Cardigan: Princess Highway
Blouse: Love to Love You
Skirt: DIY Brumby skirt
While I was at the A+ Markets I was lucky enough to meet Laura, a reader and fellow sewist who I know peripherally through a mutual friend, Hellen. Laura was wearing this magnificent skirt, with big, deep, wonderful pockets. She told me that she’d made it herself (damn) from a pattern that I knew from experience didn’t go up to my size (double damn) but that if I wanted she could send me a copy, graded-up to fit a wider waist (hurrah! and double hurrah!)
Grading patterns is still well beyond my skill-set, so I can’t properly express how thankful (and impressed!) I was when an impeccably marked-up set of paper pattern pieces for Megan Nielsen’s Brumby skirt arrived in my letterbox.
I got myself to a fabric shop quick smart, and picked up some lightweight denim so I could give the pattern a whirl. It’s a lovely and fairly simple skirt with deep scooped pockets, a wide curved waistband, and soft gathers that fall in fullness from the hips.
The pattern is fairly straightforward, though I managed to attach the waistband upside down the first time (apparently nearly everyone does). The curved waistband is divine, and I don’t know if it was Laura’s mad sewing skillz, or the weight of the denim fabric, but I wore the skirt all day today, and didn’t have to wriggle it down from under my boobs once. Good stuff.
I’m already keen to make it again – I think in a softer fabric – and I thought I’d experiment with the gathering and maybe try piping for the first time to really make those pockets sing. Today I teamed it with my old confetti blouse and a short sleeved mustard cardigan
To keep the cardigan in place I employed a set of daisy sweater clips that I bought a few years ago from Etsy.
My thanks again to Laura for providing me with this pattern – I’m in your debt!
Dammit! That looks like the perfect skirt. Nice work, but I wish there were a way for the rest of us to access that sized up pattern. 🙁
I’m happy to explain how I graded the pattern. Lian was lucky enough to be close to my measurements so I could just send her a copy. Send me an message and I will try to help 🙂
That would be wonderful Laura! I’ll add it to the blog post if you like 🙂
Yep, I too put the waistband on upside down. I must say that I find Megan’s instructions a little vague in most of her patterns – they’re cute makes and generally work out reasonably well, but for such simple patterns they sure end up needing a lot of unpicking! You look completely adorable in this outfit, by the way. Love your blog.
Thanks so much, Angela! I felt so silly – I even know going in that everyone put the waistband on the wrong way and I STILL did it!
Hi! Mae showed me your blog a while back and I have been stalking it ever since. Love the skirt, I am super jealous of your sewing skills!
Thanks Ella! I’m still learning, but it’s definitely my new favourite hobby!
I have been dying to have this skirt, but am also sized out of it. If you are able to share *how* to grade the skirt larger, I would love to hear it! I’ve been scared to try and usually need clear examples to learn new skills.
Hi Amanda,
Stay tuned! Laura’s offered to write up a tutorial on how she graded the pattern 🙂