A friend has asked if I can make her a Boho/peasant skirt similar to one she owns already. No problem, happy to assist… it just might cost you a few “mike’s Hard Black Cherry Lemonade” beverages though!
C.P. (let’s call her that) has done her research and came equipped with instructions she has found on the internet and a large piece of paisley (I love paisley!) and two large pieces of denim fabric. Both fabrics had a similar feel of a medium weight denim so they would drape together well. The instructions that C.P. had found on the internet gave you a wonderful little “tier calculator” to predetermine the correct length and width of each tier. All you had to do was enter in the widest measurement on your lower body (waist, hip, whatever), press calculate and all the math was done for you. The free pattern and tier calculator is here if you are interested.
I read through the instructions very carefully and cut my three tiers out of the denim and paisley. Then I put the instructions aside and ploughed ahead.
Basically the calculator gave you 4 tiers (one 8″ long, one 7″ long, one 8″ long, and the last one 10″ long). I was not concerned about shortening these as combined they amounted to the length that C.P. desired. If she needed an inch or two shaved off the length after trying it on, I would just re-sew a seam allowance wider at the top and/or bottom of a tier to get the correct length.
Now when it came to the horizontal width of each tier, the first was 4″ wider than her “widest” measurement, the second tier was 1.6 times, the third tier was 2.2 times, and the last tier was 2.7 times.
Now you know why I mention the “wonderful little calculator”!
Below are my tiers, folded in half. The top tier wasn’t cut yet as I had to buy the stretch fabric that C.P. desired – the same as her brown skirt. She plans on wearing tunic tops over her boho skirt and wants to be comfortable. Smart lady!
I’m happy C.P. is a animal lover – as my animals loved lazying around on her fabric!
First step was to sew up the sides of each tier.
Next, I pinned each tier to the one below at the sides, centre front and centre back. I gathered between these points and then sewed the tiers together.
Sorry, C.P. – Simon still loves your boho skirt.
If you wish, I can always run it through the wash before I hand it over to you!
Now, when I went to our local fabric shop looking for a navy blue or brown stretchy fabric for the top tier, this was all I could find. A polyester spandex (20%) brown fabric and a polyester spandex (10%) blue fabric. I couldn’t decide which, so what-the-heck I bought both. When I came home and compared them to the stretchy top tier of C.P.’s brown skirt, the blue won. The brown was not at all similar. It was a 4 way stretch – it would have pulled horizontally, which would have been comfortable, but it would have also pulled vertically, stretching out of shape with the weight of the heavier denim tiers hanging below. It wouldn’t have lasted long.
Also when I measured the stretch of the top tier of C.P.’s brown skirt, it went to 1.8 times its original size, just like the blue fabric.
The brown fabric is far better used for activewear. It could withstand all that stretching, bending and gallivanting around!
I gathered the top of the top denim tier, just slightly. I needed to make each quarter of this tier 3″ shorter so that it would be equal to the blue stretchy tier at its maximum stretch.
Sewing the blue stretchy tier to the gathered denim tier wasn’t difficult. I just had to remember to stretch the blue tier as I sewed.
I finished off the insides with my serger and hemmed up C.P.’s skirt and I was done…
…and it only took two Daniel Craig “James Bond” movies! Which is not really a good judge of how much time I spent, as every time I heard Darling Daniel’s voice I had to stop sewing and look at the TV. This will always be the “Daniel Craig project” to me. Sigh!
Now it seriously took no time to whip up this skirt… C.P. if you are reading, it took me hours and hours of slaving over a noisy sewing machine to get the job done to my high exacting standards!
But seriously it took me an additional two nights to publish this post. I spent those nights trying to figure out my new photoshop program and after the two nights were up, and I wasn’t any farther ahead, I went right back to using my two IPad apps. Tell me, you readers who photoshop text and frames onto your photos, which program do you use? There has got to be something simpler than what I’ve got!
Happy Sewing!
He he! That’s very generous of you. I am very selfish. Sewing only happens for me. Very rarely for other people.
