For those who don't know, a dirndl skirt is a simple skirt made up of two rectangles and a waistband. I VERY loosely followed this tutorial by the lovely Gertie. I do mean loosely. I'll admit, I'm terrible at reading directions. I sorta just skim for the relevant details and dive in head first. Mainly, I figured out what measurements I needed and looked back to see the order to do things.
I used a lovely Robert Kaufman fabric that I scored for $2 a yard a few weeks ago at Craft Warehouse, a store that is sadly nowhere near my house. I love the chairs and snatched up another 5ish yards in the light blue colorway. The zipper was in my small stash left over from the circle skirt that would not be. So this beauty cost less than $5, a total win in my book.
The project was a bit if an experiment. I've never done this style skirt, and I'm not sure if it's my favorite yet. I need to wear it around for a bit first. I'm also playing with finding the best silhouette for my body. The waist on this skirt is a good 4 inches above my normal waist, the spot where I typically where my pants. I think shortening my torso might be a more figure flattering style. That's what I love about sewing, the ability to change things to fit just me.
The thing that surprised me was the amount of hand sewing involved. I never sewed more than a button by hand before I got my machine, yet in the past few days I've spent around 4 hours slip stitching away. On this skirt, the inner waistband is stitched by hand as well as the hem. I love the clean, polished look this gives. My machine does have an invisible hem stitch, but last night was not the time to figure it out.
Thanks for joining me here. I'll be back with more chronicles later. After all, there's always more procrasti-sewing to be done.
It's a lovely skirt, Heather! And it is very flattering! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks! And thanks for the little push I needed to finally do this thing. I've been considering it but now I've begun.
DeleteIt looks wonderful! All that hand stitching has certainly paid off, I must confess my sewing machine has the blind hem function but after about 5 years of sewing I still haven't tried it!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad I'm alone. By the time I get to the end of a project, the last thing I want to do is learn a new technique.
DeleteHi Heather! I guess you've seen my post today about my own dirndl skirt, and yeah, it was hand-sew-a-go-go for me too!
ReplyDeleteThe print on your fabric looks interesting- any chance of a close-up?
Fabric closeup It's such a fun, silly fabric. I had to have it.
DeleteI'll have to check out that tutorial by Gertie, it's a cute skirt. I made the "Flirting the Issue" skirt on the Anna Maria Horner website, but I think I like this one of yours better.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nita! Stay tuned, I have another tutorial-based skirt in the works.
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