I have this adorable skirt pattern
I found this cute fabric and I bought 2.5′, that is more than I need for the average skirt, but this one does have pleats.
It turns out that I need to cut the fabric along the selvedge, otherwise I’ll end up with a seam some where in the the middle. So here goes my rant – one directional fabric is awful for clothing!!!!! I understand, this is probably a quilting cotton, but the weight of this is great for skirts. So I growled and gnashed my teeth and went into my stash. There is a reason why we sewers have stashes.
I also had 2.5′ of this fabric, which I like, since I did buy it myself.
Side by side, you can see how the in the left fabric all the elements point in the same direction and the fabric on the right, the feathers and berries are tossed all over. Hmm, feathers, am I noticing a trend?
I made the skirt according to my waist size and it came out enormous, I have no idea what I did wrong. So some nips, tucks, increasing the size of some of the pleats and it all worked out. Most pleated skirts have markings where the pleats will be sewn – in this pattern I had to cut out the pleat area. This is to reduce bulk when adding the facing and the top stitching. That meant that I couldn’t simply take the skirt apart and go for a smaller size.
It worked! and now I have a lovely new pleated skirt.
I’m not sure the contrapposto stance works here, it looks good on Greek sculptures, but creates too much bunching on my shirt.
At least the skirt flows and moves nicely.
Another successful sewing project! Because the print is so busy, you really can’t see the top stitching, but I do like the shape it gives the skirt. I will probably make it again, but I’ll make the changes before I cut the fabric.