A Project A Week 42: H&M inspired mesh skirt

Ah! I finally got round to make my own version of the H&M skirt I have coveting since I first saw it in their shop this summer. It's not perfect, but it's definitely wearable!!

As a reminder, this is the original:

It's not their most expensive skirt, but the look of it made me think that it would be easy to make, even for a disastrous beginner sewist like myself. What really convinced me though is that straight after I spotted a very similar mesh fabric in a fantastic fabric shop in Orleans. They specialise in end of rolls Haute Couture fabric- at very reasonable prices. This is one of my favourite shops when I go back home. The staff is wonderful as well- they don't make you feel intimidated at all and are really helpful.

Going back to the skirt, I went several times to H&M to have a look at the structure of the skirt. It's several pieces (godets as they're called in French I believe) sewed together with an elastic waistband with shirring throughout the width. I'm not sure I'm making sense and using the proper terms (probably not), but if you have a look on the website the pics talk for themselves.

As mentioned before I was very anxious to mess up with the mesh fabric. I didn't spend a fortune on it- it was amazing value at 3 euros a meter, but it was such good quality that I didn't want to spoil it. I even felt a bit unworthy of having it. There's a saying in French which says "feeding jam to pigs" to talk about giving something to someone who doesn't really deserve it and dare I say I felt a bit like a pig with a huge jam jar!! Weird I know. I shouldn't feel so mystical about fabric.

In the end this is what I came up with:

Taking a pic off the hanger doesn't do it any justice so I slipped it on and very hastily took some pics!!

I changed a couple of things: since now I know how to make a circle skirt I decided to go for this instead od sewing lots of pieces together. The mesh was slightly stretchy and I read a couple of things about how circle skirts and stretchy fabric didn't go well together, so I used some pale pink acrylic fabric to make a circle skirt. The waistband is made with wide black elastic. For the mesh fabric I folded the width in half, and gathered it by hand. Yes- 3 meters painfully hand-gathered in my living room!! It didn't take me as long as I thought though!

Once my mesh fabric was gathered on a thread I shared it out evenly around the skirt and sewed it to the waistband. It wasn't easy and the gathering is not as even as I wished, but for a first try it's not all bad. It is slightly longer than the midi length I wanted, but at least I have used all this wonderful fabric without any waste. I am pleased I achieved the same "floaty" effect as the original. It's not hemmed at the bottom but I have noticed the H&M skirt isn't either!!

Total cost: 3 meters of mesh fabric @ 3 euros (around £8), acrylic fabric: from stash, wide elastic: 80p(?) so way below the £19.99 H&M skirt.

What do you think? Was it worth it, or should I have bought the original? Would you consider having a go at this? Have you got any tips to share to tidy up the waistband?

xx