My sewing moto has stalled lately, after a few sewing dissapointments in the wrap dress area (but more on this later). For the moment I need a quick, highly satisfactory project and this SisterMini by Vanessa Pouzet perfectly worked as such.

I am not a huge mini skirt person but I am all into the chunky sweater + dressy skirt combination this winter, and when I stumbled upon this beauty at COS, I immediately wanted to wear it with a mini skirt. I would have bought this corduroy one from the same brand but the pinks did not match. Thankfully I had the perfect fabric in my wardrobe, a beautiful pink and gold brocart fabric from Bennytex. And jumping to conclusions, here is the outfit, which is exactly what I was looking for!

In terms of sewing, the Sister Mini is a wonderful experience: in mimimum time you achieve a highly rewarding make, which is as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside. I have sewn three Vanessa Pouzet patterns up to now (including TheCape for my daughter, reviewed here) and I am extremely impressed by their quality: the number of pages to print from the PDF is tiny, the explanations are crystal-clear and full of humour, the finish is impecable and the sizing spot-on.

As for the skirt itself, it is a very short mini skirt – my key rule is never to wear it when I have to take the Tube! Rule number 2 is to drop the heals and wear trainers, not something I’m used to at all…

There is a fully-detachable zip at the front, which is a key element of the skirt. I looked for ages on E-Bay to find the right one, with a pink gold zipper on a beige background, perfectly matching my fabric.

The skirt is fully lined, in such a way that the inside is trully pretty – come on, have a look!

And joy, it also matches another of my recently bought jumpers, hurrah! – what do you mean, yet another blush item in my wardrobe?

In summary :

• Pattern: SisterMini skirt by Vanessa Pouzet, an absolute must in my view after a mini skirt, such an easy make with a really professional finish. I picked size 36 (my shopping size) after trying a way too large 38 with my muslin.
• Fabric pink and gold brocart fabric from Bennytex, this specific one is not available anymore but they still have a wide selection here.
• Sewing level: you absolutely need to make a muslin to check the size, which can be a bit boring; and you need to be precise when positionning the zip – but it is exposed so not as fiddly as a concealed zip. Otherwise very straightforward as the explanantions are so good.
• Love level: suprisingly for a mini skirt and my difficult relationship with my legs, I absolutely adore it!

When Vanessa Pouzet published her latest skirt pattern La Bohème, I got slightly over-excited: the pattern was published on Thursday night, my skirt sewn on Friday morning, photographed by my 8 year-old son on Friday afternoon and blogged on Saturday  – you must think that I am completely crazy! But appart from the fact that this pattern is just perfect, I owe you an explanation…

A few months ago, I volunteered myself for the Minerva Craft Maker Team. Each month, Minerva Craft offer to the team a selection of fabric. By chosing one, the maker agrees to contribute an article to the Minerva Craft blog. As I love both sewing and writing in English, with on top some free fabric on offer, this was far too tempting! For an obscure reason, I decided to start contributing from February – as we are away on holiday for two weeks soon and in the middle of renovating our bathrooms, committing to a 4-week deadline is definitely not the best idea I had… Oh well… I chose this spot crepe fabric, which I particularly liked for its vintage look.  It is described as a medium-weight, I thought I would make a dress (my favourite ever garment to make and wear by far) out of it so I ordered 3 meters.

When the fabric arrived however, my plans for a dress evaporated: the fabric was far too soft for the mid-season strucured dress I had in mind; and slightly transparent on top, so it would have required full lining – arrggghhh! But it would work wonders on a skirt: I started dreaming about something long and vaporous, initially in the circle skirt department, then with ruffles… And then, TADA, Vanessa published this amazing pattern and my fabric’s destiny was sealed!

This skirt is amazing, static…

… or in motion…

… and let’s not even start twirling about!!!

This is my fourth Vanessa Pouzet garment. Having already sewn the adult cape, the child cape and the Sister Mini skirt, I was fully confident it would be a super smooth, super satisfactory project – and it was!

• The pattern is PDF only but it is extremely easy to print and assemble – it took me no more than 30 minutes! So if you are allergic to PDF pattern, you should definitely reconsider, these are my favourite ones by far!
• The explanantionbs are crystal clear, you can’t make any mistake if you follow them carefully – and they are also full of hunour!
• Everything falls paerfectly into place…
• … and the finish product is just so stylish!

No I promise, I am not being paid to say this, I am just an absolute fan!

As far as technicalities are concerned:

• It took me about four hours to make this dress, from printing to taking pictures.
• The two longest steps were cutting the fabric – an absolute nightmare with such a soft fabric; and hemming the skirt – meters and meters of slippery material to deal with!
• I shortened the skirt by 2cm but I did not follow the patern’s instructions: I assembled the skirt and the ruffle together, tried on with my heels (of the height I will wear with the skirt, this is absolutely essential) and cut 2cm from the top before assembling the belt.
• I also diverted from the pattern for the belt: I only cut one piece of fabric of 150x20cm (insead of 2 pieces of 150×10) and I thermolined the belt to give more rigidity to my fabric.
• Despite the fabric being slightly transparent, I did not feel the need to add any lining, as the front overlap does the job!

So absolutely no trouble with the pattern but quite a lot with my fabric – although completely worth if! I love the fact that the fabric is so light and a bit transparent, it makes the dress very special.

In summary  :

• Pattern: La Bohème skirt by Vanessa Pouzet (sadly only available in French for the moment), a floor-lenght wrap skirt with an all-around ruffle. The pattern in only available in PDF but Vanessa’s are the easiest PDF to print and assemble I have ever used!
• fabric: this white spots on black background medium-weight crepe fabric from Minerva Craft. Definitely not easy to cut and to hem, as it slips quite a bit, but totally worth the effort! It is slightly trensparent but with this skirt required no lining, as the wrap does the job.
• Sewing level: completely feasible for beginners, as there are very few pattern pieces, no major technical difficulty and the explanations are crystal-clear!
• Love level: I am crazy about this skirt, such a beauty, in particular when moving!