Adventures in Dressmaking - Skirts

I have been wanting to expand my sewing skills into clothes making for a while.
I can read a pattern but for some reason the idea of making clothes seemed very scary. Cushions, bags and toys are my comfort zone.

I am from a family of sewers and I grew up watching my Mum make clothes so some stuff must have sunk in. I decided it was time to give it a go.

I picked an easy pattern pack for my first project:

I did have to google how to do the zip as the pattern instructions were not very clear. But here is my first ever skirt made from scratch.

Look at the big bunny, not my big tummy

I love this fabric 

I was really pleased with it and I am proud to wear it, but I am not totally happy with the zip (but hey first garment zip) and I found googling instructions not really that great. What I really wanted was a book with clear step by step photos and instructions and I happened to find one in Home Sense while browsing last year its Dressmaking, The complete step-by-step guide by Alison Smith (you can buy it from Amazon). Its really good and covers the basics including how to measure yourself, understanding patterns and even how to alter patterns for a better fit. It does also include 12 basic garment patterns and also has a section on mending and repairs and customising.

Almost complete

So with the aid of this book I set about making the second skirt from the pattern pack and again I am really pleased with the result and I love my fabric choice.

Sorry about the really rubbish photo

P.S both fabric are from Ikea. The top skirt the fabric was discontinued last year and the bottom skirt is this.