Pattern Review - Pauline Alice, Mirambell Skirt
Hey Sewers!
So here I bring you my final make of the summer, a lovely
cotton, button down, melon print, skirt.
Fabric: Cotton from Hobby craft
Buttons: Cherries from Hobby Craft (hemline) and Pineapples
from Walthamstow Market
Size and Version: I made version B in size 36
This is a beautiful pattern which I picked up from Minerva crafts inspired by all of the button down skirts I have seen this summer. I suddenly had a light bulb moment when I paired this pattern with this fabric and thought it just had to have fruit buttons! Essentially this was the main reason I made this skirt - just to use fruit buttons!
The pattern is packaged beautifully in a cardboard envelope which opens out at the back and it even comes with a clothing label which says 'Pauline Alice Patterns, Made By Me' on it, which is a lovely touch.
I thought that given this is a skirt pattern that it would
be a relatively quick and straight forward make. However, it was actually quite
challenging as it has some technical aspects such as slash pockets, button band
and pleats which when coupled with the fact that I wanted to add a lining meant
this project was not as straight forward as I original expected. The
instructions were straight forward to follow with simple illustrations but the
pattern doesn’t have instructions for adding the lining so I had to figure this
out myself.
To add the lining:
You basically make the skirt in the same way as the main
fabric but rather than the front pieces being slashed for the pocket you need
to make one continuous skirt front. This is something I made a mistake with as
I cut the skirt front the same as the front meaning that once the pleats are
sewn the waist is narrower than the main fabric. It was fine in the end however
as I omitted the button band so I had excess fabric which could be moved across
into the side seam. Before doing this though I had to hem the lining as this
was tucked into the button band.
I didn’t alter the pattern pieces but during construction I
found the waistband was too short to attach to the waist of the skirt. I think
this was due to slight discrepancies in the stitching of the pleats making the
waist wider. In future, I must mark them with an invisible marker pen to
improve accuracy rather than pins. To fix this I took 1 cm out of both side
seams and then it fit perfectly.
Ultimately the skirt did not look exactly how I imagined it
would. Originally I planned to add patch pockets to the front but with the hip
pockets I thought this would be a bit too much so decided not to in the end. I
expected the skirt to hang differently, it’s very flared! With the lining as
well it flares out a lot but even though this isn’t what I expected I still
like it a lot.
Likes – melons! Fruit buttons, pockets have a flattering
curve which compliments the kitsch feel of the fabric. Waistband is curved as
well which is more interesting than just a straight band.
Dislikes – Would have appreciated the option for a lining in
the pattern with actual lining pattern pieces as I feel this design of skirt
suits a lining very well.
I would recommend this to a friend as it has some really
cute details which take it from being a plain simple button down skirt to
something a bit different that stands out.
Ideas for future versions:
- Make it in a blue and white striped cotton with a contrasting bright pink thread and quirky buttons. Could have some fun with the direction of the stripes
- Make the waistband wider to make more a statement
- Line the pockets with a contrasting fabric such as a black and white spotty satin
Happy Sewing!
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