DIY Pleated Skirt

What up, homedogs?

So I recently just rediscovered some pictures I took of a project that I did back in the spring, back when I was first trying my hand at this whole "sewing thing."

Now, as it should be abundantly clear by now, I'm not the best seamstress. I'm more the "oh my gosh let's pretend we're on Project Runway-just start making things up-SEWING MACHINE GO" kind of seamstress. So needless to say, there are plenty of ways to improve on this project. But I thought I would share anyway in case you were interested in what I did :] All you need is 2 yards of cotton fabric and then BOOM. Skirt.

Step One: First things first, I measured my hip/waist region, since I wanted the top of the skirt to sit somewhere in that general vicinity. Depending on where you want your skirt to rest, this would determine the exact measurement you use. I ended up selecting 30 inches as my magic number, then added another inch for seam allowance. But that measurement will come in handy in just a sec-- FIRST first, I should mention that I threw my fabric on the floor like a real sewing champ and cut the whole piece in half lengthwise, which determined the overall length of my skirt.

Step Two: Going back to my magic number of 31 inches, I began pleating my skirt back and forth in one inch pleats... kind of like making little Z's with the fabric, lining the edge of one pleat up with the next. I'm sure y'all already know much more about pleating than me though :]

Step Three: THEN CAME THE NON-OPTIONAL PART. I had Kitty assist me in pleating because cats know hella-lot about that kind of thing.

Step Four: I kept on pleating until I got to my magic number of 31 inches.

Step Five: Then, to keep everything in place, I did a quick basting stitch across the top of the pleats.

Step Six: Next, I cut out a piece of fabric that was 4 inches by 31 inches. After folding the right sides together, I sewed down the bottom long edge, then turned it back right-side out.

Step Seven: Finally, I tacked the waistband to the top of the pleats, then stitched it down for good. In retrospect, I would have done this differently, like instead of just sewing it down, I would have sewn the tops of the pleats inside of the waistband [but I can't words right now so that probably doesn't make sense]. But mostly I would have finished my edges first. FINISH THOSE EDGES, YO. For real. Because that looks like a hot mess right now, I realize.

Then as the final finishing step[which I forgot to photograph], I sewed the the skirt together into a proper skirty-circle and put a zipper in the back.

And just like that, we have skirty-goodness. Because who uses a pattern anyway? Oh yeah, normal people... oops.


Ah well, have a pleasant Thursday!
Linkin' up hurr and hurr.