Crazy Cat meets acid!

I blame this all on Mel. She saw the post on Miss Crayola Creepy's blog and convinced us (the WSBN) that it would be a great thing to do in a group.

Well you know sewing and cats seem to go together well and lots of us have kitties which try to stop us sewing by sitting on fabric, dragging balls of wool all over the house, etc. And so, the WSBN Crazy Cat lady challenge was born. [A wee bit of artistic licence allows us to add the word "Crazy"...] A date was chosen and... oh, we'd booked to go away! :-( Was that going to stop me? Never! So to cut a long story short, the Crazy Acid Cat skirt was born!

I bought this fabric from MrsC's shop Made Marion. It's a kind of fine cotton twill, so quite stiff, but presses like a dream. I knew straight away after seeing the fabric how to make it up.

Originally I toyed with the idea of drafting my own skirt from my pencil skirt block, but then Fabric-a-Brac happened. The perfect place for old patterns. I spied two A-line skirt patterns and nabbed them both. Well at 50 cents for one and $1 for the other I couldn't really let them go!

In the end I used the Practical Pattern 6568. Has anyone ever heard of this make? The pattern is for a size 12, but I decided I could soon grade it up, it's a long time since my waist was 25.5"! I added an inch to each of the side seams based on the pattern measurements and my own.

There was actually not that much fabric spare. Originally I thought it wouldn't matter what way up the fabric needed to go, but actually it was important...

Spotty cats down or spotty cats up?

Mr N decided the cats looked like they'd been on acid and hence the acid crazy cats were born, he also decided the spotty cats needed to be up.

The skirt was so quick to go together, well lets face it, an A-line skirt with a pleat front isn't really rocket science!! I hardly used the instructions, except for the pleat, just the pattern pieces! That's lazy from me, I could have drafted it myself! I cut this out on the Saturday evening after Fabric-a-Brac and had done all but the buttonhole and hem by the end of Sunday.

I finished the seams with my overlocker, which made life a whole lot easier. For the waistband, I used waistband stiffening. The zip is a lapped zip in the side seam and I added a green button to match the crazy cat eyes on the fabric.

The hem is just finished on the machine. And, er, that's about it.

The deets...

Fabric:  Cotton twill in cream and black with crazy cat pattern from Made Marion September 2014.

Notions:   Thread, a dress zip, waistband stiffening and a button from stash

Pattern:  Practical Pattern 6568, an A-line skirt pattern from Fabric-a-Brac October 2014, which was graded up to fit.
First worn:  Last Friday on the way up to the Forgotten Highway and worn here in New Plymouth on Sunday with a RTW top from Monsoon, UK; green cardi from Glassons and pumps from Overland. Yes, it was windy! [Other photos take on our deck at home when it was slightly less windy, but still windy nonetheless!]

Another one?  I actually am really pleased how this pattern turned out. I had the idea that the style might not suit me much, but it actually looks good and I love wearing the skirt. It's great for windy Wellington weather, as it's not too full and I reckon it'll get year round wear. Woohoo!

Oh and you wanna see where the photos were taken in New Plymouth? Just check out this cool bridge!

Te Rewa Rewa Bridge, New Plymouth