Pleated Cherry Skirt

I bought these two printed cotton fabrics at Walmart in the remnant bin ages ago. I liked the way they looked together and I envisioned a cherry skirt!



I started by cutting panels, since I thought it would look cute to alternate between the red and the blue fabrics.



I measured from my waist to about mid-thigh to get the length. For the width, I think I just guesstimated and cut. With a plethora of panels, I wasn't concerned about the width.

I sewed them together (five panels of each color).

And. I. Hated. It.

It's been sitting on my craft table for about six months. Then yesterday, I saw it and thought about finishing it. That was when inspiration struck! Since I hated the way it looked side-by-side, I thought it would a great alternative to turn the red panels into mostly-hidden pleats!



What a prefect idea! I loved the way it looked!

Unfortunalty, my width became a factor when I took away half of it. Because of this, I had to rip my seam and sew in two additional panels (one blue and one red). With this addition, I figured it would be a better idea to just add in a zipper, since the width was nearly exact with my waist.

First, I pinned the pleats in place and sewed along the top seam.





Then I cut a long strip--a little bit longer than my waist measurement.



I folded it in half and sewed it to itself, wrong side to wrong side, to create a wasitband for the top of the skirt.



I sewed it down, beginning in the front and circling to the back left. I stopped an inch from the exact back. Then I repeated on the right, stitching from the front to the back, again, stopping before I got to the end. This was to ensure I had a slit for adding in the zipper.


(This is the back of the strip, neither side being sewn down at the moment)



Adding in the zipper was tricky. I slit an opening down the middle back blue panel. I sewed (very poorly) the zipper into that opening.



Next, I thought it would look cute and fruity to add a green bias tape edge along the bottom hem.



I sewed it down, ironed, and viola!




(This shirt doesn't match very well, and I was having a bad hair day.)

I love the way it turned out! It's super cute!


~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

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

Tablecloth Skirt

I saw a post on Pinterest that shows how to make a "tablecloth skirt."  I love the way the finished product looked, all that hanging fabric, so I decided to give it a try myself!

First off, I made mine WAY too big.  It's ridiculously long on me.  For next time, I'd make my initial square much, much smaller.  Also, the fabric I used was one I just had left over.  This would look better in gauze, or even in plain cotton.

Okay, onwards....

First, I cut a large square out of the fabric.  One of the sides was initially 43 inches (the initial length), so I cut all sides to match.

Next, you fold it in half, hot dog style.

Then fold it again, hamburger.

You're left with a small square, four times smaller than your original.  Now, you need to cut the hole for your waist.  I used a circle skirt pattern I already had.  If you don't have that, take the measurement of your waist, add 2 inches, then divide by 6.28.  That will be the length from the corner your hole needs to be.  You can make a string that length and run it in a loop from the point in the center; or you can just measure a few times from the point and mark each time, connecting the dots at the end.  You can find a great tutorial on how to do that here.

When you unfold it, it looks like this (like I said, it's way too long!):

Next, cut out four panels of the same length as your square's sides.  The width of the panels is up to you.  I should have made mine shorter, but I just cut what was left of my fabric into four equal parts.

You'll want to sew each panel to one side of your skirt, right side to right side.  Like this:

Once all the panels are attached, you need to sew the seam between the panels, turning the bottom of the cube.

For the hem, I used 1/2 inch black biased tape.  Just sew slowly, and the corners present no problem.

Here is it is with all the biased tape done!

Since my material is not opaque, I wanted to add an underskirt.  I had a remnant of black silk that I used.  I sewed up the side at a diagonal, after measuring the top to my waist.

Cut an elastic strand the length of your waist.  

Since my skirt had so much fabric, I thought it would help to gather the inside seam before sewing the hem down.  So I did a long straight stitch all the way around my top, about four inches.

Then, fold the top down (so the top is meeting gathered seam).  Tuck the underskirt inside, and pin.

Not the prettiest seam, but it'll do!

And here's the finished product!

I love the way it looks, but wish it was shorter, and made from a different material.  I will have to try this one again!

~Buttons