Last Sunday (not the one that just past but the one before that) I taught a skirt making workshop at my sister's house. Jane had started talking me into this a while ago and it turned out to be a lot of fun. She's started to do quite a lot of sewing recently and has a few friends that are in about the same place. Everyone had a bit of experience but felt a little nervous venturing into clothes making all by herself. When Jane suggested I teach a workshop I was more than a bit nervous. I don't have very much teaching experience and I always feel like I'm still learning a lot myself. Suppose someone asked a question and I had no idea what the answer was! I'm finally getting old enough to realize that there is no magical point where I'll know everything and feel entirely confident so I just told Jane I would do my best and she started organizing.

We settled on making a skirt. Skirts are easy to fit and would involve doing darts, invisible zippers, facings and hems - all useful skills that can be applied elsewhere. The consensus was for a pencil skirt and Jane suggested the "Naughty Secretary Skirt" from Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp. It was a great pattern to pick: the fit is nice, the pattern is simple and it really makes your legs look fantastic. The only things to watch out for are the length - even the tallest gal in our group had to shorten her pattern by a couple of inches - and that this skirt kind of demands a good pair of shoes. When I sent out the materials list I suggested everyone bring a nice pair of shoes to go with her skirt in case we finished in time to take a group picture.

When we got started Sunday morning there were four of us and we fit perfectly around Jane's dinning table at our machines. Jane and I had made mock-ups already so each girl tried on the one that seemed most likely to fit and we made our adjustments from there. Sewing is usually such a solitary activity and it was really fun to be chatting and laughing as we cut out our skirts and I explained how to pin and sew the darts. Jane provided us with a fantastic lunch of butternut squash soup and biscuits with whipped cream and wild strawberry jam (made by her mother-in-law). I added some cupcakes to the fare and we all enjoyed a pot of tea. After lunch we put in our zippers and all that was left were the side seams, some bias tape at the waistband and a hem.

One of the girls had to leave early but sent me a picture the next day showing off her finished skirt. The three of us that remained were finished our skirts by about four o'clock and got Jane's husband to take a few quick pictures of us. Just for the record, the pose was Jane's idea - "to properly show off the skirt" she said - but she claimed she had the wrong kind of shoes and Sarah was too tall for the bench. I try to avoid posting silly pictures of other people on the internet anyway so it worked out. For an added bonus, after a week of rainy weather, the Monday following our workshop was warm and sunny and we were all able to wear our new skirts to work.