Domesticated Skirt

I mentioned last week that I wanted to make this skirt for a wedding we went to Friday night. Unfortunately, even after staying up until WAY past my bedtime, I wasn’t able to get it finished up. I’m kind of glad I didn’t quick finish it the way it was, because I ended up making a few changes & am much happier with it now.

In the tutorial, Sabra (from Sew A Straight Line) mentions adding half your waist measurement to the bottom of the skirt to give a flared look. I made it like that the first time, but it laid really funny & the inner fabric was barely visible so I redid the side seams, only adding about an inch at the bottom. It still flares nicely, and I like the amount of reveal of the inner fabric.

I’m still working out what to use to hold the top opening closed at the waist measurement (since the opening has to be big enough to fit over the hips), but have a few ideas to try out. The first thing I tried as little snaps, but unfortunately they weren’t strong enough to hold & kept unsnapping every time I stood up or sat down in church yesterday. It wasn’t an issue of the skirt falling down, but it just sat funny when it wasn’t tight at the waist, and probably could have eventually worked itself loose enough to slip down. Personally, I prefer my skirts to stay up where they belong. :)

Sabra mentioned the issue of having the inner fabric “peep” out at the side seams, which it did indeed do as you can tell in the pictures. It’s not a big issue, the seams just don’t want to stay closed, for lack of a better term. I fixed this by using a 3-point zig-zag stitch down the outside of the seam, and now it lays nicely (need a few more pictures, I know!).

I also ended up just hemming the bottom (also not shown in these pictures). I went back & forth about hemming, using the bias tape, and leaving it fringy (yes, totally a word, according to my spell checker!) with just a decorate stitch to keep it from coming undone too much. I finally decided on a regular hem (sewn again with the 3-point zig-zag to match the other seam) since I wanted it to be a little nicer looking so I can wear it to work.

I’m really, really happy with how this turned out & plan to make a few more since I’m totally obsessed with skirts lately. I have a few changes in mind to try out for the next one I make for myself & am looking forward to picking out the fabric for them. I did have a lady at work ask me today if I’ll make one for her, so I need to get the waist issue sorted out so I can get one done for her.

I will try to get Nick to take a couple more pictures of it tonight now that I’ve got the hem & side seams sewn up.

Until next time…