A skirt that is too small and obscenely short

Oh yes, that is what I made.  My parents bought me a place on a basic dressmaking course at All Things Crafty and I went along a couple of weeks ago, no idea what to expect.  Well, OK, clearly I realised it would involve a sewing machine and the making of a skirt, but I didn't think I'd be able to do it.

There were 10 of in the class and our sewing skills ranged from nothing to ... well, to me!  We all made the same skirt using different sizes of the pattern.  I used the size 16 pattern as the other 14s had already been taken and as we were only making a muslin, it didn't really matter.

We started with a lesson on how to put in a covered zipper.  It was a new technique to me and it's a brilliant one!  I'll be trying to shoe-horn this into bag projects in the future.  See how neat it is above on my unironed fabric?

And it works!  After that we moved onto the skirt pattern.  We had the instructions and she let us get on with it, helping where needed so we could all work at our own pace.  Mine turned out to be pretty speedy.  I finished early and was the first person to have finished a skirt in that workshop!  Top of the class makes a NICE change.

I hung it in my window so you could see the construction.  This is the front.  I sewed the two darts, apart from that, the front is a one-piece construction.  The waistband is far to small for my liking, but as the skirt is too small (a size 16!  Please let that be a sizing mistake!!) it doesn't really matter.

The back is made of two pieces with the zip in between.  I hadn't noticed that the pieces were mirror images and so mine features a very nice dart on the outside of the skirt.  Design decision!

I loved making this skirt and amazed myself that I could do it.  I really wanted to make a skirt when I got home, but checking the skirt patterns in books and magazines that I have, none of the sizing was right, they just didn't do skirts wide enough for my hips.  Now, I'm no stick insect, but neither am I obese.  I am overweight, but at 5 foot 1, I'm not a plus size and I don't think I'm larger than the majority of other women - what are these pattern writers thinking??  You're only allowed to make clothes if you're slim and straight up and down?

I got on the internet and found some books that I thought could help.  One of them is amazing, I'll tell you more about it when I've had a go, but let's just say I didn't think pattern making was that achievable...