New Skirt Project For My Birthday and A Gift

I don't like being celebrated on my birthday, but I love to make treats to myself. Yes, I'm a big girl now and it has become kind of a tradition to spoil myself on that occasion.

First of all, I plan to make a new skirt. I need new clothes as I lost weight (guess I mentioned it), and there's a gorgeous fabric I have in my stash that is perfect for summer. So I want to have that garment ready when summer is here. The fabric always was a little bit on the more expensive side, until I finally found a seller on Etsy that had it on sale.

It's "Frida's Garden". I guess I never wrote that in my youth (haha, I'm getting older!) I had a soft spot for Mexican culture and food, and I guess I somehow still have, even if not so much for the food anymore. This fabric is so gorgeous!

I bought 4 yards, knowing it should be enough to make a lovely full skirt. I was very happy when I got my order, as the seller sent quite a few inches more (how generous!), but I knew it was going to be difficult as it's a large-scale print. This is not the easiest fabric to deal with if you want the finished garment to look really nice.

I chose Simplicity 3033 from 1949 for the skirt. However, when I wanted to prepare my stuff for cutting, I found that my measuring tape was destroyed by my little son...

The pattern was still in factory folds. I think this is always one of the most amazing moments, unfolding  such pattern pieces that have been untouched for so long... Like opening Tutankhamun's coffin. Or almost. (Ah, the historian in me...)

I spent almost 2 hours placing the pattern peaces on the fabric and moving them around, again and again.

Finally, after discussing it with my husband, I decided not to make the pockets as shown for view 1 on the pattern envelope, but to rather chose the other style without. That made it easier and I finally could cut the fabric.

Now the pieces are ready and I almost can't wait to sew. And I still have some fabric left to make a halter top or a bolero to go with the skirt. However, we have still some garden projects to finish today and some laundry to wash. And tomorrow it's my mother-in-law's birthday, so we will be out. Argh, bad timing.

Finally, I would like to share a picture of another vintage fabric I found on Etsy some days ago. Yes, right, that's my own gift to myself, and it arrived so super-fast! I love border prints, but they're not easy to find, or they're incredibly expensive. I was lucky to find this one, it was affordable for my rather small budget. And it was in decent black and cream, colours that match well with others and are always nice to wear. A wonderful 1950s or even older cotton... The lace border looks like an applique, but it's only printed.

I'm looking forward to show you the finished skirt. In the meantime, while working in the garden and doing the laundry, I can think about the final decisions for the VPSA.