cupcake_goth | Skirt details

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Skirt details

I really some sort of sewing-themed LJ icon, don't I?

Anyhoodle, behind the cut-tag, the back view of the skirt! (And a repeat of the front view, and natter about the construction and so on.)

Aaaaaand here's the front again. Same photo as the one in the previous post, but I kinda want pictures of both in the post where I talk about sewing, just for completeness' sake.

This is the skirt I made from the stripy bedsheets I purchased at Value Village. The hibiscus tea bath didn't do ANYTHING to the color of the fabric, so I put about a teaspoon of Rose Pink RIT into the washer. Just enough to make the white no longer STARK OMG WHITE!, but not turn it pink. (This makes sense to me, just nod.)

The basic 4-panel skirt pattern is one I drafted off of one of my Retroscope "Dolly Bustle" skirts. The back panel is covered in tiers of ruffles that are about 9" wide, the side hem ruffles are about ... 7", maybe? I didn't have a pattern for them, that was just how wide the remaining strips of the striped fabric turned out to be.

For creating/gathering the ruffles, I used the very scientific method of scrunching/folding the fabric up as I was sewing them on. Yes, I'm serious. (This is where my friends who are talented designers and seamstresses ::facepalm:: and shake their heads at me.)

The lining of the skirt is made from a very lightweight pink poly satin, which was originally a sheet from a horrible "teen bedding" set I picked up at Ross for $14. (It was purchased ages ago for the express purpose of making skirt linings. It would be HORRIBLE fabric to sleep on, ew.) Because I'm crazy, I also made all 18 covered buttons. I am ... obsessive about certain things.

All told, I think the skirt took me about 8 hours or so. I get into these moods when all I want to do is sew, and this ends up being the result. I'm really, really pleased with how it turned out; this is probably the most "professionally-constructed" skirt I've made so far.

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Clappy Hands of joy! As I said previously, it really is lovely.

I didn't realize your hair was so long. It's lovely. So is the skirt, I'm in awe! Amazing work!

No one ever realizes my hair is that long, because it's usually worn up, or in pigtails or something. But yeah, it's almost waist length.

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smu.livejournal.com - 2010-01-28 00:37 (UTC) - Expand

Oooo - how lovely!

its marvelous!! Well done!!

Yay pix & details! Thank you! It looks MARVELOUS!

*passes you a glass of Yard Dog wine* <-- what I'm drinking now, and it's quite good!

<3

-d

Adorable! Well done!

You might not have to get a day job.
If you work out how to make a skirt like this in less then 6 hours and charge about 130$ a pop.... make a shop on your web site that already gets hits?

P.S
Did you give mel your address so you can have your monster butler for your evil bunny?

Ha! There is no way I could make that skirt in less than 6 hours, and sadly, $130 a skirt wouldn't be enough to cover my time. It's a nice idea to dream about, tho'.

I did give Mel my address! Clovis is gleeful at the prospect of a monster butler.

I think we've all fallen prey to the bunching tactic at one point or another in our lives... you have positively no reason at all to be ashamed :) On the contrary, it turned out great! If you tuck the top of the uppermost ruffle into the waistband next time it works well to give a smooth silhouette (of course that's easier with thinner fabrics).

And I share your deep and abiding love of covered buttons... you should see the insane contraption we ended up getting for those. It's practically a Mediaeval torture tool!

hehe, i have one that is like that, too.

That's a fabulous skirt!

For creating/gathering the ruffles, I used the very scientific method of scrunching/folding the fabric up as I was sewing them on. Yes, I'm serious. (This is where my friends who are talented designers and seamstresses ::facepalm:: and shake their heads at me.)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I LOVE IT!!! Soooo funny! I'm actually more impressed at your ballsiness! (If that's not a word, well...it is now? XDXD) I would never be able to allow myself to do that. But it looks great from here! I think that's fine...though I wouldn't recommend it if you decided to go the route suggested by jaborwhalky above! ;)

Since the fabric was striped, it was fairly easy to make the scrunching fairly even. But then, I'm not what you would call a *methodical* seamstress. ;)

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rikibeth.livejournal.com - 2010-01-28 19:11 (UTC) - Expand

What sort of fabric was the striped sheet? I'm guessing not cotton.

A poly-cotton blend.

That is a very smart and pretty skirt. Buttons are a really sweet touch and well worth the trouble you took with them.

Snazzy!

here is one that I think you might think is neat... just made it for you... don't feel obligated, though.

oooh, that's cute! Thank you!

i love stripes, awesome!

That is just gorgeous!

Thats amazing! :D so cute!

For creating/gathering the ruffles, I used the very scientific method of scrunching/folding the fabric up as I was sewing them on. Yes, I'm serious. (This is where my friends who are talented designers and seamstresses ::facepalm:: and shake their heads at me.)

My grandmother had a trick to gather the ruffles easily and quickly:
1) run a basting stitch along where you want it gathered, leaving extra thread when cutting it off
2) tie something to the thread on one side (grandmother used a safety pin)
3) squish the fabric to the desired length along the thread, adjusting the gathers as needed

This works particularly well if you do it with a machine, as it keeps the basting stitches even, which keeps the "gathers" even. Just be sure not to skip step 2, so it won't just pull out of the fabric when you do step 3!

Of course, this might be what you did. :)

Very cool skirt. As fast as you were able to do those buttons when I was over last week, I can see why you like to add them. :)

It's fantastic! Looks perfect construction-wise from here. May I ask how you learned how to sew? I really want to learn, but not sure where to start.

I learned to sew by my mom teaching me a bit when I was little, taking a home ec class in high school, and then a LOT of trial and error over the years. It's only been in the past couple of years that I've become good enough at it that I feel okay using REALLY GOOD tools. My mom gave me her vintage 70s era Elna sewing machine last year, because she felt that I had finally gotten to the point where it would be useful for me.

Check your local fabric stores: a lot of them offer sewing classes, and that's a good way to start out. Also, don't be afraid to make mistakes. It is a very rare project where I don't have to unpick a couple of seams.

It really looks great; you did a nice job. I like the way you did the ruffles on the sides...so cute! Is it challenging to work with stripes? I'd be afraid of making them crooked.

It didn't seem terribly challenging to work with the stripes, but that may have been because I wasn't thinking too hard about it. :)

Holy muffins, your skills are amazing.

you've inspired me to attempt this amazing bustlerufflescrunch technique.

Purty! Damn, I need to get to work on a blue corset.

Try putting elastic thread on the bobbin to gather them. Thats what I used to do to gather ruffles and sleeves for square dance dresses and skirts back in the former life.

THAT was the trick I was forgetting! Thank you, Mom!

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