My Hollyburn Skirt

I've been on Tasia's mailing list since the beginning, but I'd never had the time to be part of her pattern testing before.  I thought about it a few times, especially when she was developing the Thurlow trouser pattern,  because I really need to learn how to sew my own trousers that actually fit in both the hip and waist AT THE SAME TIME!  Is that too much to ask?!  But then I thought that taking on my first fitted pair with a tight time restriction was a recipe for disappointment. 

When she put out a call for testers for a simple skirt, I thought I could probably handle it.  In fact, the Hollyburn is a very quick pattern to put together, and is designed to work for so many fabrics and body types that you really can't go wrong. 

Here are some quick and dirty photos I took with my son's point-and-shoot camera in my lab one morning; until Santa brings me a DSLR, I'm afraid this is the best I can do:

 

 

I really like the way the pockets are constructed without adding any bulk at the hips.  In fact, they lay so flat that they are almost invisible if you are using a busy print.  I decided to add the tabs to the waistband because I had enough fabric, and I had these two lonely buttons made of wood and brass that matched quite well, and would probably never be used otherwise. 

I used 3m of very narrow shwe shwe cotton from Botswana.  After washing and drying, it was only about 85cm (34") wide, but either of the shorter views (B and C) would fit.  I did have to cut the pockets across the grain as you can see below, but it worked with my fabric because the print is symmetrical.  Cutting the pockets with the grain or using view A would have required ~3.5m.

I chose to bind the hem with bias tape because I just so happened to have exactly the right colour and length in my box of tangled chaos perfectly organized notions, and because my fabric is quite stiff and bulky. If you were to use a thinner fabric, it could easily be folded over and hemmed as usual. 

All in all, it's an easy, flattering pattern to give a beginner good results.  It also offers enough variations to make an intermediate or advanced sewintist happy.  See?