Let the Hollyburns begin!

I finally cracked open my Sewaholic Hollyburn pattern, and it is another winner.  I think it has kind of a 40s-meets-70s vibe, while being a classic shape that can be transformed by fabric choice and the little details you choose to add.

For my first version, I used the fullest, shortest style, but lengthened it by several inches to something closer to the middle-length style.  The fabric's cotton sateen from JoAnn's.  I was stuck for something to wear with it, but then schmeebot coincidentally thrifted me a lovely cardigan that works nicely.  Isn't it great when things work out?    It's amazing that I did not already have a matching cardigan given just how many cardigans I have ... but let's not go there!

The skirt is drafted to sit at the waist, but that fit bugs me: I find it more comfortable to have the waistband sit a few inches lower.  I realized this after having already cut out everything, so I just re-cut the waistband two inches longer (it's just a straight strip).  And somehow, miraculously, the skirt fit the new band just fine.

Now the second Hollyburn is the one I really love, because I used a very special fabric my aunt sent me.   It's vintage -- not sure how old, but only 35 inches wide.  Unfortunately there is a permanent fade line where it was folded in half, but I made sure to match up the marks so that they make an upside down 'V' on the front and back of the skirt, and I really don't think it's that noticeable.  I love the bird print (of course ... my love for bird prints is well documented) and the color palette as well.  It's cotton, but somehow does not wrinkle.  It's practically magic fabric, I'm telling you.

I went with the original width of the middle-length Hollyburn version from the package, and narrowed my lengthened waistband for a better fit.  Both skirts are lined with cotton/poly lawn.

I'm working on yet another Hollyburn now ... should have it finished up and photographed before the end of Q2 with any luck.  :)   I really love wearing skirts in the summer, and though they may not make for the most exciting blog fodder, they see more wear than the other types of stuff I sew.  Thus, I plan to eke out a few more before moving on to the next thing.   After the Hollyburn-in-progress, I have some lovely plaid silk dupioni queued ... no pattern chosen yet, but perhaps a trapezoid dirndl would work best.   I never really liked silk dupioni until I threw some in the washing machine and ran it through the dryer.  The resulting fabric is far less precious-looking and thus more useful in my non-fussy everyday wardrobe.