Full Pleated Christmas Skirt

4:30 AM

I'm participating in Kelly's {Sewing In No Man's Land} 12 Skirts of Christmas!

I wanted to somehow mix in my nerdy reindeer sweater into an outfit, but try to keep it somewhat classy for Christmas.

Here's my little sketch.

(I really love this outfit, every piece is handmade-- Lynette made me the blue button-up in fall 2011)

I've been wanting to sew a full pleated full skirt for a while.
I made a striped one this summer and have wanted another in a neutral color.

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This time around, I made a thicker hem and added interfacing.
The weight at the hem helps shape the fullness of the skirt.
I was able to use the machine blind stitch on the hem due to the skirt being a cylinder that's just gathered at the top, so no easing to have to deal with!

Probably my favorite element has to be the pockets!

A mistake that I was too lazy to fix turned into a design element on the back.
I had planned inverted pleats around the whole skirt, but just sewed folded pleats toward the center back.
I accidentally cut the back sections the wrong direction making the back have a lot more fabric to pleat into the waistband.
So rather than cut it down and waste fabric, I just pleated it all in.
I was a little nervous it would end up looking like a bustle on my bum, but I actually kind of liked it in the end with the more concentrated pleating on the back.