Taking Lizzie to the seaside

The pattern of this fabric caught my attention immediately when I saw it online at Abakhan Fabrics Eesti. Since it was on sale I ordered the whole rest of the fabric which was just 130 cm. I was slightly disappointed to notice that the fabric had a small (ink?) stain on it, but luckily the stain was quite well hidden by the busy print. I thought for a while of sewing the fabric into a blouse (and cutting the pattern pieces around the stain) but finally got out my Sew Over It Lizzie skirt pattern where the stain is conveniently hidden behind one of the numerous pleats.

I have made the Lizzie once before and it was way too long. This was very convenient because this time there was not enough fabric for the whole length of the skirt. I chopped about 9 cm off of the skirt pattern pieces and there was just enough of the fabric left to make the waistband. I decided to forgo the pockets even though I could have made the pocket backs out of another material.

As a small extra detail I decided to add some piping between the waistband and the skirt. I had a small piece of light beige bias binding left over from another project and I turned it into a piping cord and sewed it in place just like I did in my tutorial here. As I was ironing the skirt I realised that this fabric formed super sharp creases and kept them well. On an impulse I ironed all the pleats all the way to the bottom of the skirt. This gives this skirt a whole another look from my previous Lizzie.

I made a lining out of some cotton voile but I’m not really sure whether it was a good idea. I don’t like the rustling of the synthetic lining fabric and the cotton feels great against my legs but the upper skirt tends to stick on to the lining fabric a bit which disturbs my neat pleating. I’m still undecided but I might add a synthetic lining between the cottons to smoothen things out.

For the pictures we (my husband and I) went walking to the gorgeous studio and home of a famous Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela called Tarvaspää. This time we skipped the museum tour and went to the Villa Linudd just opposite of the museum to have some delicious cake and Coffee. I thought that the romantic skirt just suited this romantic villa with it’s lace tablecloths and flowery wallpapers. Besides the skirt, I am also wearing my Sew Over It Pussy Bow Blouse that I blogged here.

One of the nice things of the Gallen-Kallela museum is also its location at the seaside. The sun was shining and we spend some time just sitting at the pier listening to the waves and watching the nearby fishermen trying to catch some fish.

And finally, here is the skirt from the back. This time I managed to make the zipper end look nicer than in my first version. As I was very careful not to leave a too big a gap between the center back pleats I did sew the hook and eye so that the waist is quite tight. I might move the eye part a bit if it really starts bothering me too much, but right now I’ll let it be.

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