Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Charming Tiered Twirl

Here it is! I finished Lu's charm pack twirly skirt, in beautiful fall colors, the night before last...but it was too dark for pictures! Today was a beautiful day, but Lu is at her grandma's...so it's just hanging out in the back yard for pics! (Which is a shame, because this baby will TWIRL!)



I used 2 charm packs for this skirt, plus about 1/2 & 1/4 yard of 2 coordinating prints for the yoke and ruffles. The charm packs were "Sonnet Collection", an assortment beautiful fall color prints, by April Cornell for Moda.

Construction was pretty simple, just time consuming. I measured Lu's hips, added about 6" ease, and that became my length measurement for the first tier (and the yoke.) I divded that measurement by 4 for the number of charm squares to use. (Charm squares are 5" square, but I assumed 3/8" seam allowances, so rounded down to 4".)

For each additional tier, I multipled by 1.5. So for Lu's skirt, she measured 10 squares for the first tier, 15 for the 2nd, and so on. (I actually added an additional square to each tier just for extra grow room, so Lu had 11, 16, 22, and 30 squares in each tier.) It's not an exact science, I rounded up and down for the 2nd, 3rd & 4th tiers based on what prints I had, how much gathering I felt like, etc.

I ripped strips of 2" & 3" widths for the ruffles. I roll hemmed in robin's egg blue, for a nice contrast...and gathered using my gathering foot. All topstitching was also done in robin's egg blue.


I have this gathering foot business down, let me tell you! I can pretty much eyeball the correct tension & stitch length for quilting cottons (to gather at a 1.5" ratio) on my Bernina. I almost never gather by hand anymore! There are ruffles between the 2nd & 3rd, 3rd & 4th, and along the bottom. The bottom ruffle was 6 fabric widths!!! I did trim off a bit of excess, but NOT much. I used both contrast fabrics for the bottom ruffle (alternating each.)


The pics aren't my best. I've been in a bit of a fog all day. I didn't sleep well last night. And frankly, my mind is elsewhere. Have you ever had a shock or a surprise that just throws you for a loop? Ya. I had one of those yesterday...but no worries. It wasn't a bad surprise (it wasn't exactly good either), just a very unexpected surprise. My mind isn't quite ready to accept it, so it's been in reject mode ever since.

Unfortunately that also means I've been surrounded by fluffy brain clouds all day.

But it was very therapeutic to stand outside in the setting sun , on a beautiful fall afternoon and photograph a simple handmade skirt on the clothesline. I'm glad I have this hobby in my life, its saved my sanity on more than one occasion. And Im really glad you're all here to share it with too. Here's one more peek...

15 comments:

  1. OMGosh - the skirt is just adorable. This pictures are beautiful too. There is something in the air these day ... not good. Lot's of foggy brains/surprises/yucky stuff. Ditto on the blog hobby - so nice to share!

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  2. I LOVE this skirt. I've been doing some simple cotton skirts for maternity (with wide ribbing waistbands) and now I'm pondering if I have the patience right now to make a lovely patchwork-y one like this...

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  3. So unique and pretty! You sure wouldn't find anything like this in RTW!!

    I was thinking about you the other day--about your lost-a-friend story and everything you tried to do to mend it kept coming back at you. I'm having one of those right now. I was in a situation where I ended up leaving an organization (my daughter's choice), but in the long run I thought it was good to ensure a long-lasting good friendship. You know that old saying, "If anything can go wrong, it will."??? That's exactly what happened. Every good intention somehow went askew and it seems like I lost a friend. I've tried to approach her but she's just distant. Kind, but distant. I'll give it a third try at some point, but it might be to no avail. Sadly, it might be done. Gotta move on.

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  4. I love it, a lot.

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  5. Oh I love this skirt! The colors are so perfect and I love the ruffles! This is awesome!

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  6. I love this, its beautiful

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  7. I love it. It will be perfect for fall.

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  8. what a pretty skirt! oh, to have a girl to sew for. ~sigh~

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  9. I just LOVE it! What a super sweet mother you are to make such cute clothes for your daughter. Oh WHY don't I have a girl?!!!

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  10. This skirt is so pretty. I am trying hard not to think about how long all the gathering took!

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  11. Anonymous10:29 AM

    Heyaa
    Wow! diis iis an amaziing site. I wish I was talented enough to make diis stuff
    Its amaziing, keep iit up
    Peace n Luv
    Eden xxx

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  12. Anonymous9:13 AM

    Beautiful skirt! Added it to my Pinterest!

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  13. Anonymous9:11 AM

    This skirt is wonderful! I'm still looking for a skirt similar to this one but in a woman's size (about 2X or 3X to make for me). So far no luck. All your patterens are great!
    ZEE
    pikespeakmt@comcast.net

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  14. It's gorgeous. I love the green.

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