Try-it-out Tuesday: J. Crew-inspired skirt DIY

        I am an intermittent sewer, to say the least -- it's been years since I dragged out the sewing machine. But during the last week before classes started, I got the itch to make something.
       I thought this cheery umbrella-printed cotton would make a cute skirt, and I decided to use this tutorial, which is inspired by J. Crew's elastic waist flirt skirt. (She also revamped the tutorial to make a lined wool skirt with the same pattern.) It's an elastic-waist skirt with a few lovely differences: the  design cuts down on the poof you get with an elastic waist; there's a little ruffle at the waist, and it has pockets.

EDC by Esprit tee, old

skirt, made by me

broken and randomly re-knotted necklace, Forever 21

Fossil belt, Macy's

      I learned how to sew with printed patterns from Simplicity, Butterick, etc., so it's very strange to me to see people breezily laying out some fabric and just cutting into it. What about unfolding that brown tissue-thin pattern and cutting out your pieces? What about carefully pinning it to the cloth and measuring to make sure the grain arrows match up? Eek. Just cutting into the fabric is even more of an undertaking when you are like me and cannot cut a straight line to save your life. Nonetheless, I washed and ironed my fabric, laid it out neatly on the carpet, and proceeded to follow the tutorial. 

Yellow pockets make me happy :)

     This skirt is definitely a different silhouette than I'm used to, but it's breezy and light and just perfect for summer. When I first put it on I thought it was much too poofy, but in the photos it looks OK. I think the wide brown belt helps, although it eventually slid out of place. Would it be oxymoronic to add belt loops to that comfy elastic waist?