Kelly Skirt AKA the Shorts that Weren't...and a Sorbetto

Originally I had planned to make some capris next as per my Spring/Summer Plan however for some crazy reason when I bought the fabric thought I could get long shorts out of one and a quarter yards. What was I thinking? The fabric is only 44" wide....unless I was going to make hotpants.... nah, never going to happen.

No matter which way I tried to manipulate the shorts pattern it just wasn't going to work. So onto plan B - a skirt, the Kelly Skirt to be precise.  It seems I was very slow catching onto the Megan Nielsen patterns, but I am now converted having recently completed two Banksias blogged here and here.

The pattern was a dream to sew up and miraculously I made no adjustments.

Ok, well I didn't cut the waistband in one piece as prescribed, I didn't have enough fabric for that, so I cut in in three pieces, one back piece and two fronts, as the seam allowances all line up it looks like it was supposed to be that way.

The side seams and waistband are all topstitched which I think has given a more professional finish.



To remove bulk and add some fun, I lined the pockets with fabric left over from a previous Banksia. 

 

 

Not being able to find buttons that I was happy with I went with covered buttons.

 

Initially I wasn't sure I would like the pleats and thought they might stick out weirdly, but they don't and I think the silhouette is actually quite flattering - look, I have a waist!

 

 

For the observant Colette fans you may recognise the top pattern, it is the ubiquitous Sorbetto not previously blogged.  This is my only Sorbetto so far as I found it a bit boxy but it works really well tucked into this skirt.

Interestingly I was on Twitter tonight and saw the link to a news article where some researchers have worked out mathematically the perfect skirt length to make your legs look fantastic.  Now I never considered there would be an equation for this, surely it depends on the occasion and one length is not for all styles or events?  However, curiosity got the better of me and coincidentally this skirt turns out to be my perfect length!  (84cm from my shoulders if you are interested)

 

In reality it is actually this length because it is the length of the original pattern piece and I didn't have enough fabric to make it longer!! But I am pretty happy that I didn't make it longer.

 

 

I expect I may be making more of these - when I bought this fabric, I also bought two other pieces in different colouts with the intetion to make several shorts, but of course that fabric is too short too - DUH!  Guess my summer wardrobe will be skirt based, not shorts!

 

Does anyone else make stupid mistakes like me, buying the wrong amount of fabric for a specific project and then having to revert to a plan B??