Apologies in advance for the terrible photography; it’s been raining for days here, so not much opportunity for outdoor shots. Great weather for sewing, though, so I’ve been doing quite a bit. I turned back to my perfect skirt pattern from Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe. And the results are in!

Sew U skirts number five and six are made from dark gray wool flannel worsted and light gray wool suiting, respectively. (Sense a theme?) They’re identical otherwise to the third skirt, fully lined and hemmed shortly above the knee.

Skirt number seven is a longer skirt, like skirt number four, but an inch or so longer. This is a fun print from Prints Charming Fabrics—not my usual style, but with all this dreary weather it was cheery to work with and it will be a great spring skirt. It’s fully lined with white cotton. I didn’t think of changing the pattern into a side zip (and bypassing the need to try to match the fabric on the back) until after I’d already purchased extra fabric to do the matching and cut it out, but I’m happy with the results.

Skirt number eight is a departure from the others. I used the Sew U skirt pattern for the waist darts, but modified it from the hip down to be a straight, ankle-length skirt. It has a side zip (after my previous revelation) and a slit up to the knee on the same side. Very evening wear.

Here’s what I learned about putting in a side zipper: sew the side seam with the zipper first. Duh, right? Well, duh. Here’s something else I learned about putting in a zipper in general, from a great photo tutorial for making a change purse: when you sew in the zipper and you near the top, pull the head down past the needle so you don’t have to try to sew around it. So obvious, when you think about it, and yet it’s made the zippers on these last four skirts much easier and neater.

Now that I have a whole wardrobe’s worth of skirts, it’s time to turn my attention to tops…