Finished: The Spanish Harlem skirt

So, finally, the skirt! I seem to be in a bit of a sewing drought at the moment - lots of inspiration, but actually sitting down at the machine seems harder than climbing Mount Everest...

Anyway, thanks to having a good day (those aren't all that many right now), I pulled myself together and sewed the skirt that I cut... Monday last week, maybe? The theme for last week was Spanish Harlem (as a bunch of you most likely already know), and I decided to take my inspiration less flowery Spanish and more tough, cool and sexy Harlem (in this inspiration collage).

I took the opportunity to use two favorites, a great red woven upholstery fabric that I got for almost nothing (it came in a box together with equally amazing upholstery fabrics, got it online for less than 100SEK including postal fees, yay!) The other is a lightweight cotton mix in black and white, I used that one only as the waistband for contrast. Here's how it came out:

No side seams! I drafted this skirt based on a few classic skirt patterns I own to put the darts in the back and the tucks in the front in their right places (the darts in the back are not perfect though, but then again, nothing is perfect, right?). I then constructed "side seams" that only go from the waist to the hip. These are then sewn like darts (but a bit more curved). Great way to save fabric and/or avoid more fraying than necessary when working with woven fabrics like this one... (And I think this would be a very good plan when working with plaid as well, no worrying about matching up the sides!)

Luckily I was able to use the whole width of the fabric so when sewing the back seam I did not have to worry about the fabric fraying! Because I made this a midi skirt I added a slit in the back (or it would have been impossible to walk...) Also, I can't help being quite proud of making that zipper go in without any visible seams on the outside of the skirt, and it's almost not wonky at all! ( I still hate zippers, but a little bit less for each time.)

Fun detail: The white shirt I'm wearing comes from my dad! I got it years and years ago, and before that I assume he wore it in the 70's... Quality.