Ode to Corduroy

Today, amongst many other things, is the day that most resembles corduroy: 111111. I have a great fondness for corduroy; not as cliched as its cousin denim, nor as flashy as its sister velvet. Forever associated with geography teachers and indie kids, corduroy rules!
One of the greatest things I learnt when I attempted to learn Danish, is that jernbanefløjl literally means railway velvet. I have never looked at corduroy the same since.

The tale of the corduroy and the chewing gum...

So I once had a pair of corduroy trousers. Not just any corduroy trousers... M&S corduroy trousers no less.
Corduroy: the cloth of geography school teachers, hard wearing and functional. With its pleasing parallel lines. Note in Denmark it is called jernbanefløjl, literally translating as railway velvet. An understated cloth.
One day whilst wearing my corduroy trousers, I lent against a wall. Nothing too sinister there you may think, however when I went to move, I realised to my horror that I now had chewing gum stuck to my trousers!
Now chewing gum to any clothes is bad enough; but with corduroy's ridges chewing gum is its evil enemy.
Trying not to panic I followed every tip I could find to remove the gum. I froze the trousers, I chipped away at it, I washed the trousers, I added salt, I added fairy liquid - but to no avail. The gum was stuck. In a rage I cut off the offending lower leg of the trousers.
This was not a good look and one fashion trend that was just not going to happen. So I decided to turn the remains of my corduroy trousers in to a skirt. First I trimmed the other leg.
Ripped open the inner leg seams.
Trimmed any excess fabric to make a triangle shaped hole. Using some Ikea patterned fabric created two triangles to fit in front and back.
Zigzagged all the edges and sewed up. Finally I added a row of yellow stitching all around the hem of the skirt to decorate and help marry up the pattern with the plain cord. Gum fail = skirt win!