70s Daisy-Days Skirt - Style #4949

I was at a church jumble sale when I saw the fabric.   It was bright and happy stripes of navy and apple green with daisies throughout.  I immediately knew I wanted to make it into a 70s a-line skirt.

I bought the fabric for the princely sum of 50c and when I got home I picked out the perfect pattern from my stash for the project.

Lucky me had inherited my Grandma's collection of sewing patterns.  There were only a scant few from the 60s and earlier but a large number of 70s patterns.  The pattern I picked out was in my size so I didn't need to resize at all which was a bonus.

The pattern is from a company called 'Style' which seemed to be at its height during the 70s but gone by the end of the 80s.   There are a lot of old copies of Style patterns floating around Australia and the UK (according to a quick ebay search) but not much at all from America.  I suspect that it may be an Australian brand based on the fact that the pricing on the front of each pattern is in Australian dollar and New Zealand dollars.... but I can't find much about it on the interwebz so if anyone knows more about the company I'd be interested in hearing or getting a link.

It was very little effort to sew the skirt together as it was a simple four panel skirt.   I did have to put some thought into cutting - to ensure that the lines would line up in chevrons at the front and back.  I didn't get it 100% perfect but for a first attempt at matching patterns I was pretty pleased with the result.   

I hemmed the skirt with bias binding as instructed by the pattern- a technique I will be repeating in the future as it looks great and neat and was so easy to do.

The other technique used on this skirt that was new for me was the use of petersham ribbon to line and stiffen the waist in the absence of a waistband.  I followed the pattern's instructions which called for the petersham to be box-pleated at the front and back seams.  This seemed like a great idea - until I wore the skirt and the petersham poked out like a little teepee on my belly.   I've since cut the fold out of the petersham so that it doesn't stick out.

All in all, I'm pleased with the skirt.  It's cute and Summery and easy to mix with the navy, white and green pieces already in my wardrobe.