Monday, July 13, 2009

Summer Skirts- A Summary and A Cheat Sheet


Here is a summary of the six summer skirts.
Click on each picture to take you to its post
with the tutorial and writeup.



Top row: Classic Gathered Skirt, Tiered Skirt
Middle row: Gathered Panel Skirt, Fitted Panel Skirt
Bottom Row: Circular Skirt, Wrap Skirt


And here is the cheat sheet:


Some notes on dimensions and things:
  1. Wherever a skirt is elasticized (1,2,3,5,6) the dimensions shown are of the fabric pieces themselves. Therefore the dimensions include seam and hem allowances.
  2. Wherever a skirt is fitted (4,7) the dimensions are those of the paper pattern. Therefore the dimensions do not include the seam and hem allowances. You will need to include that when you cut the fabric pieces out. Usually, a 1/2" seam allowance is sufficient, except where that seam has a zipper (in which case use 3/4").

Happy sewing!

Incidentally, I cut some experiemtal shapes out of
fabric today for a skort (a pair or skorts? A skort?)
If that works out, I'll post on it.

14 comments:

  1. Thanks for the cheat sheet and the convenient links to each post!

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  2. You are so great, how do you get that much done? It seems like I can either craft and get stuff done and the house falls apart or I take care of the house and the crafting goes by the wayside. You amaze me, thank you for the cheat sheet. My daughter is very tall and thin, like shes two and can were nine month clothes of she has panties on. lol

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  3. Thank you very much for this series and for the cheat sheet. I am looking forward for your next tutorials.

    Greetings from Germany!

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  4. Thanks so much for sharing your skirt skills! You're so inspiring!

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  5. I really like these summary posts you make. I'd love to hear how your skort turns out.

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  6. This skirt isn't made from any of the tutorials but reading them inspired me to make my own skirt!

    http://betulaloo.blogspot.com/2009/08/non-pattern-skirt.html

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  7. brilliant! I need to make 20 skirts for an ice skating show for children and adults of varying sizes. As a novice seamstress, this is definitely what I need. Thank you :>)

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  8. Hi LiEr,

    I was wondering about the circle skirts, which are my favorite: would that be possible/sensible to use different fractions of the circle, I don't know, like 1/5 or 1/8? And if yes, how should the fabric be folded for cutting?
    I can figure out how to calculate the fractions of the circle , but I cannot picture how the fabric should be folded.
    Thanks!!

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  9. Hi Hannah,
    As long as you are NOT using a full circle, you will have to sew a back seam to join the ends of the skirt together. A full circle/donut is the only shape that you can cut out without a back seam. That said, if I were to do any fraction other than, say, a half, I'd do a pattern in paper first and then lay it out on the fabric. Depending on how long the skirt is compared to the yardage of the fabric you have on hand, it might not be easy to fold the fabric and measure and cut the skirt directly out of the fabric - a paper pattern is usually helpful to make sure you can fit the whole skirt in. You can always cut the paper pattern on the fold, too. So for example, if I were doing a 2/3 circular skirt, I might draft a 1/3-circular paper pattern, and then lay that on the fold of the fabric to cut out a 2/3 circular skirt.

    To fold the fabric to accommodate these paper patterns (which will almost always look like some segment of a circle- like a pizza slice), I'd begin by folding one corner of the fabric at a 45 deg angle, the way you would if you were about to lay something out on the bias, or about to start cutting bias strips. The 45 deg fold would allow you to do exactly 1/4 and 1/8 circular skirts and multiples thereof. I'd then place the fold of your paper pattern (assuming it's cut half-size i.e. with a center line) on that 45-deg fold line. Other fractions e.g. 1/5, would result in some funny-shaped remnant fabric pieces at the sides , but that's OK - you want a partial circular skirt to be centered along its midline on the true bias (i.e. that's what the 45-deg fold is), if possible, for symmetry. Hope this makes sense.

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  10. thank you very much LiEr!

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  11. L means length. What does A & B signify?

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  12. so great skirts let you looked so beautiful

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Thank you for talking to me! If you have a question, I might reply to it here in the comments or in an email.