I bought the Coquelicot Skirt and Apron patterns last summer after seeing several youtube posts and blog posts about how much people were loving this skirt.
They are designed by a Canadian designer, Melanie Boivin (a genius). Her website is: LINK
To be honest, I found the pattern daunting at first, so decided to make a ‘trial’ skirt before I committed to more expensive fabric. BUT! The instructions are beautifully written, and walk you through the making of the skirt step by step, so my concerns vanished as I was sewing the first iteration. In fact, I can now ‘whip up’ a Coquelicot skirt in a snap. Love love love that!
For ‘trial skirt #1: I made it from a thrift shop find- a queen size 100% cotton knit sheet. I wasn’t sure if the knit would be okay or not, but oh my, I love it!
I wore it non stop all summer and decided that I wanted to make skirt #2 in a combination of fabrics that I had set aside for it in a good place. (LOL, of course I can’t find the ‘good place’ where the fabrics are waiting).
I made a couple of changes to the skirt: I like long skirts, so I lengthened it – but I should have copied the knee length pattern first for the apron before I lengthened it for the skirt. Oops.
I am not a fan of using bias tape to bind pocket edges, so instead, I used fabric from a sheet that our little dog dug a hole in when she was being oddly enthusiastic about the joys of digging on our bed. Sigh.
I laid the upcycled lining fabric (cut from the doggied sheet) onto the pocket, stitched on the stitching lines,
turned it right sides out, pressed and topstitched the pocket opening
And made the pockets as shown in the pattern.
I found that the ‘D’ ring closure was uncomfortable, so I changed over to using gross grain ribbon for the ties for the back of the skirt (which are tied in front before the front is tied with self fabric ties)
Before the pandemic, I made a dress from all kinds of upcycled fabric scraps and and a blouse that I bought in a thrift shop because the fabric looked just like origami fabric.
I was no longer wearing the dress, so I wanted to upcycle it again, and decided that the apron would be a great way to do that. When I cut the dress up, I saved the pocket and sewed it onto the apron.
I found some awesome vintage closures that were supposed to be used on tablecloths, but I think of them as suspender clasps. Anyhow, I love how they make the straps super adjustable for adapting to however many layers I am wearing under the apron.
I LOVE the apron! I will make it again, but with fabric that is less ‘precious’ so that I don’t feel guilty about wiping my hands on it!
Knowing that I know that I absolutely love the Coquelicot skirt and find it incredibly comfortable gave me the confidence to go ahead and use some gorgeous wool fabric that I had been given to make another skirt. I practically live in this skirt now. So comfortable, and the hidden, well supported extra generous pockets are THE BEST!
Then I made another one to wear to the wedding of dear friends- also in gorgeous wool suiting that I had been given and have been holding onto until the perfect project came along. This is the perfect project!
I LOVE this skirt sooooooo much! For summer skirts, I am planning on using floral cotton and also linen from curtains that we no longer have on our windows, And, oh yes…. when that elusive black and white fabric re-appears- well! I will grab it and get sewing before it can get away from me again!
Do I recommend this pattern? You betcha! I am enjoying the skirts that I have made from the skirt pattern so much! And once I make the apron in a more ‘get down and dirty and don’t worry about it’ fabric, I will wear it all the time, too. I love aprons and this one is beautifully designed.
Well done, Melanie!
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