I had been admiring the Grainline Moss Mini for a while now.  It is the same style as a black moleskin skirt I had in my twenties and wore to death.  I’ve also got a needlecord Fat Face skirt which is a very similar design and which has also been worn to death.  I feel really comfortable in this style of skirt and they suit my shortness so why didn’t I jump on the Moss earlier?  Because I have an irrational fear of the Fly Zipper!  I’ve looked at fly zips in jeans and other RTW trousers and just couldn’t get my head around how it all fits together!  However, after successfully sewing my first Archer Shirt, quickly followed by a couple of scout tee’s and as I was so impressed with these patterns I decided to take the plunge and make a Moss.

I have had this fabric in my stash for nearly a year now and had originally planned to make a Colette Meringue with it, I thought the swirly roses would look good with the scalloped hem.  I think I was never that enthusiastic about it which is why it was still in the stash.  I did have the same fabric in bright reds and pinks which I made up into a shift dress.  It’s more pronounced in the red but I think the swirly flowers look a little like Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s roses (hence the Mackintosh Moss!). Don’t know what it’s made of, it’s got a bit of stretch to it, it’s white on the reverse and the pattern has a one way nap so it feels a bit like velvet.

Cutting out was super speedy, I weighted the pattern pieces down and drew around them in felt tip pen!

I really hate transferring markings so if I can get away with drawing all over the fabric I will, I just use a washable felt tip.  (I’ve even used gel glitter pens on dark fabric)

I then pinned the double layered fabric together and cut it out all in one go!

I also labelled each pattern piece, nothing worse than spending ages trying to figure out what the weird shaped pattern piece is and where it goes!

I cut a size 14, had a quick check that the waistband would actually go around my waist.  The construction was quite straightforward and everything fitted together really well. Then I came to the fly zipper!  There was quite a bit of head scratching but then I found Jen’s front fly zipper tutorial  I still didn’t really understand how it worked but with blind faith I  just followed the instructions step by step and in the end I had my first fly zipper!  I ended up taking an extra 2 cm out of the back yoke and skimmed a further 1 cm off each side seam.  Although the skirt is supposed to sit low below your natural waist I like to keep things a little more contained! Taking these extra bit’s out has made it a bit more fitted around the waist (and less likely to have any muffin top overhang!)

I lined the pockets with some leftover fabric from my picnic blanket skirt, the pockets on this are amazing as the go all the way across to the centre seam, loads of room for all your necessities! A shot of the inside’s:

The finished skirt (crumpled as I had been at my machine all morning!):

I’m really pleased with how this worked out and would seriously recommend any of Jen’s patterns, they all go together so well. I think this will prove to be a well worn make, I wore it today with bare legs (so brave) but it will also look OK with some black opaque tights so I can carry on wearing it through Autumn and Winter!

I have now also overcome my fly zipper fear!  Now I’ve just got to work on my full bust adjustment (tried it with Rooibos – Disaster!) Is it just me or does anyone else have an irrational sewing fear?