New craft project, part 1

This weekend was a busy one. We had A Tball game, I needed to do major grocery shopping and make a new menu, my husband was getting ready to head out of town for the week, and I needed to make baby food and had a few freezer cooking projects to complete. I did find a little time to work on my new skirt I am making. I have never sewn a skirt (besides baby ones), in fact, I've never made myself any article of clothing. So this was a true experiment. I found directions on pinterest for a skirt similar to what I wanted, got the cute fabric and I was ready to go. The first half of my project went a little something like this....


First I measured my waist line and length I wanted my skirt. The directions I followed stated I needed to add about 4 inches to it, so that the bottom of the skirt would be full and not too tight. So that's what I did(Big mistake number 1)  I cut my panel out by folding my fabric in half(I used about 2 1/2yards of fabric to start with) and then cutting my waist plus the length. I used a pretty sheer fabric so I had a jersey knit lining to go inside of it. I cut a panel out of both fabrics that were the same size.

Now, the jersey knit will not fray, so I did not need to hem it or Anything, its ready to go! But the sheer fabric frays like crazy, so I folded my seam over about half a inch, gently pressed it with a iron, and stuck lots of pins in it, then sewed it with a longer stitch (this fabric really bunches up, so I used the longer stitch to help with that,I also gently pulled it tight to keep it from gathering as I sewed). I went all the way around the panel.

Now I laid my lining piece on top of my pretty sheer fabric, right sides together. Get it nice and smooth. Going across the top(which will be the waist) I folded my fabric over about half a inch or so, this is going to attach the lining to the pretty fabric and also keep the frayed end tucked under. This is what it looked like

Then I gently pressed and pinned it together, and sewed a tight stitch across(make sure to pull gently so it doesn't gather, and also keep your fabric nice and smooth underneath and don't rush otherwise it will bunch up and you will have to take it out and start over.....yes I learned that the hard way, mistake number 3!

Now, measure your elastic band. Make a fold a little bigger than the width of the band. Keep it nice and smooth and pin it, then sew a long stitch straight across, leaving a opening at both ends that your
elastic can fit through. This is where the elastic goes and is the waist line of your skirt.

Now, after you sew your waistline opening, put a safety pin of the end of your elastic and slide it through the opening, it will gather as you slide it through. Just make sure you pin the other end so you don't lose it in the waist line, because then you will spend more time fishing it out (mistake number 4).

Now that its all through, stitch the elastic together and adjust the gather.

Then, making sure the skirt is inside out, stitch the last sides together. This is your hem that will be down the back of the skirt. Make sure you get it all nice and even, don't let the fabric bunch up or it will look funny.

 Now you should have a skirt! This is what mine looked like,

 my biggest mistake was adding the 4inches, it was way too big and really bulky at the top...not flattering at all for my back end! I also messed up when I hemmed my pretty fabric around the edges, I did one side, then when I did the
other I did it on the wrong side. So in the end I had a seam sticking out the back, OOPS!

 That is why you don't rush these things, I'm so impatient! Luckily, its a easy, but time consuming fix. I will now undo my last seam down the back, cut out about 4 inches of fabric and elastic, fix my other seam, then sew it all back up and hope it still looks pretty! Then I will be making a cute belt to go over the waistline to dress it up! Stay tuned for the finished product...