Make your own: Aztec Pelmet Skirt

I am loving pelmet skirts at the moment as I think they are the perfect length for summer and are super flattering. I brought one from Topshop earlier in the year for £34.00 and I was looking at the shape and thought it would be ridiculously easy to recreate. With the added bonus of picking your own fabric, therefore making it for a fraction of the price, I was really excited to give it a go!

Topshop Pelmet Skirt £34.00

I used the McCalls 3830 pattern, shape E, to create the basic pelmet shape (which I brought last summer...bonus!). It's a really simple pattern to follow and great for your first dress making adventure as it only has five pieces to construct.

McCalls 3830

I did meet a couple of challenges along the way...

Challenge 1: Sourcing heavy weight fabric

Does anyone else have this problem? Fabric shops are full of lightweight cottons, which are great for tops and dresses but I definitely needed something thicker for my pelmet skirt. I would really love some suggestions of where to find heavy weight fabric!?

Saying that I am lucky to live within 30 minutes of this amazing fabric warehouse in Sturminster Newton, Dorset. Hansons (http://www.hansonsfabrics.co.uk/), is packed to the rafters with every fabric under the sun!! I found this really bright Peruvian striped fabric that was £8.99 per meter and a chunky metal zip (£2.99).

Armed with my meter of fabric, I cut my pattern out, making sure that the stripes would match when put together, leading nicely onto my second challenge.

Challenge 2: Matching the stripes perfectly

This sounds really easy... but took me a couple of attempts as you had to get the tension right as you sewed otherwise it just looked a bit wonky.

All done and for only £11.98, beat that Topshop!