Tag Archives: Jade

Remember my little charcoal Jade skirt? and how I mentioned I needed wanted it in a heap more colours? well, to cut to the chase, ta-da!

Pattern; the Jade skirt by Paprika Patterns.  Now I’ve always said Vogue 1247 is my favourite pattern for a little winter skirt… well.   It’s early days and I can’t say this pattern has usurped that princely position just yet, but it’s peeping over Vogue 1247’s shoulder, and sneaking its hand quietly up to the crown.  It doesn’t have pockets, true; but it’s fun and cute and different from just about everything else out there, and for stretchy knits I reckon it comes pretty close to the perfect little winter skirt.

below; the lining perfectly matches my tights for some reason, oh yeah, because it’s cut from the leftovers
Fabric; a silk/cotton knit from KnitWit in a rich bordeaux purple, and lined with black stretch polyester, the same stuff I make all my tights from.  It appears slightly browny-rusty coloured in these pictures but trust me, it’s really rich wine/purple.  I initially honed in on this exact fabric in a very nice, mossy swampy green, then thought a bit more about the skirts I already have and the colour of tops I have… see, trying to plan a bit more, be more, what’s the buzzword of the moment? o yeah… intentional about this and not so spontaneous and frivolous and crazy impulsive.  Sensible, even!  So this is a very handy colour, new to my wardrobe but still toning in very nicely with tonnes of things in there quite beautifully, and I’m trying to push away naughty thoughts of zooming straight back over to KnitWit and snapping up some of that nice moss-green anyway.  Still thinking about it, but trying not too.  Semi successfully.  I’m giving myself a month, and if I’m still dreaming about that mossy green, then I’m giving in; but in the meantime I’m going to be strong and RESIST.

Because there were faults in the fabric, the lady in KnitWit kindly gave me a little extra, so I still have enough left of this purply knit for a top of some kind, though probably with contrasting sleeves… so am giving some thought to black pleather, or even olive suedette or something like that.

In the meantime I have a zillion other things on my list too; gotta get cracking.  Just too many ideas, and not enough time!

Details:

Skirt; Paprika Patterns Jade skirt, in reddish purple cotton/silk knit
Top; the twist top from Pattern Magic 1 by Tomoko Nakamichi, in bottle green ponte, details here
Bodysuit (under); Closet Case patterns Nettie; in paprika stretch polyester, details here
Tights; own design, black stretch polyester, details here, and my tutorial for making your own tights pattern here
Shoes; made by me, details here

I’ve made a new little mini skirt!  It looks sorta plain at first but it has an interesting folded front that makes it a little bit more exciting.  It’s comfy and easy, and I also think it’s pretty cute too:)

Remember that fun “pick three descriptors that define your style” thing that we were all doing a few years ago?   The three I kept coming back to for myself was : Simple, slightly sporty, and with a twist.  It’s hard to define the complexity of yourself in just three things, but I still think those ones pretty apt for my style, and they also describe the style of this new skirt, and actually this whole outfit pretty well I think!

Pattern;  the Jade skirt, by Paprika patterns.  This first came out a year ago? I think? and pretty much every single version I’ve seen has made me sit up and pay attention like mmmm ooo, nice! must get that pattern!  So finally I did.  An early Mother’s Day present… from me, to me  😉  This skirt is version A, the short one, obvi.

the back is quite plain

Fabric; light but sturdy, charcoal grey cotton jersey, from KnitWit; stretchy but stable.  I opted to make a version with no zip, since I thought my fabric was plenty stretchy enough to work without one.  And, turns out that it’s not really.  Ooops!  The waistband doesn’t stretch enough to get over my “child-bearing hips”, as my grandmother used to call them! so I pull the skirt on over my head.  I’ve got quite slight shoulders compared to my hips, so this is pretty easy.  I’ve had a few things in my lifetime that I’ve had to put it on in this way!

Adjustments; the skirt seemed at first quick perusal to be reeeeeeally short, so even though I knew I would only be wearing it with tights I added about 2cm in length.  Of course this then diddled about with the folding on the front bit but I managed to incorporate the extra length fairly seamlessly by slanting the lowest two folds each just a touch further downwards than they should be.  I think you can hardly tell, which is good.  However I probably wouldn’t bother with adding any extra length to any future versions , since I think it would be fine without it.

I fully lined my skirt with the same fabric, the design has a nice, neat and tidy construction whereby all the seams are hidden between the two layers, with the very last step hand-slipstitching the inner waistband facing down inside the skirt.
It’s a lovely tidy way of putting it all together

Final verdict:  I LOVE it!  Simple, slight sporty, and with a twist!  It’s perfect for me!  Ok, I don’t have much else to say, so if you’ll excuse I think I need about a hundred more in all different colours….  *plotting*

Details:

Skirt; Jade, by Paprika Patterns, in charcoal cotton jersey
Top; Burda style 111-04-2014, in white bobbly fabric, details here
Tights; self-drafted, black stretch, details here and my tutorial for drafting your own tights pattern is here
Shoes, my own design and made by me here