When I made my Me Made May pledge, I knew in advance that my me-mades mainly consisted of tops, with a few dresses and scant bottoms thrown in. Making more skirts and pants (beyond just elastic waist pants) is on my to-do list. I thought I'd start simple: the new Mabel knit skirt from Colette. Easy, basic, comfortable...
My new skirt is made from some black french terry that I bought at L.GEmini on Sampeng Lane in Bangkok's Chinatown (same place I got the cool grey knit for Tim's Strathcona t-shirt, which I aso used for the waistband lining). I went looking for a stable knit as required by the pattern, but there was a little communication difficulty on my part, so I ended up walking around the entire store feeling and stretching each roll of knit fabric until I found this black french terry. Sewing with the french terry was great... stable knits are so easy to cut and sew! Zip, zip, zip on the serger and I had myself a skirt within a few hours.
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| Unfortunately, in black, the details like the cool seaming, are completely invisible. |
The skirt turned out pretty great! I made the longer pencil skirt with the kick pleat (view 3), the one with the seams down the front of the thighs (like princess seams on your legs? is that a thing?). The fit was good in the hips, although next time I might make the waist just a tiny bit smaller... The only thing I noticed is that the bottom hem seems to have flared out a bit. Maybe I stretched it out when doing the twin needle hem? Who knows, it might settle back into place after a wash. Or it might not, because I don't have a dryer and knits with poor recovery don't fare well here in BKK. Hmmm.
All in all, a great pattern and a great basic skirt, good for work or bopping around town. I definitely want to try making the version with the button placket in the front- so cute! But I'd like to make it the length of the pencil skirt since minis are not my thing. I could also see making the pencil skirt version with a fun contrasting front panel. I've also got some ikat print ponte left over from my Tessuti Anita pants... that could be a fun Mabel, too! Lots of options.
