Milk Pocket Skirt

A few weeks ago I discovered a new fabric store called Bolts and More.  (It's right next to one of my favorite restaurants: New Mexican Grill.)

Anyway, I was delighted to see a new fabric store, so I eagerly went inside to explore.  They had an amazingly beautiful selection.  Of course, most were way out of my price range.  Still, I found a fat quarter in this pattern and nearly flipped:

I loved it so much!  But fat quarters were all I could afford at the time, so I envisioned a bulky brown skirt with milk bottle pockets.

Fast forward to last weekend.  While at Goodwill looking for some casual cosplay accessories, I found two perfect brown pillowcases ($0.99 for both!) and knew they were exactly what I needed to complete my bulky brown skirt with milk pockets.

I cut off both ends of the pillowcases, which gave me about a yard of fabric!  Not bad for $0.99!

I kept the width at the bottom and trimmed each top to half my waist measurement plus an inch seam allowance.

I sewed the pieces together, right side to right side.  Then I sewed up the bottom and top hems, and added an elastic band for the waist.

I cut my milk fat quarters into long rectangles and sewed them vertically onto the skirt.

I love this skirt!  It so comfy and beautiful!  Apparently it also makes me look like a pre-school teacher.  *LOL*


~Buttons

Lazy Maxi Skirt

I'm going to show the easiest, laziest way to make a maxi skirt.  I call it the "I don't give a f*** maxi skirt."  It's for those emergencies when you need the skirt so fast that you're willing to cut corners to see it done.  Of course, you can always go back at a later time and put a little more effort into it.  Or, just continue being lazy and keep it as is.

Materials:
1 yard of knit
Thread
Scissors
Sewing machine
Elastic


Step 1: Fold your material in half hot dog style.

Step 2: Stitch up the long side.  (I used a long zig-zag because that was what I saw suggested for working with knits.)

Step 3: Fold down the top hem about an inch and sew, leaving a two inch opening for inserting the elastic.

Step 4: Thread elastic into the top opening, sew it to itself, stitch the hole the rest of the way.

Step 5: Use scissors to trip the bottom of the skirt to the correct length.

And that's it!  This required two straight seams (along the side and the top hem), and the few short stitches when sewing the elastic to itself.  This is the easiest project imaginable!  It took me about ten minutes.

Now, the down side.  Apparently knits aren't great at bunching.  The extra fabric at the top--since I didn't measure my waist and trim accordingly--doesn't separate on its own.   You need to manually get the gathered parts to spread out along the elastic.  This isn't a big deal to me since I typically wear long shirts that don't show anywhere near the top waistband.

But, I got the job done in time to wear it to a performance that night.  It all worked out in the end.

I case you can't tell, this is an outfit I've assembled for casual cosplay.  It's fashioned after Chihiro from the Miyazaki anime "Spirited Away."

~Buttons

Ombre Panel Skirt

I had some old scraps from a quilt I made--probably five years ago.  I've been wanting to do something with them for awhile, but last month I finally got them out and thought about what to do.

Of course, I decided to make a skirt.  Default Buttons Project.

So, I took my strips.  I had 10 strips that were roughly 42 inches by 5 inches, in various shades of brown, blue, and green.  

The first thing I did was cut them in half.  Then, laying them out on the floor, I decided which pattern to use for sew them together.  I toyed with a random pattern, a logical pattern (blue, green, brown, blue, green, brown, etc.), and an ombre pattern.  After some feedback from Pockets and my husband, I decided to go with ombre.  

Even with the ombre theme decided, there were still a ton of ways to order the fabrics.  It took me many hours of debating to decided on doing lighter strips on either side of a single dark strip in the middle--giving me five panels per color.  The left over panel I used as a band on the bottom.

I sewed all the colors together, right side to right side.  Then I added the same color band to the bottom, sewing them right side to right side.

(Here, the dark green is face down atop the other panels; it's kind of hard to tell)

Then, I sewed all three completed panels to each other.  Since there were only three, it didn't matter which order I sewed them in, as they'd all touch each other anyway.

For the bottom hem, I folded the hem up about a half inch and ironed it.  Then folded it up another half inch, and ironed again.  I added pins to be extra safe.

I sewed the hem twice, giving me a decorative double seam.  It looks very nice.

For the top hem, I folded the edge down about an inch, wide enough for my elastic to fit through, and sewed it closed--except for a few inch gap to string the elastic through.

Once the elastic is looped through, finish the seam and you're done!

I thought about adding pockets, but haven't done it yet.  Without pockets, any of the colors can be in the front, and I like having that choice.  But I may add the pockets anyway.  We'll see.

~Buttons

Polka Dot Border Skirt

I think I need to stop making skirts.  It seems like it's become an obsession.  Probably because they are so easy.  I'll try to focus on more non-skirt items as my summer continues.

