A surprise win!

On Tuesday I made a skirt I've been wanting to make for a year.  Just a simple, solid-colored dirndl, but it really fills a hole in my wardrobe and I love it!

I've had this pattern in my mind since I won it from Andrea at Invisible Flower last year.  I even mentioned that I intended to make it,  to simulate a designer skirt priced at almost $300.  (You can see that skirt here - it's no longer available on the designer's site.)  I would have made it a lot sooner, but I couldn't find the emerald green fabric I wanted until about 2 months ago.  I was astonished that it was so hard to find - seems like a pretty standard color to me, especially for spring.

The pattern hails from 1969 and includes long skirt, short skirt, pants and blouse:

You may ask why I needed a pattern for a dirndl skirt.  I really didn't, but this one seemed so perfect and was in my size.  The pockets here are in-seam, but I made patch pockets on my skirt to mimic the expensive one.

As I was making the skirt, I had a feeling it might not look so great on my curvy body.  So I was really pleased when I tried it on and was happy with how it looks.  I call this a "slim dirndl' - it's not overly gathered, and the panels are not rectangles but rather subtle trapezoids, so there's a little shaping at those side seams which in my opinion gives a more flattering fit.  You can see that on the back of the envelope:

look at how wide those pant legs are compared to the skirt pieces!

So here are my sub-par rainy day photos.  I decided to just go ahead and take them because who knows when the sun will return?  It's been rainy here since Monday.

See?  I don't look all poofy!  My hair, however, is quite poofy due to the humidity, so here is the skirt from the back, with me trying to pull my poofy hair out of the way!

This is plain broadcloth.  I didn't line the skirt because I decided to make it on a whim and didn't want to go out and buy lining.  And I always wear a slip so it's really not necessary.  The pattern calls for a lapped back zipper and waistband extension, but I did an invisible zipper going all the way to the top of the waistband.

this one shows the color best

This morning I pulled out about 5 blouses from my closet that look great with this skirt, and I didn't even get to the tee shirts or sweaters or jackets!  But I love it most with this little blouse I bought from Anthropologie probably ten years ago - it's one of my all-time favorites.

I'm also wearing these cute little pink and white seersucker sandals from J.Crew probably 7 years ago.

I traced this pattern onto the medical paper thinking it would be a one-off, but I would really consider making this again! 

I considered putting two buttons on the front of the waistband like the designer skirt, but in the end decided against it.  It seemed like a little too much, and I had a feeling they would have bothered me anyway.  It took me a while to manage the patch pockets with those gathers, and it's not perfect, but I think it's OK.

Or maybe they are perfect and it's just my wonky posture!  I did measure them.

So that's my new skirt.  Someday it will stop raining and warm up, and then I will get to wear it!  Yay!