Say Grr Sewing: Pleats and Panels Skirt Tutorial, Part 3: Sewing

This part of making our skirt should be less complicated, but more time-consuming - all we have to do is sew. This is the skirt we are working on:

We are going to start with the panel pieces. Stack two right sides together and sew down one long side with whatever seam allowance you added when making the pattern. I sewed at 1/2 inch.

You should end up with a piece like this:

See the seam on the right hand side there? This piece will open out and you will have this:

The seam is in the center in this photograph. Repeat this with the other four panel pieces, and you will end up with three identical pieces. Stack two of them like this (but without the corner flipped up ;-)):

and sew down the right hand side. Open the piece you just sewed out and it should have 3 total seams at this point. Stack the final piece on top again, like this (but again with the corner down...):

Sew down the right side again. Now finish all the seams you just sewed with a zig-zag, or use a serger like I did, and press them all to the right with the piece face down. Once you have the seams pressed finish the edges on the sides and bottom. You don't need to worry about the top, as it will be enclosed in the waistband. With the piece face down it should look like this:

Set this piece aside for now and we will work on the waistband. Stack the main waistband front piece right sides together with the waistband back piece, matching curves and angled sides. Sew with your added seam allowance, and sew the secondary waistband front piece to the other side of the back. Repeat with the facing, but sew the pieces on opposite sides so you end up with mirrored waistbands, like this:

(Can you spot the Gaiw hands? =))

On the piece with the main front waistband to the left (the lower piece in my picture) press up a scant seam allowance on the lower edge. I pressed up about 3/8 of an inch. This will be your waistband facing:

Stack the pressed piece right sides together with the other waistband piece and pin along the top edge:

Now sew around with your added seam allowance, starting from the left pressed edge of the and ending with the right pressed edge. Leave the bottom open. You want to sew down the pressed part:

Grade your seam allowances by cutting one to half the width of the other:

Clip close to but not through the stitching on the inner curves:

Cut the corner off next to but not through the stitching:

And trim close to the stitching on the tight outer curve. You can also notch this part of the seam instead:

Flip the entire waistband right side out and press it thoroughly:

Now take this piece and match the raw, unpressed edge up with the top raw edge of the paneled piece, with right sides together. Pin, matching seams. On the main front waistband, fold the seam allowance of the paneled piece toward the WRONG side:

On the opposite edge, with the secondary front waistband, the panel piece won't meet the edge of the waistband. Yours should actually be shy of the edge more than mine is, since I forgot to add a seam allowance on waistband piece here:

Sew the seam you just pinned, being careful not to catch any part of the waistband facing. Press this seam up, toward the waistband, and grade it by trimming both parts to different heights. Pin the facing down just past the stitching:

On the right side, stitch in the ditch to catch the facing on the back side. You will stitch between the two pieces, where the arrow is pointing, spreading them slightly apart as you sew.

When you are done you will have something like this:

Right sides together, sew the seam you left open with your added seam allowance, stopping where the machine can't fit any farther. We will close the rest of this part off when we do the top-stitching later. Now you should have this:

Set this aside for a moment and we will work on the pleat pieces. Put them right sides together and sew with your added seam allowance on both short sides to form a tube, then finish all of the edges- top, bottom, and the two sewn side seams:

Press the the hem up 1 inch all around. If you don't have a serger I recommend pressing up 1/2 inch, then another 1/2 inch for an enclosed hem.

Baste this seam in place and we will work on the pleats. If you recall, I had 12 pleats 4.75 inches apart that were 2 inches deep each. I measured the depth of the pleat in each direction from a side seams, pinned, and brought those two pins together, to make a 2 inch deep pleat. Finger-press this pleat to one side and pin it down on both sides. Measure 4.75 inches from the pin on the right, then double the pleat depth to the right of that, and pin or mark both spots:

Take the right pin and bring it over:

On top of the left pin:

The layer you see underneath the pleats is the main skirt. I pinned the pleats next to the skirt to ensure they matched up, but you can also do it separately. Pin the pleats down until you have pinned all of the pleats you allowed for in your pattern-making. In my case, this was 12. Slide the skirt right side out into the pleated tube with the hem of the tube closest to the waistband and with the pleated tube inside-out. Sew all around the tube, and when you flip it right-side out, you should have this:

Press the seam you just sewed, and press the pleats in place if you wish, then top-stitch everything. I top-stitched the hem of the pleated piece down, every vertical panel seam, the seam between the pleats and the panels, and all the way around the waistband. The final step is to add snaps. I used Dritz Heavy Duty snaps in the package with the tools included. The instructions for this are on the back of the package. I eye-balled where I wanted the first snap and marked it, then measured for the other ones and marked. I used the hole punch tool:

to make holes in the top waistband piece on my marks, and used a chalk pencil to draw where the lower part of the snap should be through the hole. Just a word of warning, the hole punch tool needs a very hard surface under it to work properly. If you use a block of wood, be prepared to pick chunks of wood out of the tool for every hole. Once you have finished the top-stitching and the snaps, you are done!