I made this natty little number about 18 months ago; a faux-fur, leopard-print skater-skirt.

(Because every woman of a certain age needs one of these, right??)

It took me a while to work out what to do with the fabric once I purchased it. Mostly because I did the dumb thing and bought waaaay less than a metre of it, and kept on thinking; can I get away with a skirt this short?

Ha.

I looked at lots of sewing patterns, and kept up coming up short, yardage-speaking.

So what could I do? Add a contrast fabric at the hem? Use a different fabric for the waistband? Give up, turn it into a scarf and resign myself to something far more age-appropriate??

In the end, I pinned the fabric to my dress dummy and stared at it for a while.

Instinctively I started to add pleats to take in the fullness at the waist, and discovered a shape I really liked. A dive into the furthest regions of my fabric stash found a spare 10cms I’d bought as a sample, which was just enough for a waistband .. and it started to come together.

I knew it needed side pockets, so I could shove my hands into them and be all slouchy ‘n’ cool ‘n’ shizz.

I realised that, to make the most of the meagre yardage, I could simply cut the fabric into three pieces (one front, two back), chuck those pockets into the side seams, and away I could go.

No pattern was used (except for the waistband, ’cause I had no idea how long to make it), meaning it was ‘draped’ on my dress stand (and yes, I’m using the term VERY loosely). A visible metal zipper overcame my fears about putting in a regular zipper neatly, given the thickness of the fabric. And using bias binding meant I could make I really narrow hem (and therefore not sacrifice any more of that scant length).

And of course it’s beautifully lined. I’m a classy lady, remember?

I wore this to a recent event (rather than my beloved skinny jeans), rocking it with bare legs and chunky ankle boots. It was a challenge to select it and move out of my comfort zone, but I consciously made the decision so that it’d count towards my first week’s Me Made May 2014 quota (which I met, yay!)

That’s what I love about Me Made May; it makes me more conscious about what I wear.

And hey; who cares if it’s age appropriate when it’s this much fun? 😉