St Patricks day seemed an appropriate occasion to pull out this length of emerald green corduroy from the stash and make it up into something. Anything. I bought this fabric from Spotlight, last year. Of course it's kinda ludicrous for me to be wearing a corduroy skirt today since it is a warm 31C here in Perth! but here 'tis, all the same. A corduroy skirt is not so much weather-appropriate right now as it is weather-anticipatory... but I'm sure I'll be grateful for it when more winter-y temperatures kick in. And hey, isn't Emerald the Colour of the Year, or something?? Woa! Definitely a good day to be adding a little emerald green to my wardrobe!
I wanted a skirt that was a little boxy, blocky and oversized, rather than the usual, streamlined little A-line/pencil hybrid silhouette that I usually go for... so I started with a favourite basic pattern Vogue 8363 and played with the proportions. I cut the skirt pieces a lot wider; probably roughly equivalent to a size 18 front/20 back; and a waistband to be my usual size 10, and folded the excess width in pleats into the waistband; two single pleats at the front and two box pleats at the back.
Perusing the zips; usually an invisible zip would be my first choice but all the available colour options looked terrible with this rich emerald green; either too dark or too bright. Nothing looked right. The best colour match was this bright green dress zip, and I finally decided I could live with a dress zip in a skirt; sure, it is a casual choice but so is corduroy a casual fabric. It's been ages since I've put a dress zip in a straight seam without a fly, and I had to stop for a second and think it through again!
I got creative with the insides. Do brightly contrasting "fun" interior details bother you? Then look away now! I'm afraid, without going out and buying new fabric, and I am trying to shop my stash as much as possible this year; the least offensive option was this violet/mauve shot cotton, leftovers from this top that I made for Mum. I finished all the raw edges with HongKong seaming, and the waistband facing and pocket linings are also cut from this fabric. The ultra good news: I have barely any scraps at all leftover from these two lengths of fabric now!
Details:
Top; top "a" from shape shape (fornerly known as Unique Clothes Any Way You Like) by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton, details here
Skirt; Vogue 8363 modified, emerald green cotton corduroy, my review of this pattern here
Shoes; Misano
