Brooklyn Skirts

Bearing in mind just how much I love the Seamwork Brooklyn Skirt I can’t believe I seem to have omitted to blog about it the first time I made one. Having looked through all of my archives however, I can only conclude that this appears to be the case. I have now made 3 (yes count them, three) of these amazing skirts, and every time I make them, I fall in love with this pattern again.

True to it’s pattern description, the Brooklyn skirt only take a few hours to make. If you have an overlocker it whizzes up even quicker! The only brain boggling piece is the box pleat, but once you have it down first time around it’s a breeze. I would be practically confident to say now that I could make one of these without looking at the instructions, it’s that simple!

My first Brooklyn was made out of a grey wool mix, which is perfect for this skirt. You definitely need something a little heavier that holds the pleats and falls beautifully. My second Brooklyn was made out of some electric black and blue dogtooth wool that had initially been intended for a Tilly Arielle Skirt but I kept putting off using it because it was just too gorgeous. When I read more closely that a Tilly Arielle is best suited to something with a little extra stretch, I kept my beloved dogtooth for later. The perfect opportunity came when I was looking to do some stash-busting sewing due to lack of funds and I realised it would be perfect for a Brooklyn. Serendipity provided and I even had an electric blue 20cm zipper in my zipper jar (God knows what that was initially intended for?!) so I could sew this make entirely from my stash.

This has become one of my all time favourite Brooklyns – I wear it frequently to work paired with some patent brogues and a long sleeved black T-shirt. I love the fact that it is almost certainly one of a kind and completely individual, and yet not so crazy that I can’t get a tonne of wear out of it.

One of my other favourite things about the Brooklyn pattern is that this one fits me in a size 14 cut straight from the pattern, which is a miracle. It is like this skirt pattern was made for me!

You’re probably getting the picture now – I bloomin’ love a good Brooklyn! Based on the amount of wear the grey and dogtooth versions get, at Christmas I decided I should make a black version. I don’t often sew black items – I don’t know, there’s just something I find totally uninspiring about buying black fabric. However, with the amount of coloured shirts and long sleeve T shirts I have in my wardrobe, I knew this one would be investment. I treated myself to some beautiful wool/cashmere blend which is super soft (and also happened to be on sale – yippee!) Sewing with cashmere gave me the fear a little bit as I just really didn’t want to screw it up and waste it. As it happens I now have a nice little remnant which I am thinking of using to make a teeny cashmere coat or matching but teeny skirt for my niece. We shall see!

Making this Brooklyn was extra special for me as it was my first make in my new craft room (more on that to come!). I have to say, having my amazing cutting table (also known as the Ikea Stenstorp Kitchen Island) was every bit as awesome as I’d hoped.

The sewing gods were smiling when I made this skirt. I had the hands down best zipper placement I have ever done. Check it out:

I love the metallic zipper on this skirt. It’s my little nod to a fun feature while sewing something black!

So here it is, finished Brooklyn number 3.

As you can see, Maud loves to wear a Brooklyn as much as I do!

This skirt has been a really successful make – I wore it to our New Year’s Eve Party with a Denim shirt tucked in, and then today I wore it to work. It ticks a lot of boxes so I am pretty convinced it will become a long term wardrobe staple. I shall wear it until it falls apart! What about you, do you have any recommendations for other wardrobe staples? Or any patterns you return to again and again! Let me know, I’d love to hear from you!