Skirt Loudly.

Simplicity 4236

This one is probably going to be a "miss", but I thought I'd share anyway. I actually love the loud Lilly Pulitzer/Pucci-esque fabric. I have been hoarding this fabric for a couple of years now waiting for the perfect project.

Then last week I was inspired by TriniLove's LP knockoff skirt. Very cute!! Since I loved Toy's finished skirt, I began with the same pattern and proceeded to knock off her knockoff! I liked Toy's idea of increasing the 4-panel skirt into an 8-panel skirt. With all that volume, additional vertical seaming would hopefully be slimming too.
I began with Simplicity 4236, View A. I then folded the pattern piece in half to create my pattern piece for the 8 panels. I did decrease some of the volume at the base of the pattern piece by about 3".

This pattern seems to run rather large, at least in the 12-20 size package. I tried on the skirt after seaming the panels together and it was HUGE! I took in each panel an additional 3/8 of an inch. That helped with fit around the waist, but man there was a lot of skirt left everywhere else. I don't have any full or circular skirts, so I just went with it because I thought maybe I was being self-conscious about something that looked normal (for what it was.)

Before stitching the final side seam and inserting the zipper, I topstitched the seams in hot pink, (not that this print needs any additional interest!) I had to pull out my Singer New Sewing Essentials book to insert the lapped zipper, it's been a couple years since I put one in! HA! I love this book, it has easy to read instructions with lots of color photographs for each step. The only thing it's missing is spiral binding.


The waist is finished with twill tape (I used grosgrain ribbon) instead of a facing or waistband for a nice, clean finish. Since by this point I knew I was going to have fit/enjoyment isses, I used Steam-a-Seam to iron up the hem allowance. That will make the hem a lot easier to sew when I DO decide to hem it, but won't make yet another seam to rip out if I decide to "Fix It".

Grosgrain Ribbon Waist Stay

Here's the problem. As it turns out, my "perfect" fabric for this skirt ended up being NOT so perfect for this skirt. Too much volume in the pattern for this full-body fabric. The skirt stands away from my hips too much. See the little folds by each hip?

Hip Fold

In a lighter weight fabric, or one with more drape, this wouldn't be as noticeable. I also feel like the skirt is still a size too big. The front waist is slipping down as I move around. Still...the fabric does make me smile! (In person, this tank doesn't match AT ALL! The sunset was doing a number on the colors!)


Really, this is about the easiest skirt you could ever hope for. SO fast and easy to make. And there's a simple A-line view too, that I definitely will be making. My next project was going to be the Jalie Sweetheart top in hot pink to match my fun LP skirt, and the pattern is altered & ready to go.

Since I'm not loving the skirt right now, and I have the BWOF #103 pattern altered I think I'll go back and make it up instead. It's definitely a Frankenpattern now!! Look at all that tissue grafting!! :P Click for a larger image.


Any ideas for altering my skirt to make it more wearable?? Keep in mind that I have topstitched all the seams and the zip is in/waist finished. Argh. Still, any suggestions appreciated!