Woodland creatures tea skirt!

[hazliya]

Worn a couple of different ways. =)

I wanted a nice, long tea skirt. I also wanted to work with Japanese fabrics. I thought "Let's go to a place that sells fabric, maybe they'll have some interesting prints."

HOLY. CRAP.

Not only do they have prints, they have prints, man! And of every color and thing you can imagine. Tons and tons of flower patterns. Color blocks. And the colors here are intense, like looked-directly-at-the-sun-for-a-second-now-visible-spectrum-all-screwy intense. Especially red, gold, and pink. Those are the big guys.

Anyway, the place I went (a department store in a mall, except they don't have walls in the shopping centers here, just a bunch of stores out in the open on each floor and it's super neat) was cool enough to put little maps on the price tags of each section, telling you which region the fabric came from. Some from Hokkaido, some from Aomori, and a bunch of traditional Okinawan fabrics (which are really goddamn bright, let me tell you). And of course, cartoonishly bright novelty prints. Just try to stop me from making a bright yellow Power Rangers party dress once I get a pattern.

But I fell in love with this super bizarre linen-y blend that was patterned with deer, birds, rabbits, squirrels, etc. and grabbed a couple yards. It's so light! And I grabbed a polyester shell fabric because, since it's so light, it's just the teeeeniest bit see-through. And I love me some colorful underwear.

I heavily modified a beginner-friendly skirt pattern that _dragonwolf_ had made a red silk dupioni from as well as my own earlier quick version to see how the pattern suited me. I made some heavy modifications: added pockets, made the waistband thicker, used loose pleating instead of gathers, shifted it down to hip-hugger, added liner, made it tea-length. Made the pattern from scratch - my body don't fit nobody's sizes.

If you'd like to make your own, I highly recommend either following along with _dragonwolf_'s posts on the subject or using the original pattern! I did take a few pictures along my process (labeled!) that give you a better view of the print and what I did. =)

Please excuse my ugly stitching. It's functional, I swear.











I always hated how polyester and satin pucker with stitching, so I just hemmed the lining with the super-efficient Japanese version of Stitch Witchery, which works/looks great.

So yes, it is incredibly comfortable and I'm super in love with it. It took me a couple hours, hand-stitching everything, shopping time not included.

Feel free to ping me about my methods, how-tos, whatever! I'm happy to share. =)

Moral of the story: POCKETS IN EVERYTHING

Comments

[londo.livejournal.com]

...Japan is already making you look taller.

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

That and losing a little weight, I suppose.

Would you believe me if I told you I actually *have* gotten taller?

[londo.livejournal.com]

No, but I might believe you'd lost sanity.

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

Damnit!

[alankria.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous! That skirt looks dead comfy, plus AMAZING FABRICS GAH.

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

I am a sucker for prints. And critters. And linen. This fabric was pretty much designed for me.

[annabelle.livejournal.com]

oh fun! I love the new skirt - especially the look with it pulled up a little bit higher and belted. :)

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

I have to be careful how I do the pull up + belt look - big boobs can make it look like I have no torso.

You're tall and lean enough to pull that off, though!

[annabelle.livejournal.com]

regardless of the trickiness of balancing that look just right, it seems that you have the skillz. you still look like you have a torso in that pic. :)

for me, i have to be careful that voluminous skirts/pants like that don't just make me look massive since i am not short.

[tpau]

ooh awesome. am jealous of your awesome fabric!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_dragonwolf_/]

Beautiful! I love the fabric, and the pleating is perfect.

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

Have you worn your skirt out yet? =)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_dragonwolf_/]

I have! It's kind of too fancy for most of the things I do, but I get such a kick when people recognize it from the blog. :-)

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[anitra.livejournal.com]

Very cute!

Love the moral of the story. Wish I could find time to take up sewing as a hobby, so that I could make cute skirts with pockets.

(And I probably don't fit anyone's patterns, either. I've never found anything past size 14 that is also sized "tall". Because tall girls are all skinny, right? :P)

[captainecchi.livejournal.com]

You might have an easier time sewing fine materials with a finer needle and lower tension. That's usually what I do. Although Stitch Witchery works, too :)

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

With polyester, Stitch Witchery works like magic. xD

[captainecchi.livejournal.com]

Oh, also, since I'm a terrible friend and forgot in my rush to give you unsolicited advice - lovely job on the skirt! I am truly envious of the range of fabrics you'll find in Japan. I think there's a lot more home sewing going on there, which means more demand, which means a better selection. I know Japanese cottons are very highly in demand for quilters, too.