great british sewing bee | box pleat skirt

Almost done posting my Easter projects!  This one was actually my first to hit the sewing machine, before my white dress.  I struggled to decide which of the patterns from the Great British Sewing Bee book to try on first, but ended up using the Box Pleat Skirt pattern to adapt and do my own thing with anyway.  This finished item was a little big around the waist.  My solution: stick a bib and some straps on it to hold the waistband up a bit, and voila!  I already have a Topshop pinafore skirt (dress?) in this style that I used to cut a pattern template from, including the lined pocket and straps.  Making buttonholes on the machine was a bit of a pain, but I got there in the end.  To further cinch the waist in I also tried belting it, liked the way it looked, then subsequently made and attached 5 belt loops and forgot to put a belt on for photos. Classic Lily that. ;)  You can use your imagination, right?

Figuring things out for myself seems to be one of my best ways of working, so I’ve a feeling that from now on I might be improvising and cutting my own patterns, with the help of Youtube and the sewing encyclopedia when I’m stuck, of course.  Any fellow crafters out there: do you prefer following patterns, or do you find that sometimes they can confuse you more so than making it up yourself?

Cropped tops are always bralets on me!  I swear I have an extra 3 ribs on each side giving me a ridiculously long torso haha.

Stealing my mum’s shoes, again!  Black boots – especially chunky low heels – seem to go with everything I own, summer or winter.  Totally cliche for spring I know, but I’m really liking bold floral prints at the minute, and everything my mum and I have made over the last month or so has been in various combinations of pink and white.  I’m not that much of a girly girl, I promise!  Plain black seemed like the best option for toning down the extreme cutesy-girliness of a pink floral pinafore; that’s my logic anyway. 🙂

10 days until exams start, eeek!  We had our final end of school photos the other day, and it’s finally sinking in that we’re actually leaving for good in no time at all.  Feels strange.  Anyone else got mixed feelings about leaving school?

lily kate x
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