A couple of weeks ago I joined a lovely group of girls to have a sewing day. We hired a space at The Cambridge Fabric Company and each brought along a project to make.

I chose to make a Tilly and the Buttons Dominique Flared Skirt. With eight of us going I figured we probably wouldn't have much space for cutting out so I decided to do that part before I went.

The pattern is quite a simple pattern, designed for beginners in mind so I should have been able to get it sewn up quite quickly but with all the chatting going on I didn't make as much progress as I expected! I had a really fun day though and it was lovely to be part of a group of girls who all love to sew!

When I got home I decided to finish my skirt off, I had found the pattern very easy to follow so far and I had used most of the skills involved before. The only step that was new to me was the hem, I hadn't sewn a curved hem before and you needed to gather the fabric slightly on the inside by pulling the thread so that the hem can be turned in on the curve. I struggled a little bit with this step, trying to get the gathers to be evenly distributed, but once I had done all 4 sections I seemed to be getting on quite well and the hem looks perfect from the outside.

I found the Dominique Flared Skirt a really fun skirt to make and I love the shape of it. I chose to make the skirt in one of our bold Cotton+Steel Snap to Grid fabrics as the pattern requires a fabric with a non directional print. This fabric was perfect as it is quite a busy print so you don't notice where the seams join. I also chose it as I wanted to make something colourful to wear for the In Colourful Company Brighton Colour walk I'm going to in April. I think the fabric might have suited the shorter version of the flared skirt, making it a bit more casual but I couldn't bring myself to cut the bottom off and make it shorter!

I have a few weddings to go to this year and I think this skirt would look lovely in a large floral print with a little cami top or blouse so I will definitely be making it again.