Circled Skirt, Part 2: Putting it all together

  Hello again! Today we are going to do the sewing on this skirt, we made the pattern HERE:

We'll start with the waistband and work our way down. First, attach a primary front and secondary front waistband piece to each back waistband piece so you have two mirrored waistbands. With the pieces wrong side up, take the one with the primary front on the right and iron up 3/8" on the lower edge so you end up with this:

  Stack these two pieces right sides together and with the edge on one still ironed up, sew from the lower left corner up, along the top edge, and down the right side. Leave the entire bottom edge open. Turn right side out and press well, set this aside for now.

  Sew all the paneled pieces together the same way you did for this skirt and finish the edges the same way.

  Finish the edges on your placket pieces, and put the smaller one in the top right corner, right sides together, and sew it down.

Fold the larger one wrong sides together the long way and put it  in the top left corner, sew down:

   You should have something like this by now:

  Fold this in half, right sides together, and sew the final seam up the placket pieces, leave the area above it unsewn. Flip the flat placket to the inside of the skirt and pin down, flip the folded placket out over the flat one and pin just the bottom edge. Your folded placket will be wider than this if you follow my directions instead of my example. ;-) Sew along the bottom edge through all layers, pull the folded placket out of the way, and sew the flat placket down along the long side.

  When you turn it right side out it should look like this, but again your placket on the right of this picture will be wider:

  Now pockets. =) Finish the edges of all your pocket pieces and draw a line an inch down from the top of your two pocket facing pieces. Mark lines 5/8 of an inch in from each side (Another thing I didn't do quite right. I marked 3/8 inch and it was much harder to sew):

 Center these pieces on your front left and front right panel pieces, at the very top. The one on the right will be right next to the placket and the left will be a panel away. Pin well and sew right on top of the lines you marked:

  Clip a half inch away on the inside of the stitching you just did through both layers, cut into the corners but not through the stitching. You'll have this:

   Flip the pocket pieces to the inside and press:

  Leaving the sides of the pieces press to the inside, flip the bottom of the piece up:

  Then back down 1/2 inch from the stitching:

  Press well and baste in place. On the inside, pin the lining and pocket facing piece right sides together, making sure not to catch the skirt:

  Sew, then flip the lining piece down and press the seam up towards the pocket facing piece.

  Put a pocket backing piece right sides together with the bottom of the lining:

  Sew, again being careful to only catch pocket and lining pieces, not the skirt. Flip the pocket backing piece you just added down and press:

  Now lift this piece and fold it up:

  And match it up with the top of the skirt and the top of the pocket facing piece:

  Pin well, but only through the pocket pieces, not through the skirt:

  Sew down each side where you pinned, and you'll have this:

   Top-stitch around the pocket opening, being careful not to catch the pocket lining. I also top-stitched the panel seams at this point.

 
   On to the circular ruffle! Lay it out on the floor, wrong side up:

  Starting anywhere on the outer edge, fold up 1 inch, fold the raw edge in to meet your first fold, and pin:

   Repeat opposite your first fold:

  Then at the quarter points:

  Repeat halfway between each pin until there are no more ripples:

  I used 64 pins, although it would have been even better to use double as many. Sew this hem, removing pins as you go. I used top-stitching thread. If you put the hem down against the feed dogs it will help ease the hem in so you don't end up with a bubble somewhere:

  It might look a tiny bit ripply after you are done, but it should straighten out in the wash. If it doesn't, it doesn't matter since it is a ruffle anyway. =)

 
  Now, back to the top of the skirt, we are going to attach the waistband. Pin the unpressed edge of the waistband to the skirt right sides together. The primary waistband piece should be over the flat placket piece:

  Sew along this edge, being careful not to catch the pocket facings as you sew. Press this seam up toward the waistband.

  Then flip the inside of the waistband down into the skirt, and pin its pressed edge just past the line of stitching you just made:

  Stitch in the ditch on the right side and you'll have this:

    Next we will attach the ruffle. I didn't finish the interior edge of the circle because it is on the bias in areas, and I wanted to handle it as little as possible to prevent stretching. Anyway, mark the quarter points of your skirt and ruffle, and fold the ruffle in half over the skirt:

  Match up the quarter points and pin them first, then pin the rest of the circle to the skirt:

  Carefully sew this seam, and press it up toward the body of the skirt. I finished the ruffle edge at this point, but not without a lot of frustration. My serger thread broke once, and I ran out of thread once... and my serger is incredibly hard to thread. Look at it, it's impossibly small:

  Your skirt should look something like this now:

 Two more things to do! I top-stitched the ruffle seam and then the waistband. The waistband was horrible. I ran out of bobbin thread three times, broke the top thread once, and broke my needle three times. I was using top-stitching needles, but I guess I should have used denim needles instead. I had just a few inches worth of thread left when I was done, I was almost sure I was going to run out:

  Finally, I added some heavy-duty snaps to the waistband and placket area. Then I put it on and tried to take some decent pictures. Want to see some out-takes?

 

Because skirts always look better when you are tiptoeing, right?

The wall-lean-with-a-smirk

The ceiling grab

The sweater-on-a-hot-day

  And a normal(ish) picture or two:

   Hope this tutorial made sense! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. For part 1 of this tutorial, go HERE
Thanks for stopping by,