A Break from August Break: the Mullet Skirt

I know the point of August Break is to relieve you from the pressure of blogging, but it's okay for me to cheat if I want to, right?!

I start back at school on Monday and since I've had such a busy summer, I've been really trying to relax this week and only do stuff I want to do. I was feeling creative today, so I decided to do some sewing. I call it the Mullet Skirt. You will see why soon.

I saw a skirt somewhere, I don't remember where, that was short in the front, and long in the back. A mullet skirt, if you will.

Fabric choice was hard. I wanted something brighter as the lining, but my local fabric store didn't have anything that caught my eye. So I decided to go with a coordinating fabric rather than a contrasting fabric. Next time, I'll try something more eye-catching.

So here's a brief tutorial. The skirt is an elastic waisted skirt, and is based on this tutorial. I've made lots and lots of skirts based on this tutorial over the past year and they've been really quicky and easy, as well as really flattering.

This one was a bit more complicated, as I had to sew the interior lining to the exterior fabric.

First of all, rule #1 of sewing: Cats want to help:

Okay, so here we go. First, I found a skirt I liked the length of, and cut the top fabric to a similar size.

I wanted the front of the skirt to be flatter than the back, so I didn't use the full width of the fabric.

For the back panel, I measured how long I wanted it from my natural waist.

Trotsky is STILL "helping."

This time I used the full width.

You can see the difference of the length of the two panels. The front is going to get shorter in a minute.

I used the two panels in the purple fabric to replicate two identical panels in the lining fabric.

Next, I freehanded the swoop on the front panels. For economy's sake, I put the two front panels together and cut once.

Then I layed the cut front panels beside the back panels so I could line up the edges.

I pinned each of the two panels together along the bottom seam (the swoopy seam) with the right sides facing together.

Then I sewed, ironed the seams flat, and then turned the fabric right side out.

I repeated this procedure with the back panels. Then I pinned the two panels together along the side seams, with the right sides in. Right sides, in this case, being the purple fabric. It's important to make sure the bottom seams line up.

Please note that my bear-duck-elk fabric is UPSIDE DOWN. Because I am dumb.

Note that the back panel will pucker a bit because it's bigger. That's okay.

Now you sew your elastic waistband, and then pin your fabric to it. Be sure that you turn your elastic inside out, and pin the right side (purple) of your fabric to it, on the inside.

If you look closely, you'll see the elastic is inside out, and the purple is facing the right side of the elastic. Make sense? Kind of?

Then sew, and make sure you stretch your elastic as you do so it first over your hips!

My last touch was this: I found this "mending yarn" at the fabric store and liked the colour combo.

I sewed the fringe shut so it wouldn't unravel, then hand sewed it to a button. I safety pinned the button to the waistband, so it could be removed for washing.

I like the end result, though next time I'd do a few things differently:
1. Make sure the fabric is right side up!
2. Make the back panel longer and the front panel shorter so the inside lining would be more visible.
3. Make the inside fabric brighter/contrasting so it would also stand out more.

P.S. It is HARD to take pictures of yourself. Here are some outtakes. lol.

Bwaaaahahahahah! That one's my favourite! I was trying to show the lining of the skirt but it ended up just looking trashy.

DIY Anthropologie-inspired Skirt

I'm on a creating roll! The reason is because I was just on spring break and had lots of time to make stuff. My first day back at school is today, though, so it'll be back to my regular schedule. I wish I had endless time and energy to create.

So we're back on the Anthro and patchwork train for this one!

I was in Anthropologie a couple of weeks ago and tried on this skirt:

It was lovely, but at $100 I thought I could totally recreate it myself for much, much less.

After a trip to the fabric store for a few half-metres of some fabric and scrounging my stash that I already had, I came up with this:

The fabric cost about $10, and the belt is from Forever 21 and I think it was about $8.

Even though we got about a foot of snow on Saturday, I am wearing this skirt today to help bring on spring!

Basically I just patchworked all the pices together and then followed the same procedure as this elastic-waist skirt.

Skirt skirt skirt!

It was a rainy day yesterday, so I made a skirt.

I am not confident enough in my sewing skills yet to actually use a pattern. I tend to get all confused by that type of precision work, though I think I'll challenge myself with one soon. Anyway, instead I used Freshly Picked's elastic waist skirt tutorial. I've made several skirts using this tutorial, and they're SO easy and SO cute. This time, I decided to add a little sash that can be tied in a bow!

So I followed Susan's pattern, except for one part.

I freehand cut these out of the leftover fabric. Four pieces total.

Then I pinned & sewed the ties with the wrong sides of the fabric facing outwards. I left the small end unsewed, and then flipped them right side out. I measured my waist, and cut a piece of elastic, then cut the elastic in two.

Next step was to sandwich the tie between the two pieces of elastic and pin.

And you have this silly looking thing.

Then all you do is sew the skirt as you would in the instructions. Take care to make sure the right side of the elastic is matched with the right side of the skirt fabric.

And you have a cute little bow! I need to practice tying it. It's a bit cockeyed there.

I like the Ikat-esque fabric I got in the bargain section at my local fabric store! I am all for prolonging summer as long as possible!

Tonight, my sister and I are having a friend over for dinner, and I am going to make a cozy roast beef. It's rainy again today and somehow called for that kind of meal. I'll make hericots verts and oven-roasted three potatoes (yellow, sweet, and yams) to go with it. Mmm.