I Made My Own Axes Femme Skirt

A little over a month ago I ordered the perfect spring outfit. I ordered a light green sleeveless top with a tutu-like ruffle on the bottom hem, and a pink jacquard Axes Femme midi skirt with pink buttons, and pink ribbons zig zagging across the front panels. The third part of my order was a purple blouse with the whimsical detailing that you would want to see in a spring outfit.

The only problem was that it wasn’t the perfect outfit. The pink midi skirt was a brown midi skirt and my green top never showed up. Sadly the perfect spring outfit wasn’t meant to be…😔

I absolutely loved the silhouette of the skirt, but a brown midi skirt didn’t match anything I had or was planning to add to my wardrobe. The color didn’t even look good with the purple top that I had ordered specifically to be worn with the skirt.

Before bed, as I was making a request to return the skirt (which was a pain in the neck by the way! My first experience returning an item on Depop was a nightmare) I remembered that I had sewing class the next day. You see where this is going…

I made a pattern of the skirt while I was waiting for Depop to get back to me, so I could have a version of that skirt which I actually liked.

Here are my pattern pieces and process photos:

Here is the finished skirt:

I want to talk about what I could have done better when making this skirt

1. The Color of the Fabric

I rushed myself when picking the fabric. The original fabric was a thicker and high quality brocade. The fabric of the skirt (as shown in the seller’s picture) was a paler pink, whereas my skirt is full on magenta. One of the things I should mention is that the purple top I ordered was a less vibrant shade of purple than in the seller’s pictures. However, it wasn’t a significant enough of a difference for me to feel the need to return it. When I was picking out the fabric, I was also thinking about what color would go best with the green top which, as you know, never showed up. I didn’t realize this until I tried the skirt on with the purple top, but the color of the skirt doesn’t match with the purple top as well as I hoped it would. I think if I had chosen a paler or less vibrant pink, the skirt would look better with the top. The good thing is that I ended up pairing that skirt with a pink top that I thrifted. When I pull the skirt up above my waist and use some tape, I actually discovered that this combo makes for a really cute dress!

2. The Fabric

I bought my fabric at JOANNS. If you have ever shopped there you probably know where this is going… The fabric at the store is of the lowest quality. It’s cheap. And I say cheap in terms of quality. Fabric there can easily be $20… a yard. The fabric I bought was on the cheaper side compared to my other options, which heavily influenced me buying it. 2 yards of fabric and a small roll of lace cost me about $24. I’ve known that the quality of fabric at my local JOANNS isn’t great, but I didn’t think about that when buying the skirt. I thought about that when I put the skirt on and looked in the mirror. The fabric was a little wrinkly and you could tell it was cheap. It’s not a big deal but in the future I want to put more time into looking for the right fabric so I can find something that’s better quality without breaking the bank.

3. The Elastic Waistband

The skirt fits perfectly around my waist, however I struggled a little to get it over my butt. I used some elastic I had leftover from pajama pants I had made to create this skirt, I didn’t think about how stretchy the elastic was. I wished I had thought about that and gotten an elastic that can stretch more.

My first attempt at taking photos with this skirt didn't go great. My dog didn’t want to corporate, as shown below:

However the experience was really fun and I did get one treasured photo:

My second attempt at taking photos in this skirt were a little better, save for the fact that the photos my relative took were 92% what’s around me and 8% me. The following photos are very cropped which is why I appear blurry:

I will update this post when I get better photos.