An orange skirt from Mum | How About Orange

June 26, 2012

An orange skirt from Mum

I have the best Mom. (Known to you all as Grandma G, faithful commenter on my blog posts.) I said, "Mumsy, would you pretty please sew me a pleated orange skirt?" And so she did. I picked McCall's M5591 as the pattern and my Boardwalk print as the fabric since I had some extra yardage. It's home dec weight, so it was an experiment to see what sort of skirt would result. A cute one, it turns out! It's a little bit heavy for summer, I suppose, but I don't care about things like that.

I recruited my husband to take a couple pictures. I'm not a good poser, and thus I have only one arm and one leg in the photo above. But you get the idea.


Look, it has pockets!


And Mum sewed a sweet surprise inside— the selvedge from this print.

For anyone interested making this pattern, here are her comments on McCall's M5591:

The first thing I would say about this pattern is that I don't know how a person is supposed to know what size to buy! I thought most garment patterns have body measurements on the outside of the envelope, but this one had none. Fortunately, the envelope contained four sizes, so Jess was pretty sure one of them would fit her when she bought it. One did, but not the one she thought. Not even close. ;) So the first thing to note is that if you buy this pattern, don't go according to your regular clothing size! Once you get to the pattern pieces inside, they give measurements as to the waist measurement, etc., for each pattern size. I don't know if the large McCall's pattern catalog in the stores has a size chart or not. I would certainly hope so!

The instructions are pretty straight-forward and easy to follow. I'd say it would be helpful to have some sewing experience before making this skirt, because it doesn't include some little things like finishing seams or which way to press them, etc. The only thing I found to be a little challenging was the zipper. Don't let this be your first-ever zipper installation! It was challenging because of the pleat in the center back where the zipper goes. Mine ended up not quite as neat as I'd have liked it, but I didn't redo it because I thought it might not turn out any better the second time... and because I didn't feel like ripping it out and doing it again.

One last quick tip, if you decide to make this skirt: If you use the version where the pockets are in the side seam, make sure that they are turned toward the front of the skirt when you sew on the yoke. It will save you over an hour's worth of seam ripping and resewing. Ahem. ;)

51 comments:

Grandma G said...

I LOVE how it matches your toenails!!!!

Mum

D said...

I love it!!!

Diane | An Extraordinary Day said...

Love the fabric! (Of course!) Mum made it into the cutest skirt. Lucky girl you are. :D

Heather said...

This is really cute. The fabric is perfect and your mom is AMAZING :)

Jessica Jones said...

Yep!

Christina said...

Love it! I wouldn't have ripped out the zipper either...nasty little things.

Anonymous said...

What a great mom and a gorgeous skirt!

CitricSugar said...

Beautiful! Your mum makes such wonderful stuff...

Lindsay said...

I JUST BOUGHT THIS PATTERN LAST WEEK! It's nice to see how it turns out! I'm barely a sewer, so wish me luck!

Jessica Jones said...

Wow, no way! Well, I can verify the result will be cute.

Beth said...

Oh my gosh! It's adorable! And I love what she sewed inside. So very fun. :)

Anne Magee said...

That is super cute! Wish I could sew :)

LaquitaJJ said...

Wish I had one in that same fabric!

Kate said...

This is a beautiful skirt. Good job Grandma G! Oh zippers, the bane of my existence.

KJ@letsgoflyakite said...

Great job Grandma G! it looks perfect Jessica.

RhondaBuss said...

Such a cute skirt and what a wonderful mom you have!

Live a Colorful Life said...

It's true--your mother is amazing!

LimeRiot said...

I love Grandma G! I always read her comments :). I see where you got your creative talent. This skirt is lovely!!

Collette said...

Such a cute skirt! And thank you Grandma G for the pattern review. I love knowing stuff like that.

jess @ fushmush said...

Orange is so dynamic. Looks great. And I love love LOVE pockets in skirt. Go Grandma G!

annie dee said...

Great skirt. That is the perfect fabric for it!

Emily said...

What a fun skirt!! :)

Caitlin S. said...

done good! love it! x

tinajo said...

Great looking skirt, love both the color and the print! :-)

Anonymous said...

Love your new skirt~your mum did a super job!

And love her comment about the pockets. That totally would be me!

Funkytime said...

Your mom is awesome! And the skirt too!!

Nina said...

Good work, Grandma G! I also wear too-heavy skirts in the summer. But this one will look really good in the winter as well, I'm thinking thick grey ribbed tights...

Suzanne said...

That is an adorable skirt and you are right that you have the best mom. (I do too but there's room in the world for all of us to have the best moms.) I really appreciate the pattern tips. Thanks, Grandma G!

Vita Mechachonis said...

That is gorgeous!!

Grandma G said...

Thank you all!! Reading all the sweet things you said makes me want to sew more nice things for Jess (but don't tell her I said that, or she'll line up more stuff than I can handle!) ;)

Good luck with your skirt, Lindsay! I suggest HAND-basting that zipper in before doing the final stitching.

Jessica Jones said...

Wah ha ha, do you need ideas? I can find some!!

Grandma G said...

*sigh* I knew it! You weren't s'posed to see that.

Lora said...

I love everything about that skirt, nice job Grandma G! It looks great!

Anonymous said...

Great Job Grandma G.

Rocking the skirt.

Clara

ChristineD said...

The skirt is adorable! Love the color, and that pattern is one I will definitely look for. Thanks for the pattern tips, too—-very helpful, indeed.

Anshu said...

How pretty! So sweet of your Mum to sew this super stylish skirt for you.
Great work Grandma G!

BurchCo said...

uh.door.uh.bull.

Unknown said...

I clicked on the icon in my blogroll looking for the kids printables and got totally stuck - and sidetracked - by this skirt. It's amazing!! I love everything about it!

Lisa said...

So cute! I have been wanting a skirt pattern like this with pockets. Glad to know some tips Grandma G!

Emily P said...

Very cute skirt! Fun color & pattern! :)

julie @ tractorgirl said...

that fabric and skirt design are just fabulous! you are sooo lucky to have such a great mum!

kidssewsuite@Cox.net said...

I sew a lot from patterns...they used to put the sizing on the back of each envelope....and now you really have to look for it...a lot of times it is now on the flap that folds in the envelope. I also have noted that each time I sew a pattern I measure the person and coordinate size accordingly...as a general rule ...all patterns run small!

Jen Jen said...

Super Grandma G! Pretty skirt! I love it!

Jen Jen said...

Super Grandma G! Pretty skirt! I love it!

Nikki said...

I believe mccalls puts their size chart on the flap of the pattern envelope.

Grandma G said...

Ahh... yes! I see that now, Nikki! Thanks! I don't know why I didn't notice that before... I guess I'm not used to finding info on flaps. :) I'll warn you, though... it's not accurate!! It's a very good thing Jess only guessed and didn't go by that size chart when she bought the pattern!

Why, oh why do they have to make it so hard?!

De Zuster Van said...

Can I please borrow your mom? What a great skirt and I love your fabric choice!

ThirdMargaret said...

Grandma G made a gorgeous skirt. You wear it well!

Unknown said...

This skirt is fabulous! I think the heavier weight fabric is perfect for defining the pleats in the design. Aren't moms the greatest?

Meg the Grand said...

Your Mum is fabulous!!! The skirt looks amazing - I love making skirts in heavier fabrics, especially pleated ones - the pleats lay so much nicer. This fabric is positively divine :)

marmollada said...

this skirt looks very comfortable and pretty :) you and your mum are fabulous team :)