For me writing a blog post never comes easy.  My fingers aren't dancing away effortlessly at the keyboard while keeping up with the words oozing out of my head.  I spend a majority of my time thinking, thinking, thinking of what to say then once I think I got it out I end up hitting the backspace button to start all over.  I'm having a particularly hard time with this post.  I've been staring at the white space below this picture literally every night this week.  The reason I'm having such a hard time with this post... I absolutely love this pattern but absolutely hate the way it looks on me.  There you have it, nuff said.  What else could I possibly say? End Post.

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I'm not gonna let you off that easy.  Besides I need some honest opinions.  Are my concerns justified or am I being too hard on myself?  First though before we dive into the pictures of forced smiles let's talk about the good first, this pattern! The pattern is The Cressida Skirt by Jennifer Lauren.  It's a button up semi circle skirt with two button placket options, single or double breasted and yes, pockets.  I've seen quite a few cute versions of this skirt so far including Jennifer's own denim version and Jane's green version (she had her own reservations about the way it looked on her. Please go tell her it looks awesome on her!)  If your not familiar with Jennifer's patterns they are available pdf printout only.  I know pdf's aren't everyone's bag so don't let those 3 little letters scare you.  What I like about her pdf's that are different from the rest is that each pattern piece is grouped together by the view you want to make so you only need to print the pages for your view.  Another plus with this is that your saving paper and room.  I can tape and cut all the pieces easily on my cutting table and avoid a cat fight on the floor.

I had never made a circle skirt before.  Partly because I was afraid of the hem and partly because I was afraid of how it would look on me.  I decided to push my fears aside, one never knows unless they try, and I said yes when Jennifer asked me to test the pattern.  So the version you are seeing here is just that, my test.  For my size I started with the size 8 which is a 26" waist.  I'm a 27 so I graded up which was pretty easy.  I just slashed and spread the skirt pieces.  The waist feels a tad loose but in the final pattern the ease was reduced a tiny bit so I think I'll be ok there if I do decide to make this up again.  Construction was no fuss and I was happy with how easy the button placket came together.  Those things scare me for some reason.  I shortened the hem length by 4 inches and realized I didn't have anything to be scared about when it came to the act of hemming.  I followed Gertie's narrow hem tutorial. Easy, peasy.
  

My fabric came from one of those 10 yard mystery bundles from Fabric Mart and it's just that, a mystery.  It's some kind of twill that likes to wrinkle and back talks you when you try to press it.  It didn't hold up very well after being washed so no regrets with using it as a test version.

My dislike for the look of this skirt on me wasn't right away.  I really liked it at first. I tried it on, wore it for awhile.  Then something changed.  The more I looked at myself in the mirror the more I hated it on me.  Why do we do this to ourselves??  And when I seen a behind photo...whut!?



So I don't know. Do I give it another try with a better fabric choice.  Try and cut some of the fullness out of it? How would I go about that?