Sunday, September 23, 2012

Sewing Project: Wraparound Skirt

About 2 months ago I found this skirt at Downeast Basics that I really liked. But $30 for a skirt? Ugh. Not a fan. Especially one that looked pretty easy to make. So I found a few patterns that looked similar by poking around online, and I settled on making this one since it didn't require a zipper (and, consequently, did not require the purchase of a zipper foot for my sewing machine).

A month ago I went and picked out fabric - a beautiful deep blue satiny fabric that, quite honestly, I chose because it matched some shoes I bought recently, and I didn't have much else in that color. I probably should have picked a less slippery fabric, but I'm a sucker for shiny "special" fabrics...

Anyway, then life got busy and crazy, so it wasn't until last night that I had time to sit down and work on actually making the skirt. I don't actually like sewing by myself; so I went upstairs and solicited the help of my sister-in-law, aka my personal sewing consultant, to help me figure out the pattern. (And by this I mean she figured it out and told me what to do. And also did a large part of the pinning involved as well, to my delight.)

Six-ish hours later, we finished!

I had to include the shoes in the picture, of course - you can see why I needed something to match them!

Overall it turned out very well. I was surprised how smoothly everything went. If I made this pattern again, I'd probably make smaller pleats and more of them, and possibly make the band not quite so wide - the pattern has you cut it out to be 15 in wide. (It's scrunched down in that photo and it's still pretty wide.) But honestly, for an amateur like me, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I can theoretically wear it as a dress as well, but I can tell already if I decide to go that route I'll need extensive help putting it on. In my quick trial run though, it looks good that way as well, though it's a little on the short side (and of course I'd wear a shirt under it).

Next up I want to try making this skirt pattern to see how it compares. Any suggestions on color?

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