Pattern Emporium Tiered maxiskirt in Liberty

 I first encountered this skirt when I saw my friend Tessa's version.  I've never been very into skirts.  Like, I own the same few and wear them occasionally but they aren't that comfortable and rarely have pockets so why bother?  The few I have are really great and that's sort of it, right?  

Hm.  Well, I realised a big problem was that my legs rub together.  So this summer I decided to solve the problem with long leg boyshorts with lace hems, so I could wear my skirts.  (More on those later).  And it made skirts suddenly seem like a more viable option (especially if they have pockets.)  

This does not have pockets, but that is easily fixed.  And after thinking for quite awhile I decided I was ready to cut into my number 2 longest stashed fabric: a Liberty Tana Lawn in my Favourite Print Ever Made.  In order to do that I had to do a practice version, because I have never shirred and I was not sure how the shirring would go.  

Spoiler alert: the shirring went Very. Poorly.  

Sorry it was very windy when I took these photos, plus midwinter so rather cold. 

I cut a size 10 and used some very fancy Liberty silk twill that has been sitting around - this is for my friend R and I knew she would love the colours and would not care too much about the shirring.  What is discovered is that although in one spot I read to NOT pull tension when you wind the shirring elastic onto the bobbin, actually you DO need to pull a moderate amount of tension.  All the shirring does not really suck together and just looks like weird loops on the inside of the skirt.  Luckily there's a piece of elastic in the waistband as well so this first version is wearable and the silk twill is delightfully swishy.  I was on a time crunch so I forgot to take notes on things I would change the second time around...

So after waiting far too long and not remembering anything I learned from the first version, I made my Liberty Special.  I think I wanted to shorten the middle tier 1" but I didn't do that.  I did add very large pockets. 

 

I obviously practiced shirring in the meantime and got better at it.  I didn't have any issues making this skirt, it's an easy make.  I like my huge pockets and I like the way it drapes.  

 

Chalk and Notch Marcel dress review

 I really liked this pattern when it came out and I managed to avoid buying it until summer, thus keeping my enthusiasm fresh.  I also pretty quickly chose this subtly striped Liberty lawn for it - one of my hoarded fabrics that I'm trying to finally use.  

I found the instructions clear.  I do wish pdf instructions would be aligned vertically instead of portrait style, which means you have two pages across and very small print.  I used A0 printing and there was a moderate amount of free space on my pages - almost one entire sheet, which is 7$ of wasted paper.  I cut size 4B - you have the choice of a larger cup size, which changes both the bodice and the centre front piece. And I aligned my stripes as the model has done on the Chalk and Notch website, though my instinct would have been to do the opposite.  If anything I'm surprised and the subtleness of the effect but I think it's smarter in fact to have the vertical stripes be the main focus of the dress. 

I expected to ADORE this dress.

In fact as I've been binge sewing my way through a post-surgery week, this was a highlight plan.  I am sort of getting tired of sewing, but I popped it out over the course of a day.  It's straightforward. Except for the straps. 

Here I am recalling some dissatisfaction I had with the Peppermint/Elbe textiles pattern from last year, which required you to insert the straps at your own personalised length.  That ended up being too hard to identify and my straps were too short and I couldn't stand them.

Here, you have the option to slightly angle the straps on the front. I did this.  I have sloped shoulders. Then you can try on the wee bodice piece to your heart's content until the straps are adjusted to suit you. I angled the back straps as well.  I should have even shortened them a bit.  So my main irritation with this pattern is that you really can't do just one.  You need to do one, identify exactly what happens with the straps during wear, and then make that a permanent feature of your pattern. 

 Also, in the end, this is quite billowy, with the gathers mostly at the sides and the front just...roomy.  Good for pregnancy.  I'm not pregnant though.  And in the short version it feels very very short because it doesn't touch my legs.  So, good if you are somewhere so hot, you want to feel like you aren't wearing clothes.  But I feel like it's not enough dress.  A breeze would be dangerous.  I recommend heavier fabric, like tencel, rayon or linen (unless you want that nothing effect.)  I think I would not make this length again - I'd add one more tier.  (I'm 5'4")  Also, this dress suffers a severe lack of pockets, and nowhere to put pockets, unless you put them on the side panel.  

Overall I am satisfied but I am not in love.  I'm not rushing to make the second one but I could see it happening one day.  Definitely would be a fun make for lots of scraps.