Summer Cascade Skirt
Hey World,
I have a little 'urban summer' up this week. I drafted it from the book "Pattern Making for Fashion Design" though to be honest, it's just an uneven circle skirt and it was modeled after Meghan Nielsen's version. I love a lot of her designs, but based on her size chart I'm not convinced that her patterns will fit me very well out of the envelop, so for something like this I would rather just draft it myself. Those Tania culottes though... I'm going to have to think more about purchasing that pattern. Anyways, here's my make:
I made a slightly longer flannel version of this skirt two years ago (BBD... before the blogging days) in plaid for Christmas and I loved/love it. So when I saw this fabric for sale at one of my local fabric stores ($4/yd) I instantly knew I was destined to revisit the cascade, but this time, a summery cascade :o).
I have a little 'urban summer' up this week. I drafted it from the book "Pattern Making for Fashion Design" though to be honest, it's just an uneven circle skirt and it was modeled after Meghan Nielsen's version. I love a lot of her designs, but based on her size chart I'm not convinced that her patterns will fit me very well out of the envelop, so for something like this I would rather just draft it myself. Those Tania culottes though... I'm going to have to think more about purchasing that pattern. Anyways, here's my make:
I made a slightly longer flannel version of this skirt two years ago (BBD... before the blogging days) in plaid for Christmas and I loved/love it. So when I saw this fabric for sale at one of my local fabric stores ($4/yd) I instantly knew I was destined to revisit the cascade, but this time, a summery cascade :o).
As it were, I'm actually leaving for a short vaca in Costa Rica tomorrow and I'd be lying if I said visions of this billowing on the beach weren't floating through my head as I trudged along through this annoyingly long hem. On that note, am I the only one that super hates hemming? I always get to the end and of a project and then have to really pump myself up to get through the hem. Anyways, I digress.
As for construction:
The Meghan Nielsen version closes in the front with either two buttons or a self-fabric tie. Being the fan girl that I am, I wanted to have ties as well, but being me, I also wanted to have an elastic waist. I figured elastic would A. up the comfort factor and B. make it so I could really get a tight close when all wrapped up. So I figured why not do both! Unfortunately, after attaching both I realized that it was hard to get the ties to fully cover the elastic without constant fiddling and when they didn't perfectly align, it just didn't look that great... some people (::points at myself::) might even say it looked messy.
Sooo, off went the ties because it was easier to remove the ties than to remove the elastic. :o) Plus, comfy almost always wins. So the waist is finished with 1.25" black elastic overlapped and sewn down. The fabric I cut on the fold but not before moving the pattern in a couple inches from the fabric fold line so there would be enough for the front to overlap. I think if I really wanted to 'do it right' then I should have added side seams (which I did on my last version) but I just didn't want to disrupt this crazy urban feeling Jackson Pollock-y print. Lastly, you might notice that the hem is more uneven than just the intended high-low hem. That's because I didn't let the skirt hang before hemming. Gotta let that bias do it's thang before evening out and hemming...I knew that..doh! Ohh well. This is supposed to be a whimsical beach skirt anyways, so we'll just call that intentional too ;o).
The Meghan Nielsen version closes in the front with either two buttons or a self-fabric tie. Being the fan girl that I am, I wanted to have ties as well, but being me, I also wanted to have an elastic waist. I figured elastic would A. up the comfort factor and B. make it so I could really get a tight close when all wrapped up. So I figured why not do both! Unfortunately, after attaching both I realized that it was hard to get the ties to fully cover the elastic without constant fiddling and when they didn't perfectly align, it just didn't look that great... some people (::points at myself::) might even say it looked messy.
Sooo, off went the ties because it was easier to remove the ties than to remove the elastic. :o) Plus, comfy almost always wins. So the waist is finished with 1.25" black elastic overlapped and sewn down. The fabric I cut on the fold but not before moving the pattern in a couple inches from the fabric fold line so there would be enough for the front to overlap. I think if I really wanted to 'do it right' then I should have added side seams (which I did on my last version) but I just didn't want to disrupt this crazy urban feeling Jackson Pollock-y print. Lastly, you might notice that the hem is more uneven than just the intended high-low hem. That's because I didn't let the skirt hang before hemming. Gotta let that bias do it's thang before evening out and hemming...I knew that..doh! Ohh well. This is supposed to be a whimsical beach skirt anyways, so we'll just call that intentional too ;o).
Until next week!
Kten
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