Beignet pattern giveaway!

 

Friends, I bring good tidings! As a follow up to my week of wearing Beignet skirts, the wonderful Colette Patterns are offering one of my readers a Beignet pattern of their own. To be in with a chance of winning, pray tell - what is your sewing mantra? I think mine might be, "She who bears a seam ripper fears nothing". The giveaway is open until Tuesday 29th March at midnight GMT. Don't forget to leave your email with the comment if it's not linked to your blogger profile so I can contact you if you win. Good luck!

One week, one skirt pattern

Have I mentioned how much I love the Beignet skirt from Colette Patterns? I love it so much, in fact, that I wore it - well, three versions of it to be precise - all last week. A homage to the more hardcore Me-Made-March troops, if you will. Plus, I went to Washington DC, so what better way to pack light than limit my wardrobe options to three skirts? (The photo in my last post was of Eleanor Roosevelt's dress at the National Museum of American History, by the way.)

Day 1 - Capitol Hill 

Day 2 - boyfriend's office in the Library of Congress

Day 3 - sipping on a margarita

Day 4 - cheesy chips at Ben's Chili Bowl 

Day 5 - Supreme Court

Day 6 - fabric shopping - more on that later, promise!

Day 7 - National Gallery of Art

The skirt proved yet again to be versatile, practical, comfortable (even on an overnight flight) and rather stylish too, if I do say so myself!

Banana Sweetie Skirt

Here is my third version of Beignet, which for some reason reminds me of foam bananas, my favourite sweeties (yum yum). I used a soft and relatively lightweight corduroy for the shell, the last scraps of my very first fabric purchase for the facings, and a shiny poly-something-or-other for the lining. I got the buttons from Walthamstow market, I think they were 20p each.

The skirt is nice and snuggly for the freezing weather we're having in London but bright enough for the onset of Spring (whenever it decides to grace us with its presence).

I now have a version of this skirt in all three primary colours:

version 1

 

 version 2

version 3

I won't go on again about how much I love this pattern, but I would like to reiterate how little fabric it requires. The instructions say that, with 150 cm width fabric, you'll need 2.5 yards / 230 cm for the shell, but I only used 65 cm! Bear in mind I used a different fabric for the facings, but not very much of that either.

Alright, I'll give this pattern a rest for a while and make something different next. But be warned, it won't be the last you see of it!

[Soundtrack: 'Norwegian Wood' by The Beatles]

A Dazzlingly Red Beignet

It's official. I'm in love with this pattern. It's such a delight to make. Easy to get the fit right. Extremely versatile (see my denim version* and other stitchers' projects). Oh so comfortable. And it looks pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

The only tricky part was attaching the lining to the facing, which involves pinning a convex curve to a concave curve going the other way... wait, no, was it two convex curves...? My brain hurts just thinking about it. In any case, you could always omit the lining if you want an easy project.

I used bright red gabardine (yes, it really is that bright in real life!) leftover from the Hollywood Starlet dress, peppermint lining left over from the Betty Draper Suit, and red cotton poplin from my stash for the facings. You might recognise the bow belt as one I made earlier... or if you haven't seen it before, here's a tutorial if you want to make your own. And I already had the pattern so the only money I spent was on the self-cover buttons. Bargain!

* Oh that reminds me! The other day someone called my denim version "a Chloe rip off". Now, I don't know who this Chloe character is and what she thinks she's playing at, but she's clearly ripped me off, not the other way round!

[Soundtrack: 'Lonely Weekends' by Charlie Rich]

Two Beignet colour schemes

One of my New Year Re-sew-lutions is to make more clothes I can wear everyday. I wear my denim button down skirt all the time, so I've decided to get a couple more versions out of the Beignet pattern.

The first one, which I've started putting together, will be in red gabardine (left over from my Ceylon dress), with matching fabric covered buttons, red cotton poplin facings, mint green poly lining (left over from The Betty Draper Suit), and my red bow belt. It isn't going to have pockets because I forgot to put them in and can't be bothered to unpick the stitches I want a more fitted look.

The second one will be in a gorgeous needlecord in a colour I can only describe as "foam bananas" - you know, those soft yellow banana sweeties. Mmm... foam bananas... It will have matching yellow lining, leftover floral print for the facings and pockets from my first dress, and wooden buttons.

What are you working on at the moment?

[Soundtrack: 'Ballad of a Teenage Queen' by Johnny Cash]