a Chardon for Chook

Chookie's at that awkward age where children's clothing doesn't always cut it (size or style wise) but the vast, vast majority of ladies clothing is hopelessly massively sized for her. She may be almost 5ft2 but barely weighs 6 stone and size 4's are hard to come by in Britain! So after the success of the Arielle skirt when I spotted Kerry destashing a Doe and Deer Chardon skirt pattern on Instagram I thought it might be the very thing to solve the school skirt problem. 

Now I wasn't super-duper careful while sewing this. Chook wasn't convinced about the pattern OR the poplin I had chosen. She lives in jersey knit skater skirts at school and while I thought this silhouette was a great approximation of the shape she likes, she didn't think so. Until I had the pleats sewn in and then she decided it was perfect and she wanted it for the prizegiving the next evening, thankyouverymuch. And this was at 8pm. Yikes.

So it's decently sewn but by no means perfect. But it's a nice wee pattern. I loved the hemming method with the bias tape (the photo above) and the pockets  have been a great success and add a wee quirky flash when done in a contrasting colour.

My first garment zip insertion went swimmingly, too. It's not perfect but like I said, I was in a tearing hurry! It'll do, though, and I'll do better next time.

Success!!

Okay, not so successful photo taking during the mad school rush this morning. Could we please stand still for the low light levels? Please?!

That's better, thank you.

I didn't like this pattern as much as the Arielle, purely because of the lack of lining so you see the finished edges. But it won't stop me making another for me this time - the navy linen is ready to go already. And I had a little foresite and traced the pattern on to the fabric with tailor's carbon paper so I didn't have to cut the pattern. Go me!! And I was also confident enough this time to alter the length of it on the pattern before cutting. I could get to like this clothes making lark. Uh-oh....