A Little Ditty about By Hand London: The Flamingo Charlotte Skirt

The good thing about working in a fabric store is that you are surrounded by inspiration all the time.

This is also the bad thing about working in a fabric store. 

I have a tendency to be impulsive, especially with fabric, even if I have no use/need/idea for it.

Case in point...

A few months ago, a nice range of laces arrived and I fell hard for particular bolt. The only problem was that it was white...but that didn't stop me from snatching it up immediately. I generally refuse to wear white due to my grotty artistic nature.

 (True story: I once owned pair of white linen trousers purchased for a trip to Thailand thinking it would be nice to swan around in white linen like Jennifer Lopez or similar tropical goddesses. On said trip, the poor white pants endured many a stain. On one particular train ride to Chaing Mai, a man bumped orange juice all over my lap and I had to get changed like Mr. Bean at the back of the carriage. Not fun. (The pants were then shrunk by the hotel laundry so I had to wear tight ankle length linen pants for the rest of the trip...also not fun)

Look at that perfectly matched side seam. Score!

Anyway, that got way off track but the point is, white and me are not friends. 

So the white lace had to have a facelift and due to its lovely 100% cottoniness it was perfect for dyeing.

 I perused the dyes at  Spotlight and soon realised that the choices were quite limited. It was Dylon or Dylon. Dylon it is! I tried to pick some nice bright colours and 'flamingo' was one of them. And it is definitely flamingo. Check out that bright pink!

Don't look at the zipper.... I said don't look at it!

After an hour in the dye, it was washed then dried and waiting to be made up.

Enter the Charlotte Skirt pattern. Loving all of the patterns over at By Hand London!

Not a huge amount to say about the construction of this one: I found a matching pink brushed cotton for the under layer and waistband and it is lined in a stretch lining from work. A quick shout out to stretch lining... how have I never used it before? It wins. 

I basted the lace to the brushed cotton and treated them as one piece. It worked fine, however it is a winter skirt for sure. Slightly bulky and probably too warm for summer thanks to Mr. brushed cotton.

The only issue I had with this pattern is that it is made for an amazon woman. I had to shorten it by a whopping 8 inches or something!! I'm 5'1'' so I usually have to shorten most dress/skirts but this was cray cray. An easy alteration so no biggie. 

I love the pegged skirt and high waist with double darts. Most flattering. It will be the go to pencil skirt pattern for sure... there may already be another one waiting in the wings... maybe...

One of my favourite things about the pattern is that the lovely lasses include a little sew in label for your finished skirt, so cute!

Label included in your pattern!

Pattern: By Hand London-Charlotte Skirt

Fabric: Cotton Lace, Stretch Brushed Cottton, Stretch lining

Notions: Skirt hook and bar fastener, vintage metal zipper

Time: A lazy Sunday afternoon

Oh and the other colour I picked you ask?

 China Blue. Not sure what this will be made up into, anybody have any ideas???