Butterick Linen Skirt with Sunny Day Linen Fabric
The parcel arrived at my door with a quick knock from the delivery driver, and I practically ran to collect it. I could not have been more stoked to open the package and see de Linum’s Sunny Day 100% Linen folded up oh so softly, nestled neatly in my parcel. Arriving all the way in Ottawa, Canada, Sunny Day was a dose of vitamin D in a package, especially when looking out my sewing room window to see my backyard covered in a few inches of powdery snow!
Sunny Day is a golden yellow linen with soft cream and sage berry blossoms delicately printed all over it. Romantic but still earthy, I was delighted to find an un-fussy floral print like this. Another de Linum option for a cheerful, boho and not prissy floral print is the Summer Floral Garden linen, which I was quite tempted by. The fabric is, as always, floppy but with a beautiful weight - you just know the linen will wash, wear and soften beautifully as it ages. Sunny Day is listed at 140GSM - a light to mid-weight fabric and a generous 149cm in width. The pattern suggestions for Sunny Day were the Anthea Blouse by Anna Allen Clothing (those sleeves and this linen - of COURSE), the Millicent Wrap Dress by Style Arc and the strappy Hazel Sundress by Rosery Apparel. Linen is the answer for all of the dreamiest patterns.
I was tossing up between sewing a voluminous blouse like the Anthea or the Aims blouse by Seamwork or an all-seasons skirt like the Estuary Skirt by Sew Liberated. I finally decided to use a vintage skirt pattern; Butterick’s 3162 is described as a slightly flared skirt, 5 inches below mid-knee, with a front button closure, straight waistband and slant front pockets. I loved the vintage look of the skirt but wanted something a little more versatile to wear during December in Canada, so I decided right away that I could lengthen the skirt to an ankle-grazing length, adding side slits, envisioning wearing this romantic floral skirt with boots and woolly socks and a cropped sweater, and in the spring and summer with tank tops and sandals.
I daydreamed of outfits and sketched out the lengthened skirt while pre washing and tumble drying the linen (de Linum suggests that fabric may shrink around 5% so I wanted to get that out of the way first, in case the garment ever ended up in the dryer during its life cycle).
My measurements put me in the Butterick 16, which was the only size not included in the pattern bracket I had bought. Comparing the largest size of the skirt that was available in my size packet, I measured my waist and hips and added the required cm to the pattern pieces as best I could. The shapes were quite simple, so I just eyeballed my grading. I also added 20 cm of length to the skirt to achieve a longer length. I made sure to leave myself an extra inch or two as a safety measure, but not so much that I’d have to have a deeper hem than I wanted.
As with all Big 4 patterns, some of the instructions were not super clear, but I muddled my way through and did things my own way where I felt the instructions did not make sense. I considered adding a length of elastic to the back half of the waistband however, I was concerned that it would pull the button closure apart or create gaping. Surprisingly, the straight waistband worked out fine, and while it is not super fitted, I do not think it will stretch out too badly with wear.
After a few days of relaxed sewing over Christmas, I had created pockets, interfaced and attached my waistband, hand-basted my centre front button placket, added buttonholes, and hand stitch buttons and hemmed the skirt. I used 5 cute mushroom-shaped wooden buttons that I’d recently acquired from Etsy but wonder if a darker wood might add a little something more to the skirt - the jury is still out on whether or not I will swap them.
Overall, Sunny Day was a delightful fabric to sew with - smooth and cool, drapey without being heavy, and ever so slightly sheer in direct sunlight. I can’t wait to wear this skirt in the warm weather with bare legs underneath!
30 Dec 2023 Brittany Kingham
