Finished Beignet, now known as my happy autumn skirt

Yay, I have finally completed my Beignet skirt.

This is a great pattern, it definitely deserves it's intermediate status though, as I found it a quite time consuming and complex project.  I did deliberately take my time with it, as I wanted it to feel solid and well made.  I have to say I love the result. No wonder this pattern is so popular.

I made mine from a medium weight denim for the shell, some polyester anti-static lining fabric for the lining and used a patterned cotton for the facings.

I had a few new sewing experiences with this project, most notably:

• Sewing buttonholes

My machine has a 4 step buttonhole function, and once I'd had a few practice goes, these were pretty easy to do.  My machine makes them quite neatly I think, but making 12 was pretty stressful!

• Sewing with polyester lining fabric

All I can say on this subject is argh!  It frays ridiculously, it slips and slides all over the place, it wouldn't hold a crease when I was trying to press the hem and my chalk marks wouldn't even stay on it for more than 5 seconds.

• Sewing with denim

This fabric was the polar opposite of the lining fabric, it's sturdy, hardly frays at all, chalk loves it and I love it. Would be tempted to make an entire denim wardrobe just because it's so easy to handle.

• Basting

I am a cheat, if a pattern tells me to pin, then hand baste and then sew, I usually skip the basting.  I mean come on, I have to pin it then sew the thing up a bit rubbishly and then do it again properly, and finally pull out my basting stitches after I'm done.  What's the point.  However on this pattern, those two evil curves on the lining and facing, one concave one convex, well basting twas the only way to go.  And even then I had to unpick and re-sew them because I fudged it up the first time.  Rubbish slippery lining fabric got caught up underneath my needle, grrr.

• Under stitching

I'd not done this on anything before, but the pattern instructions suggested under-stitching the facing to stop it rolling out to the outside.  I found sewing right into the corners a bit tricky though.  Did anyone else have this problem?

It's such a relief to have a well fitting garment that I have made myself.  After all my fitting issues with the upper half of my body, this skirt has really improved my sewing confidence. 
It's not perfect by any means.  I got bored when sewing the buttons on and Downton Abbey was on the telly and I'd had a glass (or two) of wine by this point, so a few are a bit wonky.  Plus the hem of the lining is dreadful, but it's on the inside so nobody will ever see that it isn't straight.