Making things to fit into my everyday wardrobe does not come naturally to me. The endless opportunities sewing allows means I get swayed by the dressy and fabulous, neglecting the things that I actually choose to wear.

Trying to be more mindful of my every-day clothes, last summer I noticed that I mainly wore a short denim skirt I’d picked up on Walthamstow market for about £1.99. The skirt doesn’t really fit and is a-line, one of my not-so-flattering silhouettes. So, whilst it suited my mood and lifestyle, I knew I could make something much better.

I chose some denim coloured cord that I have in my stash. It has a slight stretch, thus I chose Mabel by Colette Patterns to pair it with. (This is my second Colette make with this fabric, the other is my frequently-worn Clovers.)

I decided to play up the jeans look, as I had with my clovers, by cutting the front pattern as a pair. I planned to sew a flat-felled seam. However, after sewing the first part of the seam, wrong sides together, and pressing it open, I decided that I liked the contrast of the grey (wrong side of the fabric) against the darker blue of the right side. I changed plan and left the wrong side exposed, simply turning the raw edge under and sewing the seam allowance down with some grey thread to blend in.

This led me to think of a ribbed waistband I had that was left over from a sweatshirt I used in an earlier refashioning project. So I used this instead of cutting a waistband from the pattern. The ribbing was pretty light-wight so I interfaced it with some wool jersey.

Tracing round the waist band.

Interfacing tacked to the waist band

Waist band assembled and ready to sew in.

This is the second time I have made up Mabel. It’s a great pattern for heavier-weight jersey or, in this case, woven fabric with some stretch. I’m pretty pleased with the organic way the design for this skirt came together and I’ve already paired it with a number of wardrobe staples.

Mabel out flat.