My enthusiasm for today's post may reach wild heights but I will do my best to keep the caps lock and exclamation points to a minimum, as I'm here to share with you my Sew Over It Erin skirt pattern review!
A few months ago I decided to treat myself to the My Capsule Wardrobe: City Break ebook from Sew Over It, a five piece collection of beginner to intermediate level makes, tailored to suit a mix and match style closet for on the go, day to night essentials! (Or a mini collection of every day staples that you will want to wear again and again!)
My first choice was the Erin skirt pattern, an Alexa Chung inspired denim skirt with the most flattering high-waisted shape and buttoned down front detail- basically my dream skirt. The pattern offers multiple sizes and two set lengths giving you the option of fun, mini skirt or super chic knee length, straight off the bat!
My Capsule Wardrobe: City Break ebook has everything you could need for a handmade collection of interchangeable outfits either as a suitcase friendly necessity for a road trip or just to boost your current wardrobe and introduce more tailor made items. The ebook offers beautifully laid out visuals with lots of inspiration for fabric choices and styling tips for all five patterns- the Erin skirt, the Mia jeans, the Alex shirt/dress, the Lola coat and the Molly top/ dress.
Most of the patterns include a standard differing length option and the Molly and Alex also have pattern extensions allowing the possibility to stealthily change a striped, long sleeve top into a versatile, comfy dress or a chic shirt into a fresh, light shirt dress- which amplifies the amount of items you can make from just a handful of patterns!
I opted for a length somewhere between the mini and the knee length, rather than using the pre-set options, simply because I am a shrimp and have to alter most of my clothes to find the most flattering fit and also... it's a handmade item- why the heck wouldn't we make it to our desired size! The charm of dressmaking!
After trawling the fabric market I landed upon this medium weight, heavily dyed navy denim (no surprise that I went for navy) with a generous amount of stretch, which stitched up like a dream! For the buttons I kept things pretty uniform, choosing a dark blue but really you're the boss with making for yourself, you could pick a contrasting colour or even multiple colours/ styles adding some real character to your item. Just be sure to factor into your construction the size of your buttons and corresponding button holes.
One of my favourite features of this skirt are the pockets! They sit beautifully flush to the hips so they don't disrupt your over all silhouette, they're comfortable to put your hands in and deep enough for small treasures and they were so satisfying to stitch.
Being my first experience with Sew Over It patterns I was sincerely thrilled with the ease of this make! The instructions are clear and concise, the PDF pattern is really simple to piece together and of course handy for storage as you've always got a back-up, I found the glossary in the ebook really useful and can imagine that even complete beginners would find this a pleasure to use.
Step by step the carefully constructed plan talks you through, offering fitting hints and optional advice along the way. The accompanying photos are a real help and I found the measurement chart to be accurate and super useful when deciding which pattern to cut and which length to opt for.
A few bits of advice, following my experience; if you work with a dark wash denim be sure to pre- wash! This is essential anyway regardless of the depth of dye, standard practise is to wash your fabric before cutting to avoid shrinkage, but even more so when it is so freshly produced. You may have to wash your finished piece separate for a while, use your initiative. Keep your iron handy throughout construction! Once again, pretty standard dress making etiquette but it really does make a difference to the ease of sewing and the over all accuracy and appearance of your item. Thirdly, invest in/ use a double tipped needle for tiny detailed top stitching. This will transform your garment, really adding a professional edge and will save you several hairy moments when trying to match your stitching!
Over all I was really pleased with the finished skirt and found the whole experience a pleasure! I can't recommend this pattern enough, the ebook and Sew Over It in general (their twitter and youtube are particularly fun to follow!) and I'm already cutting out my second item from the book (the Alex shirt!) and will be sure to share with you the results!
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