I recently whipped up a City Stroll Skirt for both my daughter and myself. Our wardrobes necessitated some basics, but of course, I love to add a fun element to my sewing. When my girls were in high school, they had a very strict dress code: navy blue jumper, white polo shirt, regulation fleece. The way that the girls added some creativity to their uniforms was to line (or have their mother's line) the pockets of their jumpers with a fun print! That memory came back to me as I was putting together the City Stroll Skirts! I used a fun print for both the pocket lining and the hem facing.
Necessity is also the mother of invention, and I might not have thought of it except I was desperately trying to use a piece of Essex Linen (the blue fabric) in my stash and didn't quite have enough. Here is the hem facing of the blue skirt.
And here is the hem facing of the gray skirt.
You might also notice that the gray skirt has a white lining. I was working on this skirt at a recent sewing retreat and one of my sewing friends (thank you Joyce) recommended that I attach French Tricot interfacing to the entire skirt. Another friend had some with her (thank you Lindsay) and so I gave it a try. It worked beautifully! The interfacing added just enough body to the skirt, eliminated many of the wrinkles, and also made it less see through! Now I just need to try and add it to the blue skirt! Here is a peak into the pocket of the blue skirt.
And here is the gray pocket.
Also notice that I top stitched the gray pocket. The pattern instructs you to under stitch the pocket, which I did on both versions, but with the gray skirt, I added the extra assurance that the pocket lining wouldn't show with some top stitching.
In order to add a contrasting pocket lining and hem facing, it is as simple as cutting pieces 3 and 5 out of the contrasting fabric.
Pattern piece 5 is a huge fabric hog, so cutting it from a contrasting fabric is a tremendous help in making your main fabric go further! You might also notice the white insert in the number 5 pattern piece. I choose to lengthen my skirt by 2 inches. If you do this, the facing needs to be lengthened as well. The pattern is clearly marked on both the skirt and the facing with a lengthen and shorten line! The City Stroll is an easy pattern to sew. The pieces match perfectly, the directions are very clear, and this was an easy and quick to sew skirt. Now if it just stops snowing, I might get to wear it!