Today for our Sew for Me! series with KOJO Designs we are lucky enough to have Melanie from the Crafty Cupboard.
Melanie has tons of fun tutorials that I know you will LOVE (if you haven’t already been following all this goodness!) One of my personal fav’s is her Puppetdoorway:
Seriously? How cute is THAT!! My problem is I would never want to take it down so that doorway would be unusable permanently ha!
And ya’ll know I love me some anthro knock offs!
And as soon as I FINALLY order some more buisiness cards (totally thought 100 would last me forever ha!) I will be making one of these:
What is really awesome about this post is that when I opened it up I seriously died. Melanie had made the EXACT same skirt that I had made for myself the week before we came to DC. And when I say exact I mean down to the same fabric… yeah. Spooky. The only difference is mine is in red! How crazy cool is that! She was good enough to make a tutorial though. I just whipped mine up and kept it to myself (seriously not on purpose I just was dying for something new and made it super fast ha! You can see a pic of mine at the end of the post) So here is Melanie with her fun tutorial!
Hello everyone! I’m Melanie from the Crafty Cupboard. I’m the wife of my studly husband Mike, and the mom to three adorable little girls. In fact, our most recent little one came just three months ago, so you better believe I was excited to participate in something that required a ME project! I’ve had a growing list of to-do’s and an ever bigger pile of fabric to use for said projects since this time last year. Now that the post-partum as finally, sort of, hopefully gone mostly away, it was high time I jumped to work.
Once upon a time I was shoving my way through a crowded church hallway and 8 months prego when my eyes were captured by the most adorable outfit EVER on one of the beautiful ladies in our congregation. Gray stripes, yellow sweater, great necklace… you better believe my brain was taking inventory of the whole thing so I could be a copy cat. After I had that baby, of course.
When I saw the chevron pattern from Half Moon Modern, I had to have it as the gray stripe (ooh, found some here). HAD TO. You should to, because it is awesome. And I bought it. 8 months pregnant. And so it sat.
But now, that fabric has transformed into an awesome wearable skirt!!! Want to make one too? It is easier than you might think!
To make the Pleated Chevron Skirt, you need:
1 1/2 yards Chevron fabric! This tutorial uses Half Moon Modern. Yes, there is yellow too!
9” zipper (I was going to use an invisible zipper, but changed my mind at the last second –read it was going to be too small and I didn’t want it to pull really tight and expose the invisible zipper. I need to step up the exercise…)
Optional pocket fabric! 1/4 yard
Usual sewing supplies
***use 1/2” seam allowances, iron often, and finish all your edges!***
To begin, measure your waist where you want your skirt to sit (I recommend measuring after lunch, or it will be a little snug in the end… ahem.). Add 1 inch to that measurement.
My measurements were 29” waist, so I added 1 and got 30” as my starting number. My measurements will be in (parenthesis) to help you see the process.
For your front piece, divide your measurement (30”) in half (15”). Next, when using Half Mood Modern, add 10 to this measurement to get your front cut width (25”). Make sure the center of the skirt lines up with a chevron point! I wanted my skirt to be to my knees, so I cut it 21” long too.
Your back pieces will be the half measurement (15”) plus 5 1/2” (20 1/2”). Cut two at this width.
Starting from the center of the front skirt pieces, start making your box pleats by lining up the point of one zig-zag with the dip of the one next to it. Makes no sense in writing, so I hope you can see if from the photo. When the pleats are closed up, the zig-zag pattern will appear to continue without any breaks. You will have two pleats.
Do the same to the back pieces too, except make only one pleat per side.
To make your waistband, cut two pieces the same width as your front skirt piece (which should be on or very very close to the original measurement (25”)). Cut four pieces the width of your back pieces.
Sew the back waistband pieces to the sides of the front pieces, and then sew them all together along the long side, like so.
I ironed a 1/4” hem along one side, so when I am hand-stitching later, it will be easier.
On to pockets! If you want pockets, cut 4 shapes like this (I just traced around my hand to get a reasonably sized and shaped pocket piece):
Make sure you have two of each direction!
Pin the pocket pieces right sides down onto your skirt pieces, at a comfortable spot for your hands.
Stitch the pocket to the front and back skirt pieces, (and while you are at it, tack down those pleats so you don’t get poked with pins anymore).
With the pocket sewn on, mark with a pencil or pin 1/2” from the edge of the pocket. This is where you will pivot your fabric while sewing.
Place the skirt pieces right sides together and line up the pockets. Sew down the sides, going around the pocket as you go. Don’t sew the pocket shut!
Now, attach your waistband, lining up the non-ironed waistband edge with the pleated edge of your skirt. Sew together!
Now, let’s install the zipper. I learned this zipper trick from Ashley, and it works pretty well. I’ll give vague instructions, since she already did a great job with her tutorial.
Sew up the entire back of the skirt and iron it open. Now, pull out some sort of adhesive, whether it be glue stick or fabric glue or tape, and put the glue on the seam allowance where your zipper will go.
Stick the zipper teeth-side-down onto your glued seam allowance, making sure the teeth line up with the seam. Make sure the zipper doesn’t go higher than the center waistline seam- you need to fold that over soon to finish this skirt up!
Using your zipper foot, stitch carefully on the outside of your fabric to secure your zipper. When you are done, use a seam ripper to unpick the zipper seam.
Hem your skirt, and the hand-stitch the rest of the waistband to the interior of the skirt. I stitch it so the inside waistband seams are all enclosed.
You have yourself a skirt! It’s awesome in every way! It sits snug on the waist and pleats out so very perfectly around those chevrons…
Paying attention to detail is what makes a good project GREAT!
And what’s that peeking from the sides?
Why, it is an adorable pocket, perfect for those boogery tissues and random half-chewed fruit snacks your children hand to you as you are trying to head out the door.
Paired with a sunshine-y yellow cardigan, I’m totally ready to be twinners with that gal in my church. Think she’ll mind?
Isn’t that a great tutorial!! I am totally going to try that zipper glue trick! Do you want to see what it looks like in red:
See? Isn’t that hilarious! Although, I didn’t put a zipper in mine, instead I did a big piece of elastic…. that would be the laziness showing up
Thank you so much Melanie!!!
Now hop on over to KOJO and see what goodness they have stitchin’ up!
Cheers!
Kelly
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