The Seville Skirt Twins

I knew as soon as I finished my first sample of the Seville Skirt by Itch-To-Stitch in March, that I would be making several more. It has a flattering shape, is very feminine, can be made lined or unlined, dressed up or casual...but most important for me: It's wind friendly! The last thing I need at my age is a windy reveal at my son's football practice or the grocery store parking lot.

The first of my twins is made of dark blue non-stretch denim. It's unlined and I used a Hong Kong finish on all the inside seams. The hem is catch-stitched. I had worries that this would end up too thick, but it seems to wear just fine.

As a short girl, I had to reduce the length of the skirt by 3 inches to bring my self out of Frumpyville. In my original samples, I took all of that at the L&S line provided on the pattern. For my denim version, I took it all from the bottom hem. I did it that way for two reasons. First, I wanted to make the skirt just another tad shorter so I could wear it this summer dressed down with sandals and t shirts, and second because with the stiffness of the fabric, I was worried that the original trumpet size would be too big and look disproportionate as it flared out. The result is exactly what I wanted!

The second of my Seville Skirts this month is made from the last of my navy printed linen from Elliott Berman Textiles. I have pretty much no experience working with linen, but I can still tell you that this stuff is fantastic! It's been washed and dried several times, behaves perfectly when being sewn and pressed, doesn't fray much and doesn't wrinkle the way I would expect from linen. I really need to consider adding more high-quality linen to my stash.... Anyway, I've also lined this version, to reduce Bright Sun Transparency. I used a tissue weight cotton/linen blend found at my local Joanns store. This too behaved wonderfully!

The pattern instructions are very clear and give you wonderful directions for inserting an invisible zip with the lining that requires no hand sewing. However, my machine is crotchety and refuses to believe that invisible zippers are a "thing". I always have to hand stitch them to eliminate the gap. No matter, It is easy to do, even if I procrastinate and take forever to complete it.

Because the linen has more drape, I took only 1.5 inches of length from the hem and took the other 1.5 inches from the hip L&S line.