Hi friends, Have you ever felt as if your head might fall off if you didn't sit down and make something right now? I've been battling that feeling lately – I love knitting and all, but sometimes I need a little bit of instant craftification, and as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing better for that than my sewing machine. On Sunday afternoon I found myself with 2 metres of freshly washed fabric, a bundle of new fold-over elastic, and a free hour – and the handy 5-minute skirt tutorial from Angry Chicken. I've been meaning to make this skirt for a while, and with awesome summer weather on the horizon, it seemed like the perfect project. This tutorial has you devise a personalized pattern, but don't be daunted. It's a fairly easy process - measure your waist and you're halfway there; measure the length of your favourite skirt, and you're practically finished. One hint: add the three inches (seam allowance) to your waist measurement before you divide by two. Ahem. I learned that one the hard way. I drew my pattern on a piece of gridded tracing paper (possibly the best $8 I've ever spent on notions; I don't think I'm ever going to run out); cut it out, then placed it on my fabric. This is a bit tricky – the fabric is cut on the bias – but you'll get it. I've recently started using pattern weights rather than pins when tracing and cutting out pattern pieces – what a difference! Now, I should be clear that this skirt did not take me 5 minutes – in fact, there's a disclaimer on the pattern: "The 5 minutes only apply if you have a serger, all the supplies at the ready, and are sober. Please allow for extra time if your personal situation deviates from this." My personal situation did not include any tasty beverages, but it did include stopping to make supper and eat it, to answer three phone calls, to re-watch last week's episode of Parks and Recreation, and – oh yes – not having a serger. (Oh geez, do I want a serger!) But even with all of that, I ended up with a skirt in about 4 hours. Not too shabby! And now that the pattern is made, I'm pretty confident that skirt #2 (and there will be a skirt #2) will take less than an hour. Ta da! I can't wait to wear this, with a new white t-shirt and my favourite sandals. It's a skirt for walking around the neighbourhood as the sun sets, admiring the lilacs and eating an ice cream cone. (If someone would just do something about all this rain...)