when things turn out even better than expected

 After that last project failure I decided I wanted something not only quick and easy to make, but also something that would actually work out! So I started out by taking up the hems of two pairs of jeans that I've had sitting in my mending pile for at least a year now.  Isn't that terrible? In the time it's taken me to sit down and hem them I've made god knows how many complete outfits from start to finish, yet it's taken me this long to spare the 10 minutes it took to cut and hem my jeans!

But still feeling a little worn out and wary of another failure, I decided to make a simple skirt.  I really want to expand my smart casual wardrobe, so I don't just always wear jeans and a nice top when I go to the movies or out for a coffee but it really is a big hole in my wardrobe at the moment.  I settled on my fast becoming favourite shape, the tulip skirt from Burda 9/2007, skirt 116:

I really like this shape because it looks less like office wear than a pencil skirt, but a little different to a plain a-line skirt too.  Plus it is surprisingly flattering even though it has extra fabric around the hip line, which I suspect comes from emphasising the waistline.  And since I've made this before, I knew it would fit so it was a winner on all counts.

This time I've made it from black wool crepe, lined in black bemburg:

Handily it has pockets too, so I can stand around looking too cool for school:

And so even though I just wanted a skirt to wear in casual situations, the wool crepe fabric has made this skirt look really quite good so now I'm thinking of making a cute cropped jacket to go with it from the same fabric so I have a funky skirt suit as well. 

The fabric was a total bargain too - I bought a huge length of it from a garage sale for a couple of dollars, but when I got it home and opened it up I realised that there were moth holes along one edge of it.  This fabric is very wide, so I just cut off the ruined part and washed the rest of the fabric in a warm cycle in the machine.  Normally I would treat wool crepe with more care, but since this was cheap and almost ruined anyway I took a risk.  It only felted up a little but didn't lose too much of its drape so no harm at all.  I did keep the fabric in a big zip lock plastic bag though in case there were still moths or eggs in it, because I didn't want to infect the rest of my fabric.

So all in all, the fabric and the skirt turned out better than I had planned.  Now I just need some cute tops to go with it, which is another big hole in my wardrobe!

Thanks for all your commiserations re my last failed dress project.  It was my first Project Runway pattern, so not an auspicious start but I am contemplating making another Project Runway pattern but this time a girls dress for Anna, so hopefully that turns out better.  And to assure you Gail that this dress is too small, this is as far I can get the zipper up:

Beyond saving I'm afraid!