A while ago I found some purple and white border print fabric on the market. I couldn’t help myself and bought it and of course showed it of to my coworkers immediately. The plan was to finish the skirt in a week or so. This was a good plan, although I managed to screw it up royally, naturally.
The plan was a simple gathered shirt with pockets with a waistband. I had one cut of fabric which consisted of two bits sewn together, I’m thinking it was the end/beginning of a new roll or something. I first removed the stitching and cut the bits into the height I wanted. I then seamed the bottoms with sticky iron on stuff, serged all the edges and attached them. I found some old slanted pockets and put those in. I then tried to make the waistband, that was a complete disaster. Enter the ‘unfinished projects box’. It was balled up and dumped in there.
I took it out a while later and gathered the whole business. This made it look even more hideous. Back it went into the unfinished projects box.
Then I took it out at the beginning of the month. First things first, discard the waistband idea and cut square pockets from the fabric. This worked, I only later found out that I completely failed in making the pockets sufficiently deep for putting my hands in if I wanted to have the waistband all along the edge. I took out the gathering and redid it using the lining. Eventually sewed a casing to pull the elastic through. Almost all the gathering is in the back now, with pockets on the front. Because the elastic kept twisting, it’s been sewn on at regular intervals.
During the last session of this skirt the aim was to finish it before going to bed. This did mean that due to exhaustion and frustration, several parts had to be redone twice or three times. Conclusion, this is not a smart idea. Moreover, I haven’t completely solved the ‘if I put something heavy in my pockets my skirt fall down’-problem, but I’m thinking of ideas, and it was 2:30 and I HAD to sleep. Anyway here it is, front and back.
So why is it called Alice’s Tea Party? Because there are teapots and rabbits and butterflies and mushrooms and cupcakes and all kinds of cute Alice in Wonderland themed bits on it, if you ask me. Below the pockets and a close up of the back, with all the gathering.
I am very happy that it is finished. I like it a lot, because of the print on the bottom. I think it’s really cute. That one problem still needs to be solved, but I’m thinking of some sort of waist stay concoction that could solve the issues. Lastly, it’s all nice and finished on the inside with lining and everything.
Next up is a larp present, basically a copy of something I use myself. You’ll see…
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