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I had just recently heard of Sew Weekly, and really wanted to start this week, but I was working on this darn skirt that had taken me almost 10 times as long as planned.  Then the red, white, and blue theme rolled around, and well, that skirt is RED.

I had planned on making this a very simple skirt.  It was intended as a casual/practice skirt for social ballroom dance, inspired by Flamenco and Paso Doble skirts.  I estimated 2 hours, finished the base of the skirt, and then decided it needed ruffles... a lot of ruffles.  Then I made 30 yards of ruffles.  Then I found I had gathered my ruffles tighter than planned, and added another 6 yards of ruffles.  The base of the skirt is considerably more than a full circle, and there is a lot of hem.  So... I kept somewhat-hyperbolically yelling about "60 yards of ruffles!", so I will continue to call this the 60-yard Flamenco skirt.

I used all 3 large rolls of red thread that I had, some or all of which may have been lying around since I last remember sewing anything large and red, which was a red wedding dress over 12 years ago.  I then used another 3 spools.

(some fine mirror shots with blue stockings for the holiday)

I did a lot of slow overlocking due to my industrial machine being on the fritz, the repair shop unreliable, and home machines slow.

The facts: 

Fabric: 4 yards red cotton ripstop canvas., $4.99/yd

Pattern: Self-drafted 4-EVAR

Year: modern does 1940s does folk costume

Notions: just thread

Hours: 2 hours for drafting, shell, and finishing.  About 15 on ruffles.

First worn: last Saturday to a LARP and then out to a club, where it received many compliments:


Wear again: I'm wearing it right now for the 4th of July, and will certainly wear countless times in the future (and since it's so incredibly sturdy and made of utility frabric, it should last a long time.)

Make again: Unlikely, though I'll be making a much fancier variation on the same idea as a performance dance skirt.

Total cost: I forget how much thread was, but $20 for fabric, so about $25 US.

And the inside: Combo of french seams and raw overlock (the overlock is also used on the outside of this skirt.)  There is also a semi-hidden cargo pocket.

A bit of ruffles

And some of them close up, that I worked so very long on, and love so very very much

Views: 436

Comment by Aiesha Morris on July 24, 2012 at 7:01pm

60 yards of ruffles!  It was well worth it, the skirt is very pretty.  I would love to see your fancier version.

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