Anyway, I found these two fabrics in the remnant bin at Walmart for less than $2 apiece. The purple is sort of a knit, the kind used for maxi skirts.  It's so soft and comfortable!  The polka dot is a flannel.  I'm not sure about the rules of combining different fabrics, but I don't care; they looked so cute together!

The first thing I did was decide my skirt design.  I played with the idea of doing panels again, but since I just finished a panel skirt--and I wanted to do something quick and easy--so I decided against it.  The best way to do this was to add a simple polka dot border around the bottom of the skirt.

I cut my purple fabric in half, giving me two (relatively) equal pieces.  Then I cut out bands of the polka dot, 5 inches long by 40 inches wide.

Starting with the polka dots, fold the hem of one side up half an inch and iron.

Fold up again, and iron.

 Stitch the folded hem.  I used a double stitch, and a contrasting purple thread.  Repeat for other band.

 

Pin the band to the purple fabric, right side to right side.

Sew together and you get this.

Repeat for other band and purple fabric panel.

Since this purple fabric was so wonky--I've never worked with this before, and I didn't realize it would be so difficult to control; it wouldn't lay flat, even when I ironed it--I measured my skirt from the bottom.  I aligned my bottom hem and pinned the two purple panels together, completely ignoring how they aligned on the top.

Then, sew the panels together.  I even added a zigzag stitch to the inside seam afterwards to give it more support.

Once both sides are stitched up, it's time for the top hem.  I folded down the top to give me an even and straight line, also leaving enough room for my elastic band.

Sew the top hem, leaving an inch long gap to stream the elastic through.

With a safety pin, thread the elastic through the opening in the hem.

Sew the elastic ends together, overlapping them about an inch.  Complete the seam for the hem, and you're finished!

This was an incredibly simple project.  The only thing that slowed me down at all was the uncooperative nature of the knit fabric.  Still, I love the way it feels, and the way it flows so well, so I will have to try another project with this material!

~Buttons

Scalloped Panel Skirt

I wanted to try another panel skirt, and when I was shopping with Pockets, I found an adorable snail print.  The first panel skirt I did was nice, but I wanted this one to be a bit different.  So I played on the snail theme and decided to make this one have scalloped edges.

I drew out a diagram of what I wanted to make--basing it on the same measurements from my original panel skirt. 



For the top layer, I'd use the snail fabric, but I also wanted a plain cotton under skirt.  I chose a green that matched the snails.  And to add a bit more flair, I bought a scalloped ruffle to attach to the bottom of the snail skirt. 



I constructed my pattern out of parchment paper.  



Then I traced it (horizontally) onto my fabric.  This was intentional, giving the snails a side-to-side look rather than a going-up-my-leg look.  



After I cut them out, I sewed them together.  



Then, I added the ruffle.  







Unfortunately, I was about 2-3 inches too short, so I had to cut across the last panel.   



My green fabric wasn't long enough, so I added white to the top to give it the proper length.  (I used a sheet I had cut up for the Greco/Roman day at school.) 



I traced the skirt's general shape, and cut. 



I finished the hem by tucking it under twice and doing a straight stitch.

 I looked at the best way to combine them together, and I was drawing a blank.  The problem was that I cut the underskirt straight across instead of making it rounded like the snails.  This gave it an uneven look no matter how I tired to stagger it.  I thought about just cutting off the bottom seam and redoing a curved hem, but sudden inspiration struck me--more on that in a bit.

What I did to get started was sew the elastic band onto the outerskirt.  I just pinned it about two inches from the top at the front, back, left, and right sides.  Then I pulled the elastic and stitched it onto the fabric.  This made an easy elastic hem at the top--unfinished hem, but still easy.  I could have tucked the leftover fabric under, stitched it down and been done.  But, I did want that green underskirt.

After I had the elastic in place, I took the underskirt and pinned it to the top skirt, right side to right side.  This was a mistake.  But it was what made the sudden inspiration happen, so I went with it.

After it was sewn together, I flipped the underskirt inside and sewed it down, about a half an inch under the current elastic hem.

This is when I realized the underskirt was inside out.  I tried to think about sewing the green fabric up on itself to give me a clean edge.

But then, I thought it would be neat if I could bustle the green fabric.  The length was so off, it had to be lifted or lowered at each panel, so I thought this would be an interesting way to cover up any mistakes in length.

I put it on, and while looking in a mirror to check the length, I pinned the green layer up on itself.

I sewed it down, going all over the place to get some nice bustles and bunches.

And here's the finished product!

I think it turned out pretty cute!  I didn't have a shirt that matched--this neon orange was the closest I could find!  I'll have to find a better one soon.


~Buttons