Handmade Skirt

I'm so excited to be finished my most recent sewing project! It is a plaid skirt, stitched entirely by hand, and roughly based on a drafting pattern from 1895.

This past summer I discovered the joys of sewing by hand. There is something about it that I find very peaceful. It is slow going, (the skirt took me almost two months to complete!) but it is something I can do while life carries on around me. I can bring it outside and sew while the boys ride their bikes or dig in the gravel pile. I can sew while curled up on the couch listening to my husband reading Discworld. I can even sew while I listen to the sermon on Sunday, because church is online for us these days. And I know that it will take a long time. There is something about using the sewing machine that makes me feel like I should be able to whip something up in a couple days. When I am hand sewing I know that it will take weeks, and I am okay with that.

Having received a small stash of fabric in the summer, I knew I needed to make a few things, and I loved the idea of using this lovely plaid fabric to make a skirt. I've had an increasing interest in historically-inspired fashion, so when I found a historical skirt drafting pattern from 1895, I knew I wanted to try it! (Check it out here: An 1895 Skirt.) I didn't have enough fabric to make it exactly as instructed, but it was fun to try to decipher the directions and make it work with what I had. My end result is not nearly as long or full as it should be historically, but I am impressed with how comfortable it is and how well it fits! I found joy in making it as well as I could, taking the extra time to make small, even stitches, and finishing the seams in a historical fashion. It looks just as nice on the inside as the outside!

It was my first time trying to work with a historical pattern, so there are a few things I would do differently next time, but overall I am very pleased with how it turned out. I think it's going to be a favourite of mine!