Floral Cleo Skirt

Hi Ere'body!

Remember a couple weeks ago when I told you the shop owner of one of my favorite local fabric stores was nice enough to give me a free yard of fabric to sew up and review?  Well it's time for the big unveiling:

This skirt couldn't be any more flowy and summery and perfect for the heat we've been having... I kind of love it.  The fabric is a smooth poly chiffon that you can see in this picture it's a little sheer, so I threw in a mid-thigh cotton lawn lining.  I like how in strong light you can see the hint of my legs where the lining stops. 

The skirt pattern I used is the Cleo by Made by Rae.  It's a midi length gathered skirt, with a front static interfaced waistband and elastic in the back.  It's perfect for dressing up and dressing down and I thought it was also a perfect match for this breezy fabric.

I won't lie, the fabric itself was a little shifty to sew, I first tried sewing in on my normal sewing machine with a fine sharp needle, but I noticed that the stitch lines seemed to pull and unfortunately, the fabric wasn't responding overly well to a press.  However, when I switched to my overlock it worked peeeerfectly. I'm not sure if that means it was a tension problem on my normal sewing machine, or maybe I should have switch thread (maybe cotton instead of polyester?), but in the end it all worked out :o)

In some what related news I was talking to Syreeta from @syreetabriana and Caroline from Diary of a Sewing Fanatic and they want to come check out the Jackson Heights (Queens), NY fabric scene! So we decided on 8/19.  Any interest in coming??? You're all invited. One of the 5 stops will be M&J Fabrics where I got the beautiful fabric for this skirt.  Just to temp you a little further, here are some fabrics in my stash purchased at M&J:

 

Rayon Challis and Rayon Statin (?).  I'm not sure if Rayon Satin is a thing, but the second one definitely has a satin finish to it and this picture doesn't do it justice.  Plus is a boarder print ::heart eyes::

 

These two are silk blends from Nanette Lepore... which by the way I only found out when I got home and saw it written on the selvage.  I'm actually not a very 'in the know' person when it comes to designers. Lol.

Anyways, I hope you liked my skirt and I hope you'll come check out the Jackson Heights fabric scene with Syreeta, Caroline and I.  I know the NY garment district has been shrinking and so I thought I would let you all in on my little Queens secret.  Prices are much cheaper (the rayon was $4/yd and the designer silks were $8/yd) and I bet thats in large part because the stores are small and the rent must be cheaper.

Kten

***Just to clarify, the floral chiffon I used for my Cleo was provided to me for free in return for a review (which I actually asked the one of the co-owners Mike if he would be interested in doing because I seriously do love his store), but all the stash fabrics I'm showing above were bought with my own hard earned $$$. ***