OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern: Tutorial: Kate Spade Inspired Skirt by Melissa Esplin
• Materials: 2 yards lightweight cotton, 9 inch invisible zip, thread
• Size: Custom per tutorial (32″ waist)
• Time to sew: A few hours (including cutting)

This pretty fabric caught my eye when I visited G Street to get buttons for Iris.  And I had a Groupon.  

I wanted a pleated skirt, something with a vintage flair.  This skirt tutorial at Melissa Esplin fit the bill.  The tutorial is well written.  I did not make a real pattern, just a small sketch and marked the dimensions on the fabric with pins, pressed it to make lines, and cut along the folds.  The pieces are all rectangles so this isn’t hard.  

My waistband is a little different- I opened up the lengthwise fold, seamed one side to the skirt, turned under the seam allowance on the free side, turned down the waistband along the lengthwise fold to the inside, over the waist seam, pinned carefully.  Then I stitched in the ditch of the waist seam on the outside so my waistband would be finished on the inside.    I should have interfaced it, the waistband is a bit floppy since I used a lightweight fabric.  As for the zipper, 7″ would have been preferable, but my zipper stash is pretty anemic at the moment.  And I did a blind hem. 

After taking 4 years to knit Iris (most of the time in hibernation, but still….), making up this zippy skirt was a lot of fun.