I recently decided that a denim skirt would be a useful addition to my wardrobe. I looked through the skirt patterns that I already owned but nothing was quite what I wanted, so I decided to buy the Bernadette skirt from Friday Pattern Company to give that a try!
The Bernadette is a mini or midi skirt with front pleats, back darts and an invisible zip on one side. It also has a cute belt bag - the belt closes with D-rings and the bag is a zipper pouch with a front buttoned pocket. The belt bag may have been the thing that really made the pattern appeal to me! If the skirt isn't your thing but you like the look of the belt bag, it is available on its own as the Bernie belt bag.
The skirt comes in waist sizes from 24" to 53", and hip measurements from 34" to 62".
Bernadette comes together fairly quickly and is a reasonably simple project to sew. The instructions give you a good amount of detail and are easy to follow, helped by nice clear diagrams.
The only difficulty I had was getting the waist facing and the waist of the skirt to match up - my skirt seemed to be too big, particularly at the back. I compared my pattern pieces and they matched up perfectly, so I think I must have somehow managed to stretch out the waist of my skirt when I was sewing the darts/pleats. I unpicked my back darts and resewed them to be a fraction bigger, and that sorted my problem.
You kind of think the belt bag will be quick to sew, but I think it probably actually took me just as long as the skirt itself! One thing I would say about it is that some areas of the bag end up with lots of layers of fabric and my machine did not enjoy trying to sew them. The points where the bag loops join the back of the pouch were a particular challenge and I had to hand crank my machine through those. If I make the bag again in a similar weight of fabric, I think I'd try to find a suitable thinner fabric for the bag loops and probably the flap of the front pocket too.
I deliberated about what size to make for a while. My current waist measurement is 32.5", which is just above the L range but below the XL. I looked at the finished measurements and I felt that the L would probably have technically fitted, but it would have been a bit tight to be comfortable when sitting. The XL would have been a bit too big though. In the end, I cut an XL but used a larger seam allowance (1.5 cm instead of the 1 cm called for in the pattern). I think I made the right choice - my finished skirt has just enough ease to make it comfortable to wear without feeling too big.
The fabric that I used is an 8 oz washed denim that I bought locally. It's a lovely weight for the skirt, but as I mentioned before it was a bit thick for some parts of the bag.
I'm glad that I decided to give the Bernadette skirt a try. It was a really nice pattern to sew, and I'm very pleased with the finished results. I only finished it last week and I've already worn it twice - I think it'll be in regular wardrobe rotation from now on!
