Twofold post for today.  Firstly, I got my mug rug completed, so it’ll be in the post to Jan on Monday.  Now I know there are people that would have got a whole quilt done in the time it’s taken me to make this baby, but, well, I’m just not that person lol  Moving on now, I’m picking up the Amy Butler Sew Along tonight, and then tomorrow is Camelia’s day.

Secondly, just for Kristina, a review of Sew What Skirts by Francesca Denhartog & Carole Ann Camp.

I bought this thinking it would save me having to buy lots of skirt patterns, although to be fair, it would probably be easy enough to try and work out patterns by yourself, but who has the time for that!  Anyway, here goes:

• The 16 the skirts in this book (16 according to the book cover that is) are almost all based on A line skirts, with a number of variations
• There are no patterns.  Nope, not one.  Instead they talk you through how to draw up your own patterns to fit you, and show how they should be laid out on the fabric for each skirt, plus giving an idea of fabric requirements.
• They talk you through finishing seams, darts, sewing curved lines and hems
• They look at different waistlines, including elasticated, tied, bias tape bound and zip closures with hooks and buttons
• The 16 skirts shown are:
  1. A line with simple drawstring waist and patch pocket
  2. A line made with embroidered cloth and button embellishment with side zip closure
  3. A line made from vintage tablecloth (aka cotton or linen border print fabric), patch pockets with buttons and back zipper
  4. A line wrap with waist tie
  5. Half circle wrap with waist tie (the measurements for this and the circle skirt later on involve a little bit of indulgence in the black arts ;o) )
  6. A line wrap with no tie and snap tape closure
  7. Square skirt with elastic waist (ie, the skirt is a square with a hole in the middle for the wiast)
  8. Circle skirt with zipper and button closure and trim.  For this you need to be able to make a giant compass, and a scientific calculator would be a bonus – remember those maths games which always ended something like ‘take away the number you first thought of and add 7’?  The measurements are something like this!
  9. Straight skirt with side slit and zipper closure
  10. Long straight skirt with heavily patterned panel, zip closure and back slit
  11. Straight/pleated skirt where the top ‘yoke’ is based on the straight skirt, and the lower section is pleated
  12. A line skirt, topped with sheer organza wrap with zip closure on the skirt
  13. A line layered skirt with elastic waistline
  14. Straight skirt with lace overlay, zip closure and back slit
  15. A line tiered skirt with in line lower layer, zip and hook and eye closure and trim
  16. A line tiered skirt with ruffled lower layer, zip and hook and eye closure
  17. A line multi-tiered skirt with elastic waistband
• Can you count 17 there?  Yep, me too, but the cover says 16…

So was it worth buying?  Well, yes. Apart from the instantaneous skirts you can make just by doing exactly what’s in the book, I think the skirts in this book would be ideal for muslins that could be used going forward on all sorts of things. I’m already eying up that circle skirt for a potential Christmas party dress project!