Recently I was on social media and saw a smiling woman modeling some clothing she’d made. The fabric was a fantastic print and she looked good.

Then I read her caption. It was a litany of all the ways the thing she’d made didn’t fit right, and that she’d recently taken it apart to make it into something else. After reading the caption, I went back to her photos, and I could see what she was saying. But a lot of it was definitely her perfectionism screaming in her head. If she hadn’t let the world in, most people wouldn’t have noticed the shortcomings of the thing she’d made.I wrote a first draft about the Gypsum skirt I made, and realized I was essentially doing the same thing. In the pictures, nothing is wrong, but in my head, there are some problems.

Instead of complaining for the whole post, I’ll just say this: Quilting cotton is beautiful and has unique prints. But because of its stiffness and drape, it has its limitations. I chose to make my skirt out of quilting cotton, and like nearly every other time I’ve made a piece of clothing with quilting cotton, I have some regrets.The skirt IS beautiful. But it’s a bit stiffer that I would have liked, and I should have known better.

I made a size six, view A, and didn’t make any alterations to the pattern, and used Banyan Batiks Tapa Cloth Bamboo and Triangle Forrest Blush.

While I did use the instructions to make the skirt (it had been a while since I tackled my Arenite pants and the pocket construction of the skirt is a little different from the pants), I skipped over the understitching step on the pockets.

I knew it needed to be understitched, and I know when something needs to be understitched, Meg will include it in the pattern. It was bothering me while I was making the skirt. Even though I went back to look over the instructions, I still didn’t see the step, so instead of reading thoroughly and/or trusting my gut, now the pockets don’t quite sit right because I skipped that part. It’s a small thing that most (all?) people won’t notice, but it bothers me because not only was it in the instructions and I missed it twice, but I know better.

I decided to make a cotton underpetticoat to help the skirt keep its shape, and prevent me from having to wear a synthetic slip between me and the outer skirt. I used Kaufman Sophia Washed Lawn Solid O.D. Green, and measured the Gypsum in order to make the underskirt a few inches shorter (I included the complete name of the fabric so you can search it if you want. The site was bought by Amazon since I purchased the fabric, and I no longer shop there).The underpetti is two full widths of 53″ fabric. The waistband was sized for half inch elastic. I gathered the skirt fabric, attached to a waistband 4-5 inches wider than my hips. I wanted to wear it low on my waist so the outer and underskirts’ waistband wouldn’t be stacked on top of each other, and I wanted a relaxed fit.I hand finished the hems of both skirts, and wearing them together is comfortable and gives the Gypsum a little more oomph.