Styling A New Spring Skirt and I Sewed It Myself!

A Novice To Sewing Makes Good

Hi everyone!  Let's take a break from the "C" word and look at some fashion. Homemade fashion that is. By yours truly. I have to admit that I'm a bit proud of FINALLY being able to sew an article of clothing that I will actually wear without cringing. Namely, this new, daisy covered Spring skirt!

I tried to sew a skirt a few months ago using the same type fabric only in pink. I read online how to make a skirt sans pattern and thought I was doing it right. But, the result was SO BAD looking, the waist was a mess and I used enough fabric to cover the whole state.....or so it seemed. The hem was uneven too and I remember putting it on and the Mr. came into the bedroom and kind of looked at me....you know the look...it said, "Hmmmm, what should I say to her that won't get me in trouble?!"  I ended up cutting up the fabric from that mess and making part of it into an apron. I decided then and there that my clothing sewing was done. 

But, here we are several months later, and I am looking for projects to occupy my time. I kept looking at this pretty fabric thinking, "maybe a pillow, maybe a wall hanging of some kind, maybe a wreath."  And then, finally on Friday, I thought, "maybe a skirt???"

So, I went back online and searched again for directions and, this time, I finally found a site with directions that made sense and worked!  The other sites I had used talked about measuring your waist and then your hips and then adding 10 or doing some fraction and my head swam just trying to figure all that out. Plus, I ended up with my previous disaster. 

The site I used this time merely advocated measuring your waist and then making the width of the fabric, based on your waist measurement, 1.5 to 2.0 times your waist measurement. Now, that info I could handle. I opted for the 1.5 measurement, meaning the skirt would not be as full. Of course, I had to determine the length of the skirt. I wanted somewhere between a midi and a maxi, more of a tea length. So, I used my tape measure to determine the length and then had to take into account an inch and a quarter at the top for the elastic to thread through and two inches at the bottom for a hem. I was planning to use 3/4 inch wide elastic, as that is what I had on hand. So, just to be clear...if my waist were 26 inches (I wish) the width of the fabric would be 26 + 13 = 39 inches wide and the length would be 48 + 1 1/4 +2 = 51 1/4

So, I cut the fabric and folded the top down 1/4 inch ironing it in place and then folded down again 1 inch, ironing in place.  Then, I sewed along the top at the very edge so the elastic could be threaded through. Then I folded the bottom up two inches ironing the fold in place and sewed along the edge to create the hem. Then I put the edges of the fabric together with right sides facing and sewed that together at 1/4 inch. At this point I was ready to thread the elastic through the top and that is where I met my waterloo! But, I persevered. You see, I am not exactly on point yet with making all of my sewing seams straight and perfect. The fabric had pulled a bit when I was sewing the waistband closed so I didn't truly have the whole inch available to thread through with the elastic. I got a bit frustrated when I couldn't seem to thread the elastic and, finally, ended up pulling out the elastic, which was stuck anyway, and cut it down to probably 1/2 inch wide. I was then able to thread it through the waistband. Not perfect, but it worked and, to my delight, the skirt fits!

I decided to put this outfit on for Easter morning. The gold top color looks really good with the skirt but I did fold the bottom of the top under as I felt like a shorter top looked better with this skirt than the longer length. I think once stores are open again I will look for a pretty yellow or gold top that is shorter in the waist to go with this skirt. But, this is fine for now. 

Sorry for the lengthy post but I figured if any readers out there are like me and feel like they can't sew perhaps my post will offer some inspiration! My sewing is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy trying and as we would say when tuning instruments back in the orchestra, "it's good enough for jazz!" 

Hope you all are having a great Monday after Easter! Let me know how you spent your holiday and what "projects" if any you are working on!

Until Next Time,

Debbie