Ankara African Fabric and M6706 Skirt

I’ve had this African print fabric in my stash for about a year now.  I purchased this print about a year ago from the Hancock fabrics here in Denver, CO.  It was on the clearance table for $2/yard.  Can you believe it! 

Ankara fabric from Hancock

I've had this skirt pattern for some time, and new this would be just the right fabric.

McCall skirt 6706

 

 

Line Drawing

This skirt also has a petticoat that goes underneath it that gives it that "full" look when worn.


Petticoat (View F): 
I had some green tulle that I had purchased back in March from Joann's fabric for ~$2.00 a yard from the Joann's clearance table.  Why did I purchase it?  Because it was on sale!

That tulle with a piece of black cotton for the yoke portion of the petticoat was all I needed.  

I added 6 inches to the overall length of the ruffled portion of the petticoat so that the petticoat is only about 6 inches shorter than the actual skirt.  Since I was using a tulle that didn't ravel, I just did a tiny zigzag along the raw edges of tulling.

Finished Petticoat

SKIRT (view D):
I added my usual length to the skirt (6 Inches).  Next, I also widened the waist band so that it is a finished width of 3 inches. and I also  put some buckram into the waist band as I wanted it to stand tall.

I cut the pattern out on the cross-grain so that I could keep from having a seam down the center front.

I did a rolled hem of 5/8" and hand stitched it; rather than topstitching (I didn't want the threads to disrupt the fabric design).  I also used a standard metal zipper using the centered lapped zipper insertion method  (Craftsy has a free class on mini-zipper installation if you are interested here).  Since the zipper is tucked in the center-back pleats, its can't be seen.

I love this skirt.  The pleats fall wonderfully over the petticoat. The petticoat truly makes a difference in how the skirt wears.

The one thing I would change would be add pockets at the side seams.

Every fabric and notion that was used in the making of this skirt was already in my stash.

Happy Sewing everyone. . . . .

By the Pound

Well I finally made a skirt from one of the "by the pound" pieces. It was a designer fabric. The fabric was a light weight sheer chiffon. It was over 8 yards of the fabric and cost me about $7.

I used 3 widths of the fabric, and a light weight brown to underline it. For the waistline I just did 2 rows of elastic: 


I did a one inch deep double roll hem (to add a little weight at the bottom). Talk about taking forever - approximately 180 inches of hemline!

I have a wide elastic belt with metal buckle that I paired up with it:


The skirt is light and airy. I wanted to run around outside and let it just blow in the wind.

I found a black cowl neck top at TJ-MAXX, which worked out nicely:

 BTW, guess what my sister saw at Marshall's in Texas!  A designer dress made from the fabric that I purchased at Michael Levin Fabric Store. 

I think I like the skirt version better.

Happy Sewing . . . .

Burda Skirt 4/2010-111

So here is one of the projects that I have just completed. I came across theis pattern when I was doing my Burda Pattern organizing:


It wasn't very complicated at all. I used this cotton print I had in my stash .

The pattern calls for approximate 2 1/4 yards. I had 2 yards; but was able to squeeze the skirt out of the fabric.
The modifications I made were:
1. Lengthened by 4 inches; but next time will add 5 inches instead. The skirt
stops directly at the knee. The 4 inches put me where I wanted the final hemline
to be. The skirt has a 1 inch hem. So for this skirt I added Lace on the hem,
so I was able to fold 1/4 inch on the hemline. I've already altered the pattern.



2. The other thing is that the pattern called for quite a bit of top stitching I
chose not to do any top stitching, since my fabric print was somewhat busy. I wanted the focus to be the print. Besides since I had gotten the fabric from
my stash, I didn't want to have to buy thread to match the print.
3. Placed interfacing on the pocket edges and waistband for stability
With the Burda patterns, I'm finding that I very rarely need to do a full rear adjustment.
4. The tie was to be edge-stitched to the waistband. But as I stated I didn't want any edge stitching to show, so I attached the tie by hand.



This is the finished product: (front and back)




I've got an African print that I will be making this out of, after I add the additional length.