Hooray! I am finally posting a finished item for the Pattern Challenge! I have to admit, it wasn't one of my 'goals' that I set out at the beginning of this challenge....but hopefully I can still include it!

Anyway, if you have been following the blog a little (and if so - thanks!!!!), then you will know that I have been sewing (for what seems like an eternity) a simple skirt. I used McCalls 2220:

• The pattern was pretty much easy to follow. A few things I was not 100% sure of, but I would put that down to this being the first pattern I have ever followed so the terminology is new to me. Luckily I have a mum who is a seasoned pro at sewing and she explained a lot for me

• The hardest part for me was definitely the waist band (of course - the rest is just straight lines on the machine!) - there were a few strong words exchanged between me, the sewing machine and the fabric at times when trying to join everything together on a curve...fun times! I also somehow ended up with the front button section NOT overlapping (eh?! How did that happen??!!)...so I made a little loop out of the red material and use that as the button closure. Ironically, it actually makes a nice feature and adds a nice pop of colour!

• The pattern doesn't include a contrasting band at the hem, but I decided that (after I had cut it out - tut tut) that it was too short for my liking. So I found a little bit of lovely red cotton in my stash and added it myself. The funny thing is that I wasn't really feeling the love for this skirt the whole way through making it, think to myself "well, I probably won't wear this as it's a bit boring but I'm making it to learn how to sew" - and as soon as I added the red band I totally fell for it! Amazing how adding one small thing can change something completely!

• The main negative I have for the skirt is that the dark blue cotton attracts white fluff like bees to honey and it gets crushed the moment you put it on which is a big pain.