craftgrrl | (no subject)

Experienced sewers may find this unbearably detailed, but hey, I'm hoping that any old person
can use this and make a skirt, whether they've sewed before or not.

To make this, you need :

1.5 -2 yards for poofy ruffled skirts, or 30"-48" for a less-poofy version like this skirt. All
yardages of 45" wide fabric.

Thread to match your fabric

3/4" non-roll elastic

irregularly shaped pieces of contrasting color mesh : tulle, cheesecloth, organza or chiffon,
fishnet, whatever makes you happy

an iron

straight pins and scissors

To make the pattern, refer to my crappy ass diagram below :

You will need to cut two pieces of whichever size basic skirt pattern you choose, OR cut two
~22" x 30" rectangles of fabric for the less poofy version of the small size.

To make the ruffle :
If you want to make ruffles, you will need to cut strips of fabric that are ~2x the length of the
skirt's bottom hem. For the small sizes, 3 strips cut across the width of the 45" fabric will be
good, two if you don't want a very ruffly ruffle on your less poofy version skirt, four if you are
making the larger size poofy skirt. I cut 3.5" strips to make my ruffle shown, because I wanted
to make ruffles that were not hemmed and ended up about 3" long. If you want to hem your
ruffles, add another half inch to the size with seam allowance. For example, if you want ruffles
that will be 5" long when hemmed, cut 6" wide strips.

Cutting tip : if you're not using a fabric with an obvious "good" side and "bad" side, choose one
side of each piece and make a small mark with chalk or eyeshadow or something that'll easily
wash out of the fabric. This will be your "wrong side" or bad side. This is important, because
stuff is always sewed with "right" or good sides together, and you don't want to get confused
and sew pieces together the wrong way and have to pick out stitches.

To sew the skirt :

1.) Zigzag stitch the edges of the skirt pieces that will be part of seams. That's the sides of the
skirt, and the bottom edge if you will be adding a ruffle.

You're not sewing anything together at this point, just sewing it along the edge, as close to is as
possible. This will require you to only have some of the presser foot over the fabric, as shown.

The purpose of this is to keep the edges of the fabric from fraying and falling apart on you with
wear and washing. If you had an overlocker/serger, you wouldn't do this, because those kinds
of sewing machine finish the edges in a different way. If you're sewing by hand, you could
hand zigzag or use another stitch I forget the name of (shite!).

I used a contrasting color thread for two reasons : to show where I was stitching better for
pictures, and because these stitches are going to be on the inside of the garment and not seen.
I probably shouldn't have, because if you look close you can see the zigzagged edges thru the
fabric because it's pale colored and lightweight.

If you're also making ruffles, you must zigzag the top edge (one long edge) of all the pieces
now, along with the side edges (short edges).

2.) With "right" sides together, pin along one side seam area of the skirt, keeping the edges
even. Because this pattern is gathered at the waist and flares a bunch, you can technically pick
any seam allowance you want (how far in from the fabric edge you sew). I choose to keep the
fabric lined up with the edge of the presser foot because it's easy, and I calculate ruffle length
based on this seam allowance, so I'll just tell you to do the same. ;)

Sew a straight stitch down the side.

If you're also making ruffles, you should sew the strips of fabric together at the short edges to
make one big long strip- don't sew the last two edges together, which would make them into a
big circle.

3.) Next, heat up your iron to the appropriate setting (probably the cotton blend setting). Pull
on your newly stitched seam slightly and iron it out flat as shown below. This step may seem
silly, or confuse you, but trust me, do it!

If you don't iron it like this, the fabric will sort of fold in on itself at the seam in an unsightly
fashion, and won't hang/lie very nicely.

4.) While you've got your iron hot, now is the time to press up any hems you are making, and
also the elastic casing. You might be tempted to skip this part, too, and fold it without ironing,
but again, trust me. It's much much easier when they're pressed/ironed first, and it lies better
after being sewn. If you're going to be hemming your ruffles, this is the annoyingly tedious
part.

On all hem edges, and the top edge where the elastic casing will be, lay the fabric down so that
the "bad" side is facing you, and fold over and iron down 1/4" of fabric.

For hems, fold the fabric over again where the folded over edge rests, and iron. The raw edge
will now be tucked away under the fold. Secure with a few straight pins about every 6" or so,
every 3" at the most.
For the elastic casing, fold over another inch and iron. Pin like for the hem.

On the poofy skirts, because the top edge is sort of V shaped and you're trying to make it ___
shaped, the area where the two skirt pieces meet will not fold perfectly. It has to be a little
ripply, like shown below. So when that happens, don't freak, it's normal. When the elastic is
put in, and the waistband scrunches up, it won't show.

