Yesterday someone asked where I got this skirt, and was surprised when I told her how easy it would be to make one herself. I've been making these for years - this one is at least 10 years old - and they really are simple to cut out and put together. (Instructions HERE.) The hardest part is finding really lightweight cotton (or linen or hemp) fabric! This one is a woven matmee pattern; in matmee the warp yarns of the fabric are tie-dyed before weaving, then offset a bit. That's what creates the light & dark blue chevrons and patterns you see in the photo. Every once in a while I find a cotton lawn I can afford; they make really breezy, long-wearing garments. Liberty of London prints are great! When it starts getting colder, these skirts are also great over tights, layered over another skirt or a petticoat. Check out the fabrics at your local sewing shops, whip up a new skirt or two, and enjoy this simple addition to your wardrobe!

Here's another first sewing project story, this one from Debbi Lashbrook, an Educator with BERNINA of America, Inc.

"This wasn't my first sewing project, but it was one that I was proud of. My first sewing projects were clothes for my Barbie dolls - that's when I decided I wanted to be a fashion designer. I would hand sew all sorts of trim and color the trim with a marker if it wasn't the right color. I had an old straight stitch, forward only, Singer machine. I would sew the doll clothes together on the machine and then decorate them by hand. I didn't like to put the snaps on and many of my Barbie clothes went without snaps. To this day I don't like finishing by hand that is sometimes necessary for garments.

The picture is my second year 4-H project and I was so very proud of it for two reasons. First of all, it wasn't the elastic-banded, gathered skirt that we made for our first project. This was a for-real sewn on waistband and the skirt had a zipper. I felt so accomplished when I successfully sewed the zipper into the skirt! I then completed a shell and a matching sash and entered the garments in the county fair. The second reason this project brings back fond memories is that at the fair I was chosen to go to the Illinois State Fair to model my garment!"

My second resolution is one that my friend & coworker Nancy Bednar and I came up with about eight years ago, and some years we've actually lived up to it for several months: I'm going to sew one thing every month that is NOT a class or article sample. Yep - I'm going to sew something just because I want to sew it! You might think that since I work for BERNINA I must sew all the time; not true. I'm around sewing machines and writing about them day and night, but I don't have much time to just play like I did when this was a hobby rather than my job. I've already started on this resolution - this morning I finished stitching a new skirt for myself - the My Label Pencil Skirt. Something new to wear! I didn't change the pattern much (just added a little more ease through the hips), but I made it in a brown knit rather than a woven fabric, and replaced the zipper & waistband with an elastic casing. I used a serger to stitch everything except the hem and the last bit of the waist seam (where the elastic went in), so it went together very quickly. That's January...now to come up with a project for February!