Pocket Calculator

♫ ♪ Kraftwerk - Pocket Calculator

Back in February,  I was approached from Megan Nielsen patterns to be a pattern tester for their new skirt pattern - Axel Skirt.. It is a basic skirt pattern that comes in 3 variations, and it’s for knit fabrics.. To be honest, at first glance I wasn’t sure if that’s the right pattern for me.. Fitted skirts don’t look good on my body type, and I rarely sew knit fabrics.. I give it a thought for a little, and decided to look at it as a challenge.. It’s nice from time to time to make something different, and I don't regret it.. 

I liked two versions of Axel skirt, the one with a slit, and the one with hip sashes.. At the begining I wasn't sure which one would I make.. I left that decision for after I find the fabric.. In the first store where I started looking for my fabric I saw this fabric made from black and white threads creating a pattern that reminded me of no signal on TV.. One more thing that I liked, both sides of the fabric could be used as a right side.. I immediately knew that it would look great for a skirt version with hip sashes (version 2).. The fabric looked warm, which was very important to me on that cold February day.. 

I decided to make a version 2 of the skirt, but a bit shorter than it was suggested in pattern.. Darker side of the fabric I used for the skirt, and the whiter one for hip sashes.. If it was a regular pattern I probably wouldn’t spend time reading the instructions.. Since I was a pattern tester I tried to pay some attention to the instructions.. There are diagrams for all skirt versions, so it’s very easy to figure out all steps.. I made one change to the pattern.. There was no need for central seam on the front and the back of my skirt.. Those seams would only make a bulky mess with my fabric.. When I started sewing I realized that my fabric choice was not the best for this skirt.. Horizontal seams stretch the fabric.. To avoid the stretching at the waistband-skirt seam I sewed an elastic to hold it normal.. It was smart decision.. You can see that my hemline is stretched after sewing it with a twin needle.. Side seams are a bit curved because they follow the hipline.. That also made my fabric to stretch, and as a result the skirt was longer on sides than on center parts.. In theory it’s an easy fix.. In real life, I saw that after hemming the skirt.. It took me more than 2 months to rip the seam and make an even hemline..   In the end, only hemline doesn’t look good on my skirt.. 

With all the problems my fabric caused me, I like how this skirt looks and feels.. It turned out that it keeps me warm at the part I really need it – at my low back.. Last week we had a cold weekend, and after wearing this skirt for the photo-shoot, I didn’t want to take it off.. I spent all day in it, and it proved to be very comfy too.. Perfect for casual wear.. In future I should try to use more knit fabrics for making clothes (not only for the lingerie).. 

On these photos I'm also wearing one of my many Tate Tops, free pattern by Workroom Social.. I adore that pattern, and I hope I'll soon find time to show you all of my versions in one post.. It proved to be the best pattern for using leftover fabrics, and it can be combined in many ways..

Behind the camera - мој Матија