5.) Time to sew all the hems and the elastic casing. Make sure you've switched to matching-
color thread by this part, if you used different-color thread for the zigzagging or side seam,
because these stitches will sew, and sew down the hems and casing as straight as you can.

6.) If you're making ruffles, now is the time to gather them. (If you're not, you can skip the
next 3 steps and head on down to #9.) There are several methods to making ruffles. The
illustrated method is the one I find to be the best compromise between ease and looking good.
First, fold the big long strip in half, and mark the fold. Fold it in half again, and mark the two
folds. Now unfold it, and set your machine to it's longest straight stitch (called a basting stitch).
Sew in a straight line, just at the edge of the zigzag stitches, until you hit the first mark. Stop,
and when you cut the threads, make sure to leave a few inches of thread dangling from the
fabric that you can pull on later. If you're using a very light fabric, it'll start gathering on its
own like in the picture.

Start again, and repeat the process with the other marks you made. This will allow you to
gather the fabric in sections, making your life easier and minimizing the chances that the thread
will snap on you and force you to pull the thread out and rebaste.

7.) Bring your basted ruffles over to your two skirt pieces. Pin the first mark to the center
bottom of the first skirt panel, the second mark to the bottom at the side seam, and the third
mark to the center bottom of the second panel. Then pin the ends to the ends of the skirt
panels.

You want the "nice" side of the ruffles to be facing the "nice" side of the skirt, and you want the
bottom of the ruffles pointing towards the top of the skirt, and the gathered end at the
zigzagged bottom edge of the skirt, as shown.

8.) At each marking, you left strings dangling, right? Tug gently on only one of them--
preferably the bobbin thread (the under thread that was sewn from *gasp* the bobbin), since
for some reason this one works better. Your fabric will start to bunch up, which is basicaly
what ruffles are-- bunched up fabric strips. Pull the bunches along the thread to spread them
out some along the length of the ruffle section.

Keep bunching and spreading the fabric until the ruffle section is the same length as the skirt
section it's pinned to, then pin down that section of ruffle.

Repeat with the three other sections of ruffle, until the whole ruffle is now pinned to the skirt.

9.) Now set your machine back to a normal length straight stitch, and sew on the ruffle with the
same seam allowance as you used for your side seam.

When you're done, you'll hold up your skirt and watch the ruffles fall into place... almost. Now
you need to iron it like you did to the side seam, so that the ruffles lie properly. You can press
it open, or press it down towards the bottom of the ruffle.

Try to keep the iron touching as little of the actual ruffle as possible. This ironging will crush
them enough as it is. To fluff them back up, rake your fingernails back and forth over the ruffle
tops until they look a little better.

10.) Now for your meshy stuff. I've chosen to hand dye some cheesecloth and fiddle with it to
get that grave-yard gauze look. Lay out your skirt flat on a table or the floor or whatever, and
lay the meshy stuff on top of it. Spread it out and bunch it up until it's arranged in a way you
like. Decide where you want to anchor bits of it with stitches, places where gravity would
probably make it not stay where it is. Pin it on.

11.) It's best to hand sew this part, making just a few small stitches at strategic points. The
easiest way to do that is with a simple running stitch, where you sort of "weave" the needle in
and out of the fabric a couple times and then pull the thread through. (Works well for
gathering ruffles by hand if you don't have a machine, by the by.)

Remember that bits you sew up near the waistline will end up scrunched up when the
waistband scrunches up.

12.) Almost done, I swear! Time to put the elastic in the waistband. Cut enough elastic to
stretch over your hips/butt and then an inch or two more. Grab the biggest safety pin you have
in the house, and stick it in the end of the elastic. This pin is going to be how you get it in the
casing.

Stick the pin and the beginning of the elastic into the casing. Bunch up the fabric over the pin,
then pull it over the elastic, which gets the elastic into the casing. Spread the gathers out
evenly along what elastic you've gotten in there.

Repeat until the elastic end reaches the end of the casing. Pin the elastic end to the casing end
so it won't fall in, just outside where you're going to sew it. You really, really don't want that to
happen. And placing the pin so you can leave it there while you sew the elastic down makes
sure this won't happen.

Keep bunching and pulling, until the safety pinned end of the elastic can be pulled through the
far end of the casing. Pin it like you did for the other end and take the safety pin off.

13.) You'll probably have noticed that the casing edges look like \|, slanted with an itty bit of
elastic poking out. This means right at the elastic, you have to sew a little deeper in than
normal. When you sew the elastic on, you have to sort of taper the line over that small, 2" ish
area. If you don't think you can freehand it, draw a guide line with chalk. Sew through the
elastic and casing, stop, use the reverse/backwards stitch and go back over your stitches, then
sew forwards through it one more time, and down the rest of the seam. (That point is a
stress point that needs to be reinforced.)