One of the perils of trying out new patterns is that they don’t always work out.  Sometimes it is the pattern, sometimes it is the fit, sometimes it is the wrong combination of fabric and style, sometimes it’s just the style, sometimes it is the quality of the sewing, etcetera etcetera.  I gave Lekala 5481 a try.  It didn’t work.

I can’t quite believe that I am showing you my middle, but in the quest for honesty in sewing and hopefully for others to learn from my mistakes, here it is. This is actually a rather nice pattern. Four gores that spiral around the body, with a fitted waistband. Except I allowed much, much too much ease in my waist measurement, so it is actually much, much too loose around the waist. I know that it’s hard to tell where my waist is, but wherever it might be located, this skirt doesn’t fit it.

Next problem – badly inserted invisible zip. There is nothing invisible about that – the colour doesn’t match and it can be easily seen.

It’s not too bad across the bottom and hips other than the visible panty line. Ew. But have you spotted my other error yet?

If you look closely, you can tell that the fabric seems to change a little. That’s because I forgot to cut it out with the pattern piece the right way around for all four gores. So I have two gores inside out. I cut the gores out with the fabric folded in half – a big no-no.  And it’s even more annoying because it was beautiful fabric given to me by Anna.  Not happy with myself.

It’s a shame really, as this skirt pattern really has potential. But I certainly stuffed it all up! Luckily for me this is a free pattern (not that Lekala are expensive anyway) so I am going to re-measure myself more accurately and order it again.

But wouldn’t you know it, I’ve made another two items recently that I’m not going to wear. I need a palate cleanser.