A summer skirt - thank you, Anna Maria Horner

Since I started collecting fabric (and using it ;) ), I think it's safe to say Anna Maria Horner is my all-time favorite designer. I am completely smitten with the bold designs and the saturated colors. My guild/blog friends are always sending me pictures of their AMH stuff because they know how much I appreciate it :D (keep them coming!).

I missed out on Anna Maria Horner's Drawing Room fabric the first time around because I wasn't sewing yet. I have little tiny pieces here and there of that fabric line. Until Hand Drawn Garden came out earlier this summer, I wasn't acquainted with this particularly spell-binding (no pun intended) (okay, maybe) fabric: "Degas" (which I think looks like stacks of books). I believe it was first called "Volumes." I should probably add that I LOVE TO READ and always have!

 Is it possible to love a fabric design too much?  Just saying.

I HAD to make a skirt out of it. HAD to. I bought some at the beginning of the summer and kept putting off the whole learn-how-to-make-a-skirt thing (okay, technically I've made a skirt before, but it was a bit different with the layers).

As soon as summer school ended last week, I found a decent amount of sewing time on my hands (at least temporarily). I finally did it, and it was so easy. I see a lot of skirts in my future... dare I say this summer? I used this tutorial for most of it. P.S. I was measuring out a skirt in this post ;)

I had gray broadcloth to line it with, but this print is so dark that I didn't feel it was necessary. Plus, I wanted it to be as light as possible. There were only a few seams, and I zigzag stitched everything to prevent fraying. That was a good move because I plan on wearing it an awful lot before it's not skirt weather anymore!




I also couldn't resist adding a little border at the bottom of Julianna Horner's (Anna Maria's daughter's) new fabric, available at JoAnn. I like how the skirt emits a balance between modern and traditional, with the addition of that border fabric.



All of this picture-taking and celebrating happened on Saturday at my parents' surprise 30th Anniversary party! We've been planning for a couple months (myself, husband, sister, and brother), and finally we could spill the beans.

For the occasion, Marisa asked for a sash for her black dress. How could I say no to something so easy? She kept turning down my fabric selections via cell phone pictures, and finally fell in love with this magical Jennifer Paganelli print I bought at Marden's earlier this year. I'm almost out - I've already used it in this quilt and this one!

 

 Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!

 Linking up to: Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Better Off Thread, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF.