Lemon print skirt

I've had this gorgeous Dolce and Gabbana-style cotton (from Pigeon Wishes but no longer in stock) squirrelled away for over a year and have really taken my time deciding what to use it for. I already have a lemon print dress, which I wear quite a lot and is wildly popular with members of the public (I'm complimented on it virtually every time I wear it, which is lovely!) Because of this I figured separates would get a bit more wear than another dress, so decided to make a statement skirt. 

The pattern is the skirt section of the Mortmain dress by Gather, which is the same pattern I used for my first lemon dress. I think a large, bold print like this works particularly well with box pleats. Handily for me, Gather Kits have a blog post on how to make a Mortmain skirt from the dress pattern pieces, which is totally fool proof. The only thing I did differently was to swap the exposed zip for an invisible one. As you can probably see from the photos, I deliberately made the waistband more of a relaxed fit. I decided I'd rather forego the very neat, nipped in look of a perfectly fitted waistband for the comfort factor and ability to eat my dinner without feeling like I'm about to explode.

The skirt is fully lined with Venezia lining fabric which was a perfect colour match to the navy background. It was given to me as a gift from Jo Sews ages ago and is the loveliest lining fabric I've ever sewn with. I'm truly lamenting the fact that it doesn't seem to be available in the UK* (Jo lives in Brussels). Lining the skirt gives it a really nice weight and a bit of structure which I think is good with a pleated skirt. *EDIT: Hoorah, I've now discovered that Venezia lining IS available in the UK from here (Stone Fabrics) in tons of colours. Thank you so much to the readers who pointed this out.

As the print on this skirt is full on lemony, I made a new plain top specifically to wear with it. New Look 6217 is the pattern that keeps on giving and yet again it didn't fail me. I think this is now my sixth version of this top - I've given up blogging about them as I don't want to bore you all to death! You only need half a metre of 150cm wide fabric to make it and I used luxury crepe from Sew Over It which has a lovely drape. 

I really like the whole outfit, which works just as easily for daytime as it does for evening. I was actually wearing flip flops and heels to demonstrate this in the photos below, but my son didn't think to include my feet when he was taking them!

Daytime 

Evening

The skirt (and top) gets its first outing tomorrow at a party...I'll report back! x