Fumeterre Skirts

What would you do if you received yards and yards of two different fabrics in the mail?

Just look at those tigers! What would YOU make out of fabric like that?

Well, if you had a daughter like mine, you'd make her a couple of skirts... at her request, of course. She wanted something besides shorts and capris to wear for summer... something cool and comfortable. This fabric fit the bill - it's very light and floaty cotton (the gray is chambray and the tigers one is lawn). It came from Oak Fabrics (again at Jess's request), along with a Fumeterre Skirt pattern by Deer and Doe, plus all the needed notions. (Thanks, Rachel!) 

There are two versions of the skirt, one with a button front, the other with a fly front and pockets. I made the button one first. There are eight panels in the skirt, and I did french seams! That's a lot of miles of stitching, but it gives a nice professional touch, especially for such light fabrics.

Here's a closer look at the fabric and waistband-in-progress.

I got it finished except for the hem and sewing on the ELEVEN buttons. Then I cut out the other version out of the tiger fabric. The next day I packed, and the following day we headed to Jess's in Newport, KY! Here's the yellow bridge that means we're almost there.

Voilà, the completed skirt!

Jess did most of the work on the second skirt, including the french seams. Here's proof!

The buttonholer on her machine wasn't very cooperative, though. We wasted half a day trying to get it to make a nice buttonhole, but it didn't like the seam allowances underneath, so we gave up and I made one just using zigzag stitching. It turned out acceptable. But thank goodness I'd done those ELEVEN buttonholes on my machine at home!

After all was said and done, we had some fun doing a photo shoot between their house and the neighbors'.

We spent nearly a week there and had a lovely time! After we left, Jess and Alex headed south for a vacation of their own. They stayed in a very cool, artsy hotel where Alex took some "glamour shots" of Jess in the tigers (which she loves and seems to be her favorite of the two).

Below I think she's showing how the two front panels just happened to end up with matching tigers side by side. Not preferable, but who's gonna notice (or care)?

They also visited a beautiful vineyard. Jess's red accessory may look familiar. If not, just back up a blog post. :)

I really enjoyed working on those skirts. The pattern was easy to sew, and I'd gladly make another one. 

However, I've already finished another pattern test, the results of which I'll show you once the pattern is released. AND... Miss Courtney started working on another 4-H project here yesterday, and I'm helping her with that. You'll have to wait till county fair time in August before I can show you, though. Clue: It's something sewn, but it's not a garment! :)