Rummage

I think I'm going to step back from Rummage for a bit. I love this space but lately it has felt like a chore to be writing here and when it stops being fun I need to stop doing it. 

What I want to do is smell some of those wee violets up there, get my house back in some kind of order and read some stories with my girls.

I really appreciate you swinging by to visit here, hope I'll get back to see you some day soon. xx

Did you like the tutorial? I am always a bit in awe of the cleverness of tutorial-makers, so I was a bit intimated about taking one on myself. But it wasn't so painful after all, might even try to gird my loins to make one for the little matching vest. That quilt up above is winging its way to its new owner even as we speak. Hope she likes it, sorry about the crap photo.

In other news, renovations grind relentlessly forward, we're nearly done on the major work, it's just all the fussy, fiddly little stuff that's making me slowly lose my mind. We have dust bunnies all over the show here, people. Hope you're well. x

 

 

This is a reversible skirt secured with a few strong press studs, designed to be worn on or around the hips . It is super simple and designed for those of us who shake at the sight of zippers, I love that the quilting gives it a slightly origami-esque sculptural quality. It's simple and fun to make. Here's hoping it will become a favourite for you as much as it is for me!

A few notes before we start:

Read through this tutorial a few times before starting, I only say this because I might sometimes be a bit obtuse with my directions. It might help to see how the whole thing rolls.

I like to use a recycled woollen blanket to line this skirt but you might prefer quilt batting, both are fine.

You could make your measurements up as a pattern piece on cardboard, perhaps try sewing the skirt once before you commit to putting the pattern onto cardboard. I only make up cardboard patterns when I am certain that I will make the pattern over and over. 

You will need: 1/2-1 metre of two co-ordinating fabrics, 1/2-1 metre of blanketing or batting, 2 sets of large press studs.

Measure your small person from hip to hip, make sure you do this from the back and not from the front as we want to account for the backside.

My three year old is 29cm across the back from hip to hip

Add a seam allowance of 1cm on both sides

For my daughter I will use 31cm as my measurement, accounting for seams.

 Now you need to decide on the length for t he skirt, the easiest way to do this is to rummage through the wardrobe and find another skirt with a good length or just measure on your small person where you would like the skirt to come to.

I wanted this skirt to be just above the knee so the drop measurement is 23cm.

 

Is this going to be a straight skirt or will it have a bit of a flare?

My daughter's skirt is going to be a strong a-line. I measured out from my drop an additional 8cm on either side.

Now it's just a matter of using a ruler to make a straight angled line from the bottom of the flare to the edge of the waist on both sides

 

How are you doing? Cup of tea? Or brief flick through your blog reader for some refreshment?

When you're ready, cut out the back of your skirt from your two fabrics and the blanket, as I've done below.

 

To make the front pieces of you skirt, you could follow the directions below:

 

Alternatively, you could just use one of your 3 back pieces and fold and pin it 3/4 of the way along to form the template for your front pieces.

 

Make sure you double your fabric over before cutting out your front pieces. You should have six pieces to make the front of your skirt, 2 from each fabric and 2 from your blanket.

 

Assemble your pieces of matching fabric together. Pin the front pieces on either side of your back piece, right sides facing, sew along your pinned lines. Do this for each of the three layers.

You should now have three pieces that look something like this. These will form your quilt sandwich.

 

To put the sandwich together, your first layer should be fabric, WRONG-side facing, then your blanket/batting, (any way you like as there are no right or wrong sides), the third layer should be your remaining fabric, RIGHT-side facing.

Once you are satisfied that your layers are matched together neatly, pin the layers at 2-3cm intervals.

Note: Don't worry if you have bits hanging out here or there, the beauty of this pattern is that you can trim them back after quilting.

Now here's the really fun part, you need to decide how to quilt your skirt, there is no right or wrong way to do this. You could decide to hand or machine quilt, I think it would be great with some sashiko-style stitching, you could machine quilt with simple straight lines, or you could, like me, use your walking foot and do a spot of scribbling.

 

After quilting, trim any wonky edges. You can now decide whether to bind your edges or leave them raw. I like it both ways. If you are leaving them raw, make sure you do two lines of stitching around all your edges to secure them firmly. If you are binding, there's a great tutorial here that might help. To get an idea of the skirt with binding, there are two examples here.

 

Try the skirt on your small person and mark where you would like to have the press studs, I use two sets to secure the skirt properly.

 

I like the skirt angled slightly, so I adjust where I put the press studs accordingly. Now trim all your bits and bobs of thread, pop the skirt on your small person and enjoy!

Note: Thanks to my lovely friend Kirsty whose expertise, adept capiroska-making hands and can-do attitude influenced the making of this skirt. x