and see if they can help me understand a few things I know I did wrong. You can't see my errors in the photo, but I did make a few that I just don't understand. I do love the fabric though!
I sort of wish I had used a different practice fabric and saved the anchor fabric for something else. Oh well, I might take this apart and use the fabric for something else. It's a Sarah Jane design called "Out to Sea" for Michael Miller. Here are samples in the collection.

I bought the fabric at Stag and Bow, a great fabric and Haberdashery shop in Forest Hill, a neighborhood right near mine. They have a small but good selection of fabric, yarn, patterns and various notions. They also have a very nice selection of ribbon and trimmings. And they carry some handmade things such as jewelry and bags. If you're in SE London, it's a good place to put on your list. They also have sewing and knitting workshops, like simple alterations and lace knitting . I look forward to signing up for one. Here's a little tour of Stag and Bow.

Did you like your stag and bow tour? Good! Now let me show you my skirt re-do. I remembered that the waistband in the shop was wider than how mine turned out (and on the pattern it shows it as being wide), and I just wasn't sure what in the world I did wrong. As is often the case in sewing, I thought my brain might turn inside out trying to understand. It's simple really, and I just made it harder than it was. I went in to Sew Over It and Lisa showed me what it meant to turn the fabric on itself. Also, this video helped me understand how to attach the waistband. Now I like it on me and I'm very happy I re-did it! I'm never going to learn unless I re-do these mistakes. From now on, rather than plough forward when I know I'm doing something wrong, I will stop and get some help with it. It's worth it, especially with such cute fabric. It's a shame not to try a little harder to get things right. So here she is. My anchor gathered skirt! (Regarding the color, the top photo is more blue and the bottom more grey, but it's actually sort of between the two colors. I just used 2 different filters.)