January MAGM skirt finished.

Finally finished my navy Vogue 1247 skirt yesterday. Not before time. Don't really have an excuse for my tardiness except for grandson's quilt and No.1 son's 50th birthday but really I just couldn't get motivated. Anyway it's done now.

I took a few shortcuts this time and only bound the horizontal hip and pocket seams and overlocked the rest.

I used a scrap of pretty poly-cotton for the pocket linings and binding. I didn't have an invisible zip so did a lapped opening with a navy zip from my stash. Not as neat nor as pretty as my previous effort so I won't be showing it.

The fabric is navy blue although it doesn't look like it, another 80cm remnant of cast iron polyester I have had for years.  I don't think these skirts will ever wear out.

Again I added extra length to the skirt and even made the pockets a little shallower in an endeavour to fit the pattern onto the fabric but alas I had to face the hemline with some 1 inch wide bias binding to conceal my knees and preserve my dignity.

The top I'm wearing is Kwik Sew 3378 made in February 2010 and which is still one of my favourite tops. I must make it again sometime.

Now to tackle February's garment. The toile (muslin) I am working on isn't complete yet so I will have to think of something else to make.

Plans change

Here it is the 1st February and I haven't finished anything. I'm still slip-stitching the binding on my grandson's quilt, which turned out nothing like my original idea and I only cut out my January skirt yesterday and started sewing it today.

When I placed the coloured blocks around the calico art work it looked OK but I wasn't really happy with it. Then I realized that this wasn't meant to be a showcase for my dubious quilting skills but simply a way of preserving a memento. So I went with the maxim that less is more and just added a simple brown border and binding.

It's very plain, but it is for an eight-year old boy, so I don't think he will be too worried. When I finish slip-stitching the binding I will just randomly tie the main area as I don't have any free-motion quilting skills at all and this is not the piece to practice on.

With luck the skirt should be finished tomorrow.

I haven't any specific plans for February. At present I'm toiling a fitted shell and if it is successful I may make a blue print top to go with January's skirt.