Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Skirts for Girls

 DSC_1126 A little over a year ago I decided my girls were old enough to start wearing zippered skirts and not just elastic waist ones. I searched and searched for an a-line skirt pattern and found none. Then I came across Burda 9653 and quickly purchased it. I have since made it at least 5-6 times—out of denim, linen, and most recently corduroy. Will I ever make my girls the jacket though? Complete with a lapel and fully lined? Doubtful.
I like the cut of Burda patterns for women so I assumed the same for little girls. Well, like most children’s patterns, the sizing was very large. I made both my girls (ages 6 and 9) the size 6 skirt and just lengthen it quite a few inches. I also had to cinch in the waist a little bit as it is cut really straight. (You can see how straight it is cut in this below photo.) I realize little girls don’t have hips yet, but still, it needed to be tapered just a little bit at the top so as not to slide down their little hips. I didn’t make that mistake again with the turquoise corduroy ones below.
I also noticed the yolk piece is cut a good 1-2 inches short. You can see wear I have to piece it in the photo below. This was the first time I made the skirt in November 2009 and I was pretty angry, but figured the girls wouldn’t be tucking in their shirts so it was ok to have the yolk pieced.  I have since cut a new yolk piece extra long to avoid this problem again.
denim skirt
Here are the turquoise corduroy versions. For my 9-yr old’s I embroidered a very colorful floral design that came with my machine. Of course I tweeked it and added a little more of those spiral green ‘swirlies.’
turquoise coruroy skirts (7)
And for my 6 yr-old’s I did a tone-on-tone floral embroidery. This design also came with my machine, although I tweaked this design as well. Of course you can’t hoop corduroy as it will ‘scar’ the fabric but just hoop your stabilizer, spray it will temporary adhesive (I like 505), and place your corduroy fabric where you want it. I used some (machine) cross stitch designs at the hem and a dots design to hide the seam where I lengthened it. Long story. Usually I would just cut it longer, but like I said, long story.
turquoise coruroy skirts (5)
Here is a picture I took of the zippered yolk area, after they wore the skirts to church. Hence the wrinkles. I did a basic centered zipper—my least favorite way to install a zipper. I usually do a lapped zipper or an invisible zipper.
DSC_1121
Voila! That’s it. For 1 and 1/2" yards of corduroy (found at Joann’s shockingly!) and $10 the girls have some adorable new rags for church.  I can make the skirt in about 45-60 minutes, but how you choose to embellish it is where all your time goes—think ric rac, decorative stitches, ribbons, embroidery, etc.  Just too much fun.

7 comments:

Ilene said...

Sign me up for the hand-me-downs cuz certainly I won't be attempting such a project... at least without your or my mom's help.

Casey said...

Love those. I am so glad you posted that. I'm always looking for a good skirt pattern for my girls. You're right, they are always SOOOO big. I remember making a skirt for one of my girls when she was 6 and making it a size 3 using the size 7 for the length. Crazy. I won't be doing the darling embroidery that I am so jealous of. Oh! to have a machine like that.

Unknown said...

have you done any for you??? I think it would translate to adult really nicely!!! you are so talented very lucky girls forsure!!!

Mary said...

I LOVE the multi-colored floral on the corduroy! I have no idea what you're talking about with the different types of zipper installation, but I'm glad you have a blast making those skirts. So cute!

LaurieJ said...

Haha! I was reading your post -absolutely fascinated with your talent- and I get to the 'Voila! That's it' line. Oh, my dear talented friend..I miss and adore you :-)

Win said...

Oh so cute!!!

Paul said...

Best dressed girls at church every Sunday.

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