Finished - Monet On Acid Charlotte skirt

This has been finished for ages, since before our honeymoon, but it's taken me forever to get some decent pics of it. This is my second version of the By Hand London Charlotte pencil skirt, my first denim version blogged here.

Version Deux is made from a fairly light stretch cotton, from Darn Cheap Fabrics. I originally planned to make it into capri pants, but didn't buy enough. It's from the same range as my crazy floral Clover pants. Its the most fabulous acid bright floral, and makes me think it is what Monet would have painted if he was on LSD! I always intended this to be a summer skirt, so I didn't line it. The fabric has a lot more stretch than my denim skirt, but still rides up a little across the hips - I think this is just what pencil skirts do. In my pics I am wearing a full slip as it was sticking to my stockings terribly, but is still a bit wrinkly - I think this one is definitely for warmer weather, to be worn over bare legs!

 

 Like my first version I made the darts a little longer, I can't remember if I took the hips in or not. I also added a kick pleat again, this time making sure it was a lot higher, and I took a significant amount of length off (but can't remember - a good 15cm I think). I used an invisible zip and cut the back on the fold (the part on the fold is the centre of the kick pleat - the tutorial I use for a kick pleat is this one - its fab) and before I installed the zip I finished the edges of the fabric in seam tape so it looks super tidy, making sure to mark my seam allowance first in case I took up some seam allowance with my binding. I was going to bind the side seams in seam tape, but ended up just folding the seam allowance under and top stitching which was surprisingly easy and looks great. I think this will be my last Charlotte for a while. I'm not convinced the fit is perfect for me - I have an UFO princess seam Burdastyle pencil skirt buried deep in my ironing/refashion/UFO basket that I must drag out and muck around with again....

Seam for zip insertion finished with hem tape before inserting zip - blue line is seam allowance to keep me on track.

I adore this print, and I think I have just enough left over for some shorts - bring on Summer!