Sewing with Wool – Making a Basic Skirt

So, before the lockdown happened, I had planned to make the perfect Spring work skirt. I have quite an active job, I am mostly on my feet and don’t get much time to sit down. I’m constantly moving about the studio and therefore need to be able to carry equipment with me.

I decided that I wanted to make a skirt that looked neat, stylish and smart but was also super practical. So, of course this means…BIG POCKETS.

I recently started blogging for Fabric Guys and I was lucky enough to receive this beautiful wool fabric in exchange for a blog post. Fabric guys have been selling beautiful hand-picked fabrics for many years. They have a brilliant selection, and there prices are really reasonable.

The wool fabric is great because the wrong side was just as beautiful as the right side, which gave me lots of options for creating a garment.

Top Tips for sewing with wool:

Pre wash

Wool often shrinks, so as with most projects it is best to prewash your fabric. Choose either a wool cycle or 30 degree. Whatever you’d be washing the garment on.

Overlock the edge

When working with a woven wool like this one it does have a tendency to fray, so overlock the edges. If you think that this will make the garment too bulky, try using pinking shears.

Mark darts with threads

Due to the larger weave often chalk wont show up so well. Also pins can fall out of the looser weave. So a few contrasting threads work perfectly.

Careful Pressing

Press with lots of steam, but put something between the hot iron and the fabric as if its too hot you can end up woth shiny marks.

Use a longer stitch length

Set your machine to 2.5-3 to get it more easily through your machine and so it doesn’t bunch up.

This is just a summary of my main blog post over on the Fabric Guys website, so head on over to find out more tips for sewing with wool. Also details of how the skirt was sewn.

At the end I say I can’t wait to wear it to work, but now, I can’t wait to wear it at home!

Check out another of my skirt sewing projects, the SewDIY Nita wrap skirt.

Thanks for reading

Ruby x