With the fantastic weather that we have been having, I have been making a fair bit of skirts. For some reason, I am not a fan of shorts. I think it's because all the shorts in the stores seem to be "booty" shorts. I decided to try my hand at making a pleated skirt, having never made a pleated skirt, off I went to the trusty internet. There are a fair number of tutorials for making pleated skirts, and the styles of pleats are varied as well. There are "knife" pleats and "box" pleats. There were bits and pieces from each tutorial that I liked and disliked. The most important thing is to know your waist measurement. I did not realize there is a fair bit of math involved in making a pleated skirt. I would recommend hemming the skirt prior to pleating, that way the pleats will flow nicely from top to bottom. I made a 4" waist band, because I really like the look of the high-waisted skirts.
I love this fabric. It is a light cotton fabric with a repeated pattern every 25 inches. It was a bit tricky to work with this fabric because, I wanted to show off the pattern and I had to make sure the pattern was lying the right way. Because the fabric was quite thin, I used a broadcloth fabric to line the skirt and the top. It was so much fun! You will see more of my pleated skirts.
Here's what I made, not bad for a first try.
I have a wedding to go to this summer and I might just make something that includes a pleated skirt...
I love your outfit. And I have used that fabric also to make a peasant blouse, I like that you underlined it.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Maureen. Yeah it was necessary to line it as the fabric is quite thin for a skirt. I could totally see this fabric in a blouse.
ReplyDeleteVery cute! And underlining cuts down on cotton's annoying tendency to wrinkle.
ReplyDeleteYes, thanks so much
DeleteReally lovely Sharon, great job on keeping the pattern continuity - and the top really finished the outfit :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Amanda
DeleteWhat a great first try! Good job! Love the jacket, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. The jacket was an after thought
DeleteVery beautiful! :) And thanks for tip on hemming the skirt before pleating it. I did it the other way around on one of my skirts, but it just seemed like extra work. :P Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI just learned something about pleating too - that if you spray a solution of vinegar and water, while you iron the pleats - or press the pleats - and let them dry completely after that - they will never wear out. :) I dound that to be very useful to me. I have a link here, where Jennifer from "historical sewing" writes about it (no spam, I promise). It's worked perfectly for me.
http://historicalsewing.com/simple-solution-to-perfect-pleats
Thanks so much! I will definitely try the vinegar solution on my next pleated skirt-- and thanks for sharing the link.
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