Bohemian Wrap-sody

You know that thing where you borrow clothes from your mother and they slowly become YOUR clothes? My mom loves her Indian silk wrap skirts, but they’ve somehow all ended up hanging in my closet! She doesn’t mind, because of a crazy little thing called love. I saw this beautiful embroidered satin at a small fabric store in my hometown over the December holidays and decided it’s about time I pay my mom back with a new skirt. It was her birthday in January but I had to leave before then for an exam, so I put tons of effort into Christmas gifts instead.

Materials:

Thread

Pretty fabric

An awesome Queen playlist

Since I was home for the holidays and using my mom’s sewing machine, I was under pressure to keep it a secret from her (a present just isn’t as exciting if it’s not a surprise). For the first time in a while I was grateful that Berry sister’s birthday is so close to Christmas, and I was sewing something for both of them. (Keep a beady eye out for her stunning birthday dress coming soon! We will rock you with our amazing Amy Lee-inspired photoshoot). With some sneaky conniving and midnight sewing, I managed to lead them into believing I was only working on the other's garment. I am the champion of subterfuge!

Now, I wanted to cut the skirt in a trapezoid shape (you know, flaring out towards the bottom), but my mom is basically a twig so I figured it would wrap around more than sufficiently if I took a shortcut and just cut a rectangle. All the excess fabric I made into a waistband double the horizontal length of the shirt, so that it extended and tied around the waist. I was meant to also sew a large buttonhole in the waistband for the tie part to slip through, but I needed to measure its position on my mom’s waist and I didn’t get a chance to before I left. She just overlaps them and you wouldn’t know the difference.

The fabric is quite light and I would have liked to line it with a shorter length contrasting fabric of the same kind, like the silk skirts usually are. But look at that double-sided fabric! It’s in reverse colours on the other side, and I couldn’t bear to hide either side. As a result, the skirt is reversible, with a double-folded hem and waistband. It needed quite the pressing to get the puffiness out of both the hem and waistband. Luckily I had already cut the skirt as one big rectangle so I didn’t have to worry about hiding any vertical seams. I didn’t have my overlocker with me, so it would have been a mess if I had tried!

The job actually took no time at all and was finished in a flash. I want to make a million more to sell, since it used only a metre of fabric. Although I’ll probably have to do the flared shape for any fat-bottomed girls. And if they don’t sell, that’s ok – I want it all for myself any way.

Look at my gorgeous mother. Some say ageing is like a bicycle race, but she is a killer queen and people still mistake her for my older sister! She’s my best friend as well as a mom, and I love her more than anything in the world. You can see I’m running out of Queen songs to reference, but don’t stop me now, this twisted pun-y show must go on. Alright, alright, I think I’ve exhausted the joke. Save me! I can’t stop! I want to break free from this terrible joke. Mama mia, mama mia let me go! OK, now I’m done. Scaramouche scaramouche.

#skirt #mom #silk