The denim mini skirt never dies! Although believe it or not, this is the first denim skirt that I've ever owned, but it's never too late, right!
Why now then? Two reasons: 1. the monthly stitch challenge for January is "denim never dies" and 2. I previously made the Moss Mini which was a perfect fit straight out of the packet - gotta love that!
I have major jean making plans, with three jean patterns lined up in an effort to find the perfect pattern for me. Trying to find appropriate weight denim with a 2% lycra content in a colour that I like is a bit of a mission, even with all the fabric shops in Wellington! All three of the patterns call for a small lycra content, which I'm happy with cause they aren't so restricting.
About mid December I stopped into Spotlight on my way passed (I'm not even sure what I went there for) but while cuing to get to the counter I was standing in front of the denim, so of course had to check them all out. What do ya know - this decent weight, dark denim with 2% lycra was just sitting there waiting for me... and only $10 p/m, bargain! I didn't buy just one metre, oh no I bought 8 metres! That would allow me to make three pair of, wearable muslin, jeans with some to spare.
A denim Moss Mini was the perfect, quick make, to test how it sews up.
I also wanted to try distressing the denim to give it a worn look, and see how that would work. So it wasn't that I actually wanted a denim skirt, I thought I would start small with something that was tried and true to test out the fabric with some sand paper and different colour top stitching. Maybe I should call this my test everything skirt!
I went to Bunnings (hardware store) and picked up a 150grit 'sanding sponge', yes it is exactly what you are thinking, a sponge with sand paper on the outside, similar to this one on Amazon.
I took it easy on the distressing - didn't want to put a hole in the fabric first time. The front is probably the most obvious.
I also distress the front pocket facing, the back pockets, the seam allowances after folding them over but before top stitching. All distressing is done before applying the topstitching.
The Moss Mini doesn't have back pockets, but a person (moi) with no butt needs to add detail in this area. This time I took the back pockets from the Ginger Jeans, I'm lovin the shape of these pockets, top stitched slightly down from the pocket top and added bar tacks to the corners.
'Cause you have to have a bit of a 'fun factor' I used some scrap fabric for the pocket lining and fly facing :-) This is the Geektastic Spoonflower fabric I made this dress with.
This skirt is so comfy and easy to wear. I'm gonna call my distressing a win and have already bought more of the grey top stitching thread for the first pair of jeans.
More photos on my Flickr -->
