I have been clipping and pinning skirt tutorials for inspiration and planning what I am going to do with my fabulous new prints. I should probably make tops but, to me, these fabrics scream, "Skirt! Skirt! Make me into a skirt!" So I did. I started off with my second favourite fabric to see if my plans would work out.
The fabric is Amy Butler, Midwest Modern, Martini, Mustard, of which I had 1 yard from my American stash. I didn't have enough yardage to make the full, pleated skirt that I was hoping for. I think I have been spoiled recently with some very generous widths. I didn't have much extra to play with here and the pleats are small, more like open darts.
I used methods from these tutorials:
One Little Minute - a great pleated skirt tutorial
Sew Mama Sew - how to add pockets to French seams
Plus, I want to bookmark this for future:
Guthrie & Ghani - how to add pockets to a straight skirt
Waistband: is 43cm x 9cm. Cut 2 lengths and added lightweight interfacing to one strip. Join lengthwise along the top only, leaving sides open to finish after zip is in. With this amount of width, the waistband needed to be angled in a few places. I put a dart in the side and one in the back, plus the installation of the zip created a third area. I should have perhaps cut the strips with angled sides.
Skirt: cut 55cm length, cut width in half for front and back. For a full pleated skirt, I would have needed double the fabric, using a full width for the front and another for the back.
Made two pleats on each piece of fabric. I really struggled with measuring these accurately and getting the skirt to fit the required width. The fabric did not handle unpicking/reworking well at all. In the end, I sewed the side seams, pinned the skirt pieces into the waistband and pinched the pleats out of the remaining fabric. They're not even and it was a total hack but it worked, thank goodness. If I had more width in the fabric, I would have liked to stitch down the top 15cm of each pleat and have it lie flat over the hips. Next time. I didn't press the edges of the pleats into creases, I left them open for fullness.
Pockets: I had just enough fabric at the end of the yard to make two pockets. My first ever pockets! I traced over the pocket shape of a dress that I already have and now I have my very own pocket pattern. I used the Sew Mama Sew tutorial so I could do French seams in the skirt. Figuring out how to leave a space for the zip was a challenge (which I have now figured out) but, in this case, the selvedges came to the rescue. In the end, I did one side seam with French seams and the other with regular seams and selvedges. The pockets are way too low in the skirt. This was a deliberate decision, made when I was planning to stitch the pleats flat. I wanted the pockets to enhance the skirt fullness lower down and to not pull open across the hips. I can just about get my hands to the bottom!
I didn't get the zip edges to match, even after two tries. This is close enough. I also realised, after finishing, how to get the zip and the pocket into the same place in the side seam: I could have attached the front half of the pocket, left the back pocket seam open and put the zip in there. Then I would have a pocket in front of an invisible zip. Next time.
I thought hard about adding piping between the waistband and the skirt. Lauren (at Guthrie & Ghani) does some lovely work adding piping to skirts. I didn't have any cream or grey fabric or bias binding and I was too impatient to wait for any so I went ahead without piping. Instead, I added two rows of top stitching. I needed one row to attach the back of the waistband to the skirt and enclose the raw edges. I liked the look of the second and I added a single row at the top. Aside from looking decorative, I think they add to the strength and stability of the waistband.
Overall, how happy am I with this project? Not delighted, but pleasantly surprised. It didn't go to plan, I didn't get what I set out to create, the finished product is full of mistakes and I chose a palate that does not fit in to my wardrobe. But, looking at the photos, it looks pretty good. Pleasantly surprised.
Final cost: £10.15
Fabric: £7.90
Zip: £2.25
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