I've done a sewing bee!

Well I did. I made this skirt in a Sunday morning - and to be honest I'm not quite sure how I managed to finish it within a relatively short amount of time.

I am always amazed at the short time available to the candidates on the Great British Sewing Bee and that most of them rise to the challenge - it would take me at least three times as long.  I really don't understand how you can anything in a few hours.

The back needs to be a touch longer when I make another one like this

But this time I actually started: picked the fabric, adapted a skirt pattern that fits me by making it the length I wanted, cut out, sewed together, inserted the zip (not necessarily in that order) and did the other bits: hemming, putting a facing in.

And it came together really well!

I thought I might have to cut out the pieces while overlocking them but the fabric turned out not to fray much like the crazy fraying fabric that I used for another, slightly longer skirt.  It went well.

The only thing that didn't go so well is that even though I stuck a pin in the length of the skirt back panel to one side of the centre vent, checked it twice to make sure the other side would be the same length... I still managed to get them different lengths. By a few millimeters so it's quite a bit off.

Not really sure how that happened.

I also need to let out the hem towards the side seam, it's just a bit crooked, which is again rather strange, but because I can do these things at the next sewing meeting I'll leave them until then.

Apart from that it's finished.  And yes, it's not lined which definitely accounts for the fact that I got this done in a morning. With lining, all bets would have been off!

What helped was that I knew the order I wanted to sew this in, and that this order suits me. I knew what needed doing and didn't have to figure things out in the middle - but the one thing that helped me the most: I didn't stop.

Which sounds obvious but it isn't to me - I often stop right in the middle because I have to figure out a complicated bit, or I feel that my focus and concentration have taken a break, so I stop to not mess up. I reckon that's a good thing but I could be getting back to it quicker than I do.

Let's take now: I got quite far with a long silver boucle skirt and could be sewing the lining hem, but I set it aside and I'm typing this instead.  That's my problem: I always find something else to do that's also worthwhile.

Oh well...