The Starboard Skirt!

Oh my! I've found such a GREAT pattern!

I tell you, the skirt I'm wearing in this post, (which I made last Sunday evening), is just about as brilliant as it gets in terms of ease of design and making, with a wonderful result.

I've had this Ikea curtain fabric for many years, I don't remember what I bought a metre of this material for, but it's fate that it came to be perfect for this skirt, it was just waiting to be made into this skirt.

When laid out flat, this fabric had huge red circles on it, goodness only knows what I thought I was going to make with it. I think it's worked out well for this garment.

The tutorial to make The Starboard Skirt is from the blog Simple Simon and Company, and the instructions are in two parts.

If you want to make the skirt for your little girl, or you want to make it for yourself and have a figure of a girl (no hips or waist basically), then you will be fine following the FIRST tutorial here.

If you have curves, you will find that if you follow the first tutorial, your skirt ends up being more of a straight skirt (rather than the more flattering A-line shape), and it might end up being a bit too tight around the waist, hips and posterior. That is what happened with the first skirt I made, and it didn't fit terribly well.

There's the first skirt I made, in the polka dot fabric, above.

I think I might be able to get away with wearing it with a tunic over the top, something that doesn't show the pinched in waist.

The red and taupe abstract shapes skirt I feature in this blog post, was made using instructions from a later blog post here, combined with the instructions from the first tutorial.

Part of the reason I fell in love with The Starboard Skirt, was the gorgeous fabrics used in the first tutorial. I love the simple and bold designs. I love them so much, I actually want to copy those skirts and use the exact same fabrics.

If you are in the United States, it's easy enough, you can order the Yellow Chevron print on-line here. And the red striped print can be bought on-line here. This company don't ship internationally. I e-mailed them asking them if they would make an exception, I was so obsessed by getting hold of some of this fabric (after a futile search trying to find these patterns here in the UK). The fabric shop said no, they don't ship internationally.

So, not one to give up that easily, I wrote them another e-mail asking where the fabrics were from, so I could trace them by finding out their make, which isn't listed on the website of this company. They kindly gave me the name of the place they bought the fabric from! And joy of joys, the fabric is available to buy on-line here, and they ship internationally.

It has occured to me (but I've just ignored the thought completely, as I'm obsessed about owning these two fabrics), that my quest is slightly ridiculous, as I only need a metre of each fabric, and I am also not meant to be spending lots of money on fabric. The material itself is not massively expensive, it's the shipping cost that hurts.

Anyway, this is a great pattern for anyone to make, beginner or experienced sewer. I can see myself making a few, it's difficult to resist a pattern that takes a few hours to work into a finished garment.

And my knitting? I haven't given up on knitting, absolutely not, never.

I'm still working on the Debbie Bliss dress pattern.

I worked on my dress for almost the whole journey on my trip to London last Tuesday, which felt very luxurious. That's the wonderful thing about traveling by train, it makes fabulous uniterrupted knitting time.

Getting up at five am, and  returning home at 10 pm, made it a long day though.

I'm not too far off finishing the dress, as I've reached the left-hand side section, where you start to decrease for the neckline.

I did one more cable pattern repeat than specified in the pattern, before I started to decrease at the neckline, as I had a sneaking suspicion it would be too low otherwise. The models are ususlly tall and slim, and on the model in the picture for the pattern, the neckline is going towards being a bit low. So as I'm 5 foot 2, I wouldn't be surprised if the neckline in the pattern was too low on my stature. I don't feel comfortable showing cleavage.

The weather is meant to be good this weekend, but I've got to do some work, putting things off doesn't get things done, funny that..........

Have a lovely weekend, take care, and cheerio! Vanessa xxx

 

 

Comments

[barbara]

Wow!That's all I can say about the skirt.

[elizabeth]

Vanessa,

I LOVE your skirt! Especially the Ikea one! It looks amazing with your tights (that's one things that is hard to find around here---cute colored tights).

And thanks for your kind words. I will be featuring your skirt tomorrow!!

[Penelope]

What a groovy collection of patterns and colours you like for your new skirt pattern Vanessa. I had to smile as I made my Alice an a-line skirt a few weeks ago with some cheap and cheerful ikea cotton I bought an age ago which has all different birds on it. Nothing like a bit of ikea that can be worn!
Love love luuuuuurrrrve your incredibly DB dress, you are a true inspiration and master (or mistress?) of the making kind. I love the colour yo've chosed and your desire to finish this garment. I certainly know what you mean about uninterupted knitting time. I almost put my alarm on this weeksholiday to get up to do some quiet knitting time (he he). Have yourself a busy happy bee weeknd xox Penelope

[Kate]

No stopping you now!
Furnishing fabrics can be brilliant for skirts/trousers and remnants can be mega cheap.
I'm desperate to get the weeding done so I have some sewing time,but the weeds keep growing apace!

[Kristina]

Ohh, lovely skirts and the dress is looking great, I love the colour you chose. I came across your blog only recently and it is fast becoming one of my favourites! Looking forward to future posts! :)

[Magic Cochin]

Awesome skirt! It's so graphic and totally fab!

