Orange, black cats, and Max - Halloween sewing!

Hello, and happy Halloween for yesterday and a pinch and a punch for the first of the month today!

I managed to accidentally swerve Halloween this year (proper sad face), but have put in a bit of time making themed(ish) skirts even so. 

This pattern is the Charlotte Skirt from By Hand London. There are so many lovely versions of this on the web, two of my favourites being Heather's version and Winnie's, and I'd long thought it might be something I'd wear. 

I sewed up a size 14 for my first orange attempt, and took a wedge of about 1.5cm out of the back on each side panel, as although it fit my hips straight away, the waist was a bit baggy.

I added a small vent at the back too, to make it more moveable. 

I'm happy with this, but thanks to the extra I took out at the back, it's pretty tight and with not much ease - I'll have to spend a day in it to see how comfy it actually is... The orange linen is left over from my last Brumby Skirt and is from The Organic Textile Company.

Also, I don't know how much this happens to other sewers, but often taking the photos of something I was feeling pretty good about makes me feel a bit less enthusiastic - things never look in pictures how they look in my head/dirty bedroom mirror. I think it might be to do with how much visualising and daydreaming goes on with each project before it is completed, so that by the time I see a photograph, that photograph has to wrestle with a very established picture in my mind - a picture I'm more fond of and used to. Another thing to get used to about sewing I guess.

I thought after my orange version that the skirt would be a good base for some cat fabric - I wanted to  make something with my stamps to wear at the Thought Bubble comics festival in two weeks, where I've got a table and will be selling my wares (argh so soon!!!). I spent the morning printing these guys up, and then the skirt came together easily second time round - I took a little less off the back, so although I think the look maybe isn't as streamlined, it's probably more practical for actually wearing...

Practical cats.

Bigger vent = more practical cats.

And because I didn't have the chance to dress up this year, I thought I'd photograph an old sewing project - Max! This guy has had a lot of wear over the past ten years, and putting it on today it sure does smell/look that way...