If you’re building an autumn wardrobe, a good place to start is The Billie Collection Skirt by The Fold Line.
Seasonal changes for me always start with packing up my off-season clothing and putting it away for next year. There’s nothing quite like only having rich, warm colors and fabrics at your finger tips when you’re ready to rock a pumpkin spice latte (viewer discretion is advised ? ?) But autumn brings more than PSL, though: it brings thick wool fabrics, comfy scarves, and hats.
While packing things away, I realized that I was missing transitional pieces which are imperative to San Francisco. Luckily, The Fold Line came to the rescue with their new Tribe Patterns venture! It was no coincidence that the moment I was shoving spring clothes into a box in my closet, I got the e-mail from The Fold Line, announcing their collaboration with House of Pinheiro. The Billie Collection is their inaugural collection, “Designed by the Sewing Community”– which I absolutely adore. The next collection is currently being sourced by a competition which closes out on Nov 4th, 2016 and will then be voted on!
The dress and peplum top are lovely- but I knew The Billie Collection skirt was what I needed, ASAP! Within an hour of buying the pattern, I had all ready printed out the PDF and was taping it together.
What I loved about the pattern was that it was super straight forward and the directions were written with an intermediate seamstress in mind. There were no unnecessary photos or explanations and everything was “searchable,” meaning that there was enough explanation of each step that doing an online search to find additional information was easy to do. For example, the exposed zipper, which I had never done before. I was able to watch a quick video online and was able to start sewing right away.
For changes, I added 7″ (17.5cm) in length to make it more suitable to my height and for the season. Also, I changed the hem depth to 1.5″ (3.5cm) which I prefer more in general. I also used rayon hem tape to hand sew my hem in place and used a contrasting rayon printed fabric for the pockets.
Things that took a little bit of adjusting while I worked on this skirt from The Billie Collection was in the organization of the instructions. The size charts, cutting layouts, and general notes were at the back of the packet and I had to awkwardly look for them every time I needed to reference something. Quick fix, though- just staple those sheets in the front (technically out of order) Also, the instructions for the exposed zipper at the waistband were a little bit awkward as well. I recommend leaving the ends of the waistband open at the Center Back so you can sew the zipper up to the top of the waistband, then fold the waistband down and sew by hand, encasing the zipper completely.
For pattern adjustments, I didn’t do any, which in general was fine except for the back panels which need a little more… “fullness” for my booty. Not a deal breaker, though, and I will gladly make this piece again.