Green velvet steampunk skirt

Ok so its summer and even in the UK generally people do not wear velvet in summer - or only to festivals, or at night, or if they happen to be a goth, or a rock star type. But this skirt has been in my half sewn unfinished objects (UFO) pile for literally years!

I think I cut this out back in 2017 or 2018. Then I sewed the side seams and it came out a bit big and I always meant to resew but never got round to it. Then the other day I was going to cut out a new pattern for a skirt, and I had to move the UFOs because there was no room for the pattern pieces and I remembered this skirt. 

So why did I worry too much about the waist anyway? Its meant to have elastic.

I decided this needs to be finished and right now I am having some serious problems with finding time to do any sewing so why not just work my way through some of these UFOs? 

So I added the waistband and voila: 

You will have to ignore my squinty eyes. It was a very bright sunny day when these were taken and I was being blinded by lovely sunlight.

This is a high low skirt and its a very easy make so it really should not have sat waiting to be finished for around 5+ years. The pattern is Simplicity 8020 and I made this before so should have found it really easy to make this.

Also this issue with the skirt being a bit too big - well bearing in mind my recent weight fluctuations thats no longer a problem. 

 

Right now I am much smaller than I usually am, so I made a waistband which fits and being elastic it works well and when I put some weight back on then it should still fit me because the side seams were left as they were, and after all I can always make this waistband bigger and it should still fit. My weight has fluctuated by 10kg in the last 6 months and I have not dieted so its slightly worrying.

Here its worn with the Burda top I made. That top took me 3 months to work out how it went together and sadly these pictures do confirm my suspicians that that CB back seam on the top is not straight. Its zigzagged not overlocked. Not really sure that should make any difference though, but it could mean my sewing was less than perfect. I am not used to sewing stretch fabrics with a zigzag stitch.

I wasn't sure on the original pictures of this seam being straight or not and assumed ( wrongly I think) that it was the way I had stood in the photos. Well it could be I suppose but really I suspect that these new photos this confirms its sloping and not a straight seam as its meant to be. It is made from very stretchy slippy fabric though and I have still worn it so I suppose its not really a problem, but once I find the time to make a new version, which should hopefully be more perfect, I think I will be recycling this top.

Have to admit, it does occur to me that perhaps this skirt would work well for a beach skirt. It will be warm in the cold wind and not so long it trails in the wet sand. Hmmm. One to try out later maybe?

Have a great week,

Bracken