Monday, June 13, 2016

Flamingos

I have a great fondness for flamingos. My kids might accuse me of being crazy about them. I have been looking at flamingo fabric for over a year now and trying to come up with a project to make with some. I found this fabulous flamingo border print at Joann's and knew I had to have it! 

Once I had my hot little hands on it I needed to decide what to make. What better thing to make than a skirt? It was a perfect idea for showing off this border print, especially since the top of the fabric has that cute striped border which is perfect for a waistband. I found a tutorial at Gertie's blog for better sewing here: http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2009/08/sew-full-gathered-skirt-part-one-make.html?m=1
I loved the fullness and the easiness of creating the pattern (just some rectangles). 

I washed my fabric before starting because I wanted to make sure there would not be any shrinking after construction. I then made my pattern from brown packing paper because it was what I had on hand. I wouldn't recommend it because it was pretty stiff and kept trying to curl up from being on the roll. But, it worked out ok for me. 

After cutting out my super easy rectangles, I serged all my edges to finish them.


 Then I gathered the upper edge before I was going to attach the waistband. I applied fusing interfacing to one waistband piece and attached the two pieces at the top. Then I attached the fused side to the gathered edge of my skirt.


After attaching there, I hand stitched the other side down to conceal the gathered edge. Don't try to cheat here. The hand stitching is vital for a finished look to the skirt.


After finishing the waistband I inserted the invisible zipper. I am not a fan of invisible zippers. I'm still trying to find a method I like. So far, no luck. I just muddle through until I figure it's good enough. 

The final part was the hem. I decided to use the blind stitch setting on my machine. I wanted to make sure my hem stitching would not detract from my border print. So, it's all done and I am really happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to wear it with the cute flamingo scarf I bought a few weeks ago! I hope you like it as well!
Thanks for stopping by!