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Friday, December 16, 2011

No pattern sewing: Plaid Circle Skirt

This week at the Sew Weekly, they went patternless! As I'm just now back in the sewing room since my surgery, I thought I'd join back in with the Sew Weekly challenges, and finally complete the Circle Skirt tutorial provided by Casey at Elegant Musings.  Two birds, one stone.


Fabric: Plaid wool blend from JoAnn's.  It was on sale and I bought about 5 yards.  I still have some extra so I can possibly make another garment with the leftovers.
Pattern: None! Ha! I used the tutorial from Casey's Elegant Musings
Notions: 9" zipper and a button from my collection.


I had intended to participate in Casey's Circle Skirt Sewalong back when it was happening (September - October), but I was participating in Self-Stitched September and was honestly intimidated by the whole 'drafting-my-own-pattern-using-math' concept... even though the math was minimal.  So I just kept putting it off.  Every time I went to pick it back up, I would find some reason to work on another project instead.  Until I was 1. antsy from not being able to sew, and 2. saw that the Sew Weekly challenge was going to be drafting your own garment, without a pattern.  Ok, ok, no avoiding it now.


As usual, with something that I think is going to be a hassle, it turned out to be ridiculously easy.  My main problem is that I never want to use muslin to make a draft.  This time, I had to in order to not mess up my yards and yards of fabric.  So I actually drafted my 'pattern' onto Swedish tracing paper.  Once I saw that the instructions totally worked, I was full steam ahead.  I took the measurements that Casey requested, and decided to make the length of the initial skirt (pre-hemming) 28" from my waist.  I knew I was aiming long but I figured I could always cut away if it was too much.  I ended up keeping the length as is, though I may shorten it at a later date.  I really like the length so far, but just below the knee might be more enticing when the weather starts to heat up again.

Even better? I saved the small 'pattern' that I made, wrote out the extra measurements - including skirt length, waistband length - and saved it with my pattern collection so that I could make it again.  Now, I can make another circle skirt any time I want.

The only problem with full circle skirts? They require tons of fabric.  But the result? I love how flow-y it is and the way it hangs.  It makes it extra fun to twirl.

8 comments:

  1. Very pretty! It looks lovely on you. I'm glad you are feeling better!

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  2. Super cute! I love that you paired it with red shoes for the pictures :-)

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  3. So cute! A Highland dancer can never have too many tartan skirts laying around for before/after or even attending events they aren't dancing.

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  4. Very, very flattering, one of the nicest garments you've made. x

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  5. This is absolutely perfect! I just love it!!! Circle skirts are so fun!

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  6. This looks great! Love circle skirts, but I have such a hard time with the hems!

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  7. Love your skirt! Circle skirts are great, but I have such a hard time with the hems!

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  8. This plaid skirt looks so great on you:)

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