Delphine Skirt by Tilly and the Buttons
I had been wanting to make a Tilly and the Buttons Delphine Skirt for a while. Despite already having the pattern in Tilly’s ‘Love at First Stitch’ book for about two years, I have only just made one! I didn’t exactly set out to make a wooly skirt. I was originally thinking of making the skirt from needlecord but couldn’t find a colour I really liked. I chanced upon this fabric in the Sew Over It shop in Islington and decided on the spot that this was my Delphine Skirt fabric!
The skirt itself was reasonably easy to sew but since this fabric has a rough wrong side, I decided I would need to line the skirt. It probably would have been a good idea to research the best way to do this first (lining isn’t included in the pattern instructions) but I thought I would just wing it instead. I started by sewing the side seams of the lining together. I attached the lining to the waist band facing and then attached the facing to the front side of the waistband. As I had already inserted the zip, i didn’t bother stitching the lining the whole way down the zip, although I could easily hand stitch it in place.
I own another wool skirt which is lined and thought I would be able to magically sew the lining to the skirt hem and then turn the skirt inside out so that the seams would be invisible - it turns out I was defying the laws of physics and this definitely doesn’t work! In the end, I folded over the hem of the lining and just stitched a standard hem, but I would like to find a better way to do this next time. Since making the skirt, I have discovered Tilly has actually written a blog on how to line the Delphine skirt, so I highly recommend following her instructions to avoid confusion!
Zip: take one
Unfortunately, I also hit another bump in the road. I had completed the skirt, tried it on and then discovered the bottom of the zip was pointing out. I tried unpicking and restitching the end of the zip multiple times but nothing seemed to work. I then did a bit of Googling and found a new invisible zip technique from Sew Essential, which involves basting the seam together and then pinning and stitching both sides of the zip while it is closed. Once the zip has been stitched in, you then unpick the basting stitch and pull through a little bit of the zip at the end. This technique works best with a zip that is slightly longer than the recommended zip. The best thing is that it pretty much worked! I think I will use this technique again next time i insert an invisible zip.
Zip: take two
Despite these two hurdles, I have ended up with a beautiful lilac Delphine Skirt and learnt a few new tricks along the way! Without the added drama of adding lining and having zip issues, this is quite a quick and easy skirt to make and would obviously also be great for the warmer months in a lighter fabric.