Celia
x

[tinajo]

It turned out great! :-)

[Liz W in Missouri, USA (With Lucy)]

I really like both of the skirts, but being all about comfort, I totally get what you mean about the straighter fit of the red one. My Goodness! You just about have a whole new wardrobe. Isn't it fun to have your creations all done up and to just be so happy with them? The knit dress is, of course, gorgeous. I am admiring how perfectly even your stitches are and how that makes the cables look so good. WELL DONE!

[Annie]

That is some skirt !!

[Veronika]

Hellooooooo :)
How clever you are!! With each post you're getting better at sewing! Yay! :) Wish we lived nearer (although I'm not actually sure where you live..) then we could get together for sewing time! :) [MC Hammer in the back ground... tam tamtam tam... Sewing Time... tam tam tam] Although I think most of it would be spend with chatting! :)

I'm making a dress for Anabelle at the moment from a large piece of fabric I still have from way before when I made a toy cat for a friend's little girl. It's coming along nicely! Well.... I'm still only pinning it onto the fabric, but with tum bugs and kids and kids with tum bugs, it's not easy finding time!

I absolutely adore the dress you made in the previous post! Faaaabulous! Oh oh oh, for some reason that reminds me.... no, I think your knitted dress that's coming along reminded me that the knitted coat we talked about ages ago is... finally.... finished!!! :) Whoop whoop! Yesssss, my parents are bringing it with them when they visit me in a weeks time! I hope it's pretty! then I'll take a couple of snaps and post them on my blog to show you!

Our cat's just put a mouse on the door mat.. got to go... Cheerio! Veronika

[Rachel]

Wow, I love the skirt! It looks fantastic, and I'm excited to see how your knit dress comes out--I've never had the patience to undertake such a big project :-) It looks great so far!

[Jenni at Baa-me Kniits]

Wow that skirt really pops! Brilliant colours and the red dots....FAB :-)

Love that knitted dress, can't wait to see it finished. Thanks to you I am getting a nice collection of ideas for making my tunic top/dress :-)

[Elizabeth]

A perfect match of pattern and fabric - and you lok marvellous in it!

[Lynne]

Gosh, you have been doing a lot of sewing! The skirt looks fabulous. My daughter chose Ikea fabric for that first dress I made her. It was a bright green with hippos.
Your knitted dress is so fine and neat, I am in awe.

[Lynda aka Katie Willow]

Gorgeous. That is my favourite skirt style actually. I have a few. I plan to wear a brown Gap one I have for interview on Monday but as I am a bit curvy they don't look how I visualise them looking in reality!
Clever you tho!

[The Muse of The Day]

So modern, so colorful, so alive - the skirt reads : "No couch potato here, excuse me, I have a life". I think your fabric choice is brilliant. As far as the hunt for the other fabrics: hearing your story makes me feel better about my fancies of hopping on a plane to go to NY just for fabric. Carolina

[frances]

Vanessa, that skirt is an absolute stunner! The fabric is so perfect for the pattern's design. Back in the 1960's and 70's, I often used sturdy cotton upholstery fabric for my clothes sewing. I liked the fact that the fabric was very wide, and would allow me (also a not very tall person) the opportunity to get much out of a yard of fabric. And the prints, or even colors of the cottons were pretty wonderful.
You are reminding me of what fun sewing can be. I also really like the look of that blue knit dress. What a busy lady you are! xo

[Siobhan]

What a great skirt - and pattern! Having clicked on the link, I see your skirt is now featured as fully deserved. It looks like a really flattering and nice shape to wear. It works well as a summer skirt but I can imagine it working in a thicker fabric for the winter. Definitely adaptable; I can see how the shape would work as an interview skirt too. Lots of food for thought! There are some good sites you are showing us Vanessa. I think possibly I may be sucked in to doing some sewing again. Last time around there was no blogging to get you all excited - just standing for hours in the department store looking through pattern books for ideas. I did have a sewing friend which made it quite good fun though. We both had small girls at the time and used to love making girly and swirly things. It is excellent to get a skirt out of just one yard of fabric too. I've got the Sew What! skirts book which has nice skirts in it - you draft your own patterns. There is a flickr group here. http://www.flickr.com/groups/sewwhatskirts_sewalong/pool/
Some are nicer than others I think. Shamefully I still haven't used it. I need a metre stick to draw up the patterns with and am not sure where to get one from. I expect a better person than me would manage with a ruler though.
Looking forward to seeing your knitted dress!

[Sandi Lee]

I love the way the circles look in this skirt, no one else would have the same, anywhere.
x Sandi

[Kate]

ooh yes, that really is a great pattern, it'll look different with each fabric used. Your Ikea circles are fab, such a lot of fun and just great for that skirt. Ikea have some great fabrics I think, I love their Aina linen which I have used all around the house and for clothing too. Gets better and better with each wash. Anyway style bunny, have a great week, am so looking forward to seeing your knitted dress, it looks amazing already!

Kate x

[Victoria]

Loving that skirt. Can't wait to have some time to linger over that link. And what patience you have knitting dresses. It looks fab. Hope you were doing something exciting up in London. x

[Debbi Crane]

I've only just found your blog! Delightful, delightful, delightful!

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