The Tell Tale Tasha: Peek-a-boo Fringe

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Peek-a-boo Fringe - DIY Pencil Skirt

Holllaaaaaa! Remember back when I used to make everything out of a remnant I found at JoAnn's? lol Well I'm back at it. I actually made this quite a while ago...June? I was having stitching withdrawals and I needed to make something...ANYTHING.

I found this (little over) 1/2 yd remnant not too long before I stopped shopping for fabric. Lucky me. The first thing that stood out to me was that diamond cut-outs... SO CUTE! And I don't have anything in my closet with fringe so I thought it would be an interesting addition. The fringe was one side of the selvage (the selvage strip was to be ripped off to let the fringe hang freely) and nothing was on the other side. You know what that means? It means that the stretch of this fabric is perpendicular to, instead of parallel with, the fringe :-/

That didn't deter me though. When I bought it, I knew it was going to be a skirt, and a skirt I set off to make. I decided to go for a self-drafted pencil skirt (made twice before |1 & 2) because I just wanted something quick. Only problem is that the other versions have SOME sort of stretch. I decided that just adding some extra seam allowance would do fine.

I found a gold metal zipper in my stash and was thinking of doing the exposed zip thing but I just decided to do a regular zip and let the teeth peek out. I decided to sew up the skirt and the zip at the same time with nervousness that the skirt wouldn't fit but the confidence that just comes with "I'm basically sure I know how to do this" and turns out, I think my hips are larger than they are lol The hip curve on the skirt was quite more defined than the one God gave me. But the zip was sewn in.... securely....with wonder tape lol And unfortunately, the metal zip made the hip definition stand out even worse.

I did a hack job and had to shorten the zip so I could blend the hip curve in a little and I even had to do some hand stitches to close up the hole where the zip stops now... so there's a noticeable tuck... or pulling in that area. Shoot, being that there's no horizontal stretch in the skirt there's pulling all over lol But you know what.... It doesn't bother me :-)

I had the fringe stop right at my knees and the back hem to stop right above where the fringe starts. That's the vision I had in my mind the entire time I was planning this skirt and idk. I thought it looked kind of weird when I sewed it up but now I'm kinda feeling it now.

This was a quick (aside from the zip fiasco), satisfying make. The wrong side of the fabric is some sort of ponte-ish fabric that makes this skirt TOO hot for the summer time, though. lol I'll put it back out in fall. Suede is better suited for that time anyway :-)