Sham's Tablecloth skirt, winter version with fitted waistband

I am so pleased to have done some sewing.

Despite the baleful prescence of the dress of doom, having a long weekend (Thank you, Queen Elizabeth II) is very exciting for my sewing plans.
This is Sham's Tablecloth skirt in a winter version. I have used a medium weight wool plaid, which originally thought it wanted to be a fulled jacket from Burda World of Fashion, but changed its mind.

This is the third version I have made of Sham's excellent pattern. The two previous versions had a lot of wear over summer.
 I have made a few small changes at the waistline to accomodate my discovery, back in the dark ages when I was 13 or so, that elastic waistbands are not flattering to persons with my figure. I need all the waist definition I can get.
 When I cut out the waist circle, I use the template for my waist, per Sham's measurements, but with approximately 1.5cm ease ( 5/8'') , rather than 2". I then give myself 1cm seam allowances (3/8'') by pulling the waist circle pattern piece (folded in quarters) back until the edges lie 1cm off the folded fabric. I want the waist to fit snugly to support the heavy skirt.
I cut a lining piece for the central square section of the skirt only, and treated it as one piece with the outer skirt whilst attaching the waistband. 



I then choose a straight grain section of the skirt for location of the placket, and apply fusible interfacing in a 7cm wide strip to about hip level. (Sorry no photo)
Next I slit the skirt to about 5cm above hip level, and sew a long strip of fabric (cut on grain) along the whole slit laid out in a straight line, to be the placket.
This time I used a less heavy fabric than the outer skirt, as the wool is rather bulky.  I interfaced this placket fabric as it has a little stretch, which I did not want.
For this skirt, I rolled the placket over the seam allowance and topstitched so that the inner placket fabric formed a contrast line when the placket is closed.

The inner side of the placket is backed by a strip of the outer woollen fabric, as I felt that the thinner purple fabric would not support the buttons. I catch stitched this to the lining as shown.

I then measured the width of the finished inner placket, added this to the waistband  measurement + seam allowances for both ends of the waistband and applied a straight (interfaced) waistband to the top of the skirt.
Although this waistband has very little ease, the weight of the long, full skirt pulls the waistband down a little. I have offset the buttons as shown so that there is effectively no ease at the waist. Despite this, the skirt is very comfortable to wear.

My plans for tomorrow are a knit extravaganza basic tops day. I need something to wear with my new skirt - pink, purple and green is a bit outside my normal neutral colour palette ;)