Pigeon skirt

It’s a Hummingbird, but it’s grey.

Which therefore makes it a pigeon.

(Because I can’t think of any other grey birds.)

Either way, I made a Hummingbird skirt! Woo hoo!!! 😀

I’ve loved the idea of this pattern ever since I saw the teasers on Sewing Cake. 1930’s inspired! Flounce! What’s not to love?!?

And here, now, finally, is my first (note: first, but not the last) Hummingbird skirt.

(I made the version with the tail flounce, naturally. 😉 )

The verdict? I likes it!

(Although there are a couple of things I’d do differently next time. Like raise the waist so it sits at my natural waist, which I think it a bit more flattering for me, especially post-baby-belly. And lower both the hem and where the tail starts at the back, since I think the tail starts a bit high on me. (Plus, the tail starts higher than most of the zips in my invisible zipper stash end.))

I may have kinda changed a couple of things for this make. One was intentional. The other was accidental.

The intentional change – I lined it! This grey fabric is lovely, but it’s quite a loose weave, and I have a feeling it would stretch out of shape over time. (Plus it would cling to tights horribly and I’d be forever pulling it down again.) So, I drafted up a lining, and lined it in burgundy. (And then forgot to take a photo of said lining, but I promise you it’s there.) I have plans to do a post on how to draft a lining for the Hummingbird skirt sometime soon, in case anyone else is interested.

The accidental change – I attached the tail flounce upside down. Oops. (Remember one of my key ‘learnings’ from last year, to read instructions? Yeah, well, turns out I didn’t learn that one too well.) Since the fabric is quite a loose weave, and it was a lapped seam, I decided it looked fine upside down and just went with it. (I’ll make sure to attach it the right way up next time though, just to compare the effect.)

I love the way the pockets are done on this style – so clever, with the pocket lining folding over, and so neat and tidy! (And it must be admitted, the pockets are the main reason I see another couple of versions of this skirt in my future. They are too awesome not to make again.)

For the heck of it, I used some fabric I got in a swap for the pocket lining. It’s a cute white cotton with red zips and other sewing things all over it. And it makes me smile whenever I peek into the pockets and see it. Win!

We were down in Dunedin weekend before last, for a big family get-together. My lovely mother looked after the little guy so I could finish off this skirt on her sewing machine. (Thanks, mum!) Felt good to finally get some sewing in – it’s been a struggle to find time recently! And then on our way to the airport, we detoured through the Botanic Gardens, stopped off in the greenhouse to get some pics. After all, hummingbirds are tropical, and so were the plants in here – it seemed fitting, dontcha think?

My thoughts on the Hummingbird skirt pattern? I like it – the pockets are a clever piece of work, and the flounce combined with the pegged side seams is pretty and dressy yet also easy to wear. (I must admit that the seam allowance bugs me though – 1.2cm?!? Rather frustrating, since it’s non-standard and my machine doesn’t have 1.2cm guides on it. But hey, it’s easy enough to work around that and just a small frustration really.) So yeah, I’m gonna make it again. Both a longer version with a tail flounce, and the straight skirt version.