Denim Crescent Skirt

Hello again!

Today I'm posting about a fun make- the crescent skirt! My general tendency is to make dresses, but a lot of times I don't feel like wearing a dress/I want separates so I have been trying to make more basic separates. I think a lot of bloggers have mentioned this before but I definitely sometimes struggle to make pieces I KNOW I will wear, rather than something that is fun but impractical for one reason or another. Enter- a nice denim crescent!

Pattern: Sewaholic Crescent Skirt, View B

Fabric: Washed indigo 8oz denim from Style maker fabrics, small amount of woven Ikat also from Style Maker

Listening to: Up and Vanished (Just me or did this end a bit anticlimactically...)

Drinking: WINE

Also pictured: 3 sloth moon shirt

When I was in high school I actually had a skirt JUST like this that I found in a thrift store with a broken zipper- I replaced the zipper and then wore the skirt TO DEATH. Eventually I think the zipper wore out again and I replaced it again, but at that point the whole side was a frayed mess. I managed to find a picture of it!!

Being awkward in beautiful places

Anyway, back to crescent. When sewaholic announced the pattern I immediately remembered my beloved skirt and thought the pattern would be perfect to recreate it. One of the things I loved about the original skirt was that it was made in a slightly heavier denim so despite the gathers it didn't blow up in wind very easily. Since the denim I chose was a bit heavier, I only interfaced 1/2 of the waistband pieces, instead of both sides as the pattern directed. I added a bit of length (an inch? just eyeballed it) to the skirt and made the hem a little narrower than instructed. I also contemplated contrast topstitching, but I wanted the skirt to be a bit dressier and I worried that denim style topstitching in copper or yellowish would make the skirt look more casual/kind of silly and I couldn't think of another color so I stuck with black. I love the fitted waistband, it doesn't ride up at all and comes to the perfect spot at my waist. The pattern also fit perfectly as is (I cut a 4) which I loved! I generally have a good amount of space at the waist in patterns as written but not this time :) I usually wear this skirt with crop tops since it comes up nice and high so not too much skin shows, but I was already wearing my sloth shirt on this particular day and didn't really feel like changing into something else. I think this outfit will definitely end up in my rotation now!

This pattern went together very easily/quickly and the instructions were great! I made a mistake though (or should I say... added a feature!!!) when I was cutting. Since the fabric was so heavy I didn't want to make the entire pocket in the same denim, so I used a small piece of this woven Ikat I had leftover from another project. I forgot that with slash pockets the top of the bag forms the top side of the skirt, and didn't make the pockets as symmetrical as I could have given that some of the Ikat pattern shows. Ultimately I could have cut the back pocket piece out of the denim but I decided I liked the contrast from the ikat, but didn't have enough to recut so that the pattern was more even. Oh well! Still happy with how it came out. I also had a pretty nice metal zip in my stash so I decided to go with an exposed zip. I know some people hate on the exposed zips but I really like them! 

I can see in this picture (since I don't typically look too much at my back) that I could probably add a hook and eye at the top to keep the zipper from gapping. It does zip all the way up but I guess falls a bit when I wear it. Also the zipper I had was pretty nice but also like forest green (why did I end up with that color metal zipper? More intriguing- why do I have 5 of them?) but the stitching goes close up enough to the teeth that I don't think you can really tell. 

Final close up of the seaming and topstitching! I really like the waistband on this skirt, it's super flattering. You can see a hint of the green zipper I used but from the right side it doesn't show too much! This pattern also lends itself really well to neat insides- I used french seams for the sides and just zig zagged the edges of a pockets since I don't have a serger (whomp whomp), but otherwise, the whole waistband is totally encapsulated and tidy. And that's pretty much it! Going to go mope and listen to the cure like I would have in my old favorite skirt.