2013/08/19

Two Simple Summer Skirts

When I think about the sewing projects I hope to start in the hopefully not-so-distant future, I've realized I'm all about the grand designs nowadays. I've started an "inspiration folder" that's mostly filled with dresses I'm just dying to make - basically disregarding the fact that a) about 90% will look completely stupid on me, b) I have nowhere near the skill level needed to actually finish one of them and c) oh, right. No patterns for them. Nevertheless, since I can finally sew an almost straight line, I have these visions of grandeur. I can do anything! The world is my oyster! Or, you know, whatever. Not that I actually can do anything, but it feels nice to think I can.

I'm especially in love with these three dresses right now:


Which just confirms that I have a weird obsession with backless dresses and lace. And apparently, everything Lily Collins wears. Don't know what that says about me.


Anyway. When I started sewing a few months ago, though, I sang a completely different tune. I was all about simplicity. Considering my skill level was at about zero (as opposed to the 0.5 it's at now) and the fact that I did pretty much everything wrong that one could do wrong, I was always happy to find instructions for something quick and easy that made me feel like I could actually sew instead of making me weep into my pillow every night (well, not literally, but...you know what I mean).


That's when these two skirts came into play. They both were touted all over the internet as "the easiest skirts ever". And they probably are, you know, for people with a smidge of talent. Ok, the green one kinda was, but holy moley, who would've thought it would be so frakking hard to sew an elastic to a piece of fabric? Stretching the elastic while sewing was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Let's just say my straight lines went mostly out the window on that one (thank god nobody will ever look that closely at my seams), at least everywhere the elastic was involved.


I still kinda like them, though, especially the elastic skirt (even though I should probably start ironing stuff before I take pictures of it). It's not the most flattering skirt I own, but it's light and airy and was perfect when it was really hot a few weeks back, plus it has the added bonus of still fitting even after I gained an insane amount of a few pounds. So there you go. And I really like the fabric (which was actually supposed to become a pair of pyjama pants, but I accidentally bought too little of it).


Basically, for both skirts, all you need is a rectangle of fabric that's about 1 1/4 (green) to 1 1/2 (grey) times your hip cirumference wide and as long as you want your skirt to be (I always want mine knee-long, so I measure from a little below my waist to my knees), plus seam allowance, and a piece of elastic (four inches wide for the grey skirt, 1 1/2 inches for the green one). There's a million instructions out there for these types of skirts, so I'm not gonna write any down now since I assume you all know what to do much better than I did, but if you'd like the instructions anyway let me know and I'll type them down.

So if you're luckier than I am and you still actually have summer wherever you live (apparently, 3 weeks was enough for us. We're back to gray and rainy and bleh.) - give them a try. They're only gonna take you a couple of hours!


♥ Nicole

3 Kommentare:

  1. Lily Collins also... Das kam unerwartet ;)

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  2. Äh, ja. Zumindest wenn sie nich gerade wieder was bauchfreies an hat. Was sie zur Zeit quasi täglich hat. Und es ist schlimm genug, dass ich das weiß. O_o

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  3. are the measurements for the elastics right? 3.5 inches seems large for your picture of it...
    love the green on you! might be your color!

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