The Cleo Summer Showcase & giveaway

July has been a quiet month on the blog, but that doesn’t mean that it has been a quiet month sewing-wise! August is going to be busy at work and a very very busy time on my blog, too – be prepared for many lovely makes during the next few weeks – starting with the Cleo Skirt by Made By Rae.

I’ve made two patterns by Rae before – the Beatrix Blouse and an unblogged Bianca Blouse, both frequently worn. I really like how thorough Rae’s instructions are. Bianca was one of the first tops I’ve sewn for myself and any question I could have had while sewing was answered somewhere in the instruction booklet with many pages. So when Rae asked me to join the Cleo Summer Showcase, celebrating the Cleo and the soon-to-be Cleo paper pattern, I was totally on board.

The Cleo is a simple summer skirt with gathers at the waist and many possibilities to mix things up. View A has curved cutout-style pockets and a contrasting hem, view B has hidden inseam pockets and a regular hem. The skirt comes in two different lengths, but the style makes it easy to choose whichever length suits you. The Cleo is easy to make and to fit, having an elastic band inserted into the back waistband. My favourite feature of the Cleo is the flat front waistband. The skirt is only gathered below the waistband in the front, the back is gathered automatically by adding the elastic. I’m not often making garments with elastic waistbands, but when I do, I really like the front being without gathers, I think it’s just more flattering.

I chose to mix views A and B, although it really looks like a slightly lengthened view A Cleo. I had this fabulous thin and drapey rayon, bought at a destash sale from Lisa from Paprika Patterns – the same sale where I also got the linen jersey I used here. The fabric has a tiny flower print and a blue speckled border at both sides. Perfect for the Cleo with its straight cut skirt! I knew immediately that I wanted to use the border at the bottom of my skirt, as kind of a contrast hem without the need of extra sewing. While playing around with the fabric I thought that it would be cute to use the contrast band at the waistband, too, and to make sure that the slim red stripe is right at the bottom of the waistband.

I wanted to make the cutout-pockets a little more visible, too, so I decided to use the fabric of the band there, too. While I love how the waistband looks, I don’t find the pockets really convincing. In hindsight I might have preferred the pockets to be made of the main flower fabric only. The border wasn’t wide enough for the whole pocket, making the pocket look a little chaotic, in my opinion. But it definitely doesn’t ruin the skirt for me, and I’ve been wearing it a lot during the one warm week of summer we had this past July. I realized that I didn’t own a single light-weight summer skirt like this before making the Cleo!

All in all, the Cleo is such a lovely skirt, quick to sew and easy to fit because of the elastic. I know that a lot of people already love the Cleo, and for those of you on the fence about PDF patterns: Soon you can make Cleo, too! And you can even win a bran new paper copy of the Cleo: Just head over to my instagram account and follow and comment there, I’ll pick a random winner on Sunday, August 6th!

And last but not least: Check out all the amazing makes the other participants of this tour have made and give them some love!

july 31
vicky / @sewvee / sewvee.blogspot.co.uk erin / @hungiegungie / hungiegungie.com natalie / @sewhungryhippie / hungryhippie sews teri / @teridodds1 / fa sew la

august 1
tori / @thedoingthingsblog / thedoingthingsblog.com lindsay / @lindsayinstitches meredith / @thefooshe / oliviajanehandcrafted.com/blog kate / @kate.english

august 2
melissa / @ahappystitch / ahappystitch.com julie / @nursebean82 / nursebeansews.wordpress.com lauren / @laurenddesign / laurendurrdesign.com

august 3
bettina / @stahlarbeit / stahlarbeit.ch allie / @indie_sew / indiesew.com/blog darci / @darcialexis / darcisews.com emily / @mycraftylittleself / mycraftylittleself.blogspot.com

august 4
whitney / @whitneydeal / whitney-deal.com/blog sienna  /@notaprimarycolor amy nicole / @amynicolestudio / amynicolestudio.com kim / @pitykitty kten / @jinxandgunner / jinxandgunner.blogspot.com

– I got the Cleo pattern for free and got compensated for my fabric expenses for this blog post. However, all opinions are, as always, my own. This blog post is linked to the German blogger party RUMS. –