When I discovered Fibre Mood via Shauni of The Magnificent Thread, it was a mini revelation. Here was what I thought was a really (I hate to say it) cool sewing pattern magazine. To my mind it’s an upgraded La Maison Victor, though to be fair, also at an upgraded price point.

Fibre Mood is a bi-monthly sewing and knitting pattern magazine or what they call “pattern books” from Belgium (not from the Netherlands like I originally thought. I stand corrected!). From the first glimpse I fell head over heels for their styling and snapped up their latest magazine, their third issue. On flipping through the rest of the website I found they had copies of the back issues for sale too! Only issue one was still available in English and I ended up getting that one too!

Anyway to cut it short, I found a new brand that I love. And I jumped straight in with the first pattern in their latest magazine – the Arlette skirt!

This is a midi length wrap skirt that comes with a couple of variations – either a plain knee length version or with a gathered ruffle. The online instructions go over how to change the pattern to come up with more variations too!

I decided to make a really simple skirt and made the plain version albeit much longer than intended. I already had the best fabric to use for it – the most amazing red/ orange leopard print! I got this as a remnant piece from Walthamstow market so it only cost £1!

The main downside to using magazines (any Burda readers in particular will be used to this!) is the tracing out and adding the seam allowance! The patterns are laid out in what looks like a hot mess and I always spend ages trying to figure out which line I’m supposed to be following!

I did get there in the end, though I’m pretty sure I was as far from accurate as you can be!

After tracing, I extended the skirt patterns pieces by 20cm and tapered them in slightly towards the hem.

I altered the waistband of the pattern to have a separate piece for the side ties to prevent them needing to be interfaced as per the instructions . Stiff ties are not for me!

The hem of the skirt was finished with a neat self fabric bias tape. I really love this finish and I need to start using it more instead of just turning over the hems!