I’d love to help you with photoshop, but I do the same as you use my iPad to frame my pictures.
I like having a project sitting there all the time. Sometimes I just can’t think of what I should make for myself though. So I do something someone else wants. It kind of gets my sewing mojo back,.
Lucky lady. Great skirt and I totally agree with the comfort waist! I have absolutely no idea how to frame or put text on images. I’ll wait and see what your other comments say?
Thank you! Maybe we will all get a few tips for our blogging? Maybe not? 😃
Haha glad it’s not just me that remembers makes by either music or films. Daniel is a good choice though. Well done on the selfless sewing project K xXx
😃 Thank you!
Loving this skirt, your friend must be absolutely delighted!
Thank you! Hopefully she will be! (She hasn’t seen it yet!)
Those skirts are great but I’m sure you couldn’t have done it without your furry helpers. Interesting process to get those skirt tiers just right. Lucky friend! I have no idea how to get text and frames into a blog. As you can likely tell, I struggle with the basics when it comes to photos:)
Haha Thank you! If only I was younger. They catch on to this computer stuff so quick! 😄
This was a funny post. I’m giggling on the bus as I’m reading it. Love the skirt and I’m not even a paisley fan. Stripes and solids for me, but the skirt looks really good.
Hahaha – Glad I could put some fun into your day! Thank you! Actually it would look lovely with some stripes going this way and that, wouldn’t it!
Cute and comfy skirt! The mixed fabric for the tiers is a nice touch, and I’m sure your friend will be very happy with. Obviously the cats are, and they only like the best, don’t they.
Thank you! Ah, yes, the cats are a good judge of character and quality, aren’t they? (I’m not a crazy old cat lady, am I?)
Haha, crazy old cat lady…there are a lot us in that creaky boat. 🙂
Yes I thought you’d like that one! What must the readers think that don’t know us! 😂
The skirt is lovely, although I have to admit the fact you needed to use a calculator to figure out the tiers would have sent me screaming out of the room (I hate math), on the other hand this project gave you an excuse to watch two Daniel Craig movies back to back so maybe the math was worth it (I LOVE Daniel Craig).
Yes, math is lovely… The link to the “tier calculator” might be helpful to those who would like to make it the easy way! (I love Daniel Craig too!)
What a lovely thing to make for your friend. The skirt looks great and it must have been a lot of work to gather all the layers together. I really like the sound of the hard lemonade but we don’t have that brand in the UK. 🙂 I am so sorry but Danial Craig reminds me of Sid James from the British “Carry On…..” film series now that he is older. I saw it once on Facebook and now I can’t unseen it. 🙂 Xx
Thank you! Oh… well I don’t think I am going to go take a look at Sid James, or else Daniel Craig might be ruined for me too!
Lovely make, Linda, and such a kindness for your friend. Thank you for including that handy-dandy web site/app, too!
Thank you! And you are welcome! 😄
Love the skirt. Calculator, not so much. Now speaking as a person who hasn’t sewn much more than a split seam for years, what is the gadget you are using when you sew the stretchy skirt top part of the skirt? How do you get the “furry animals” off the material so you can actually sew it?
I had to go look! If you mean the gadget on the right of my sewing foot, that is just a seam allowance guide. You hold it at a 5/8″ or 1/2″ inch mark and screw it on and it helps you sew straight! 😃. Something I definitely need! And the cats… Well if you want them off so that you can sew you just keep picking them up and putting them somewhere else – over and over again!
Lovely skirts! I had a couple of issues with wordpress recently – it is so frustrating when it takes so long to do posts!
Sorry to hear you are having problems, I use picasa it is free from Google and the editing tools are simple and cut down for a normal non photographer like me.
Thank you! A friend of mine uses/mentioned Picasa too. I’ll have to check it out. I learned yesterday how to put the text on… So I’m half way there! I hope!
Well done! I see your cat was invaluable in the construction process, haha. (The pictures with him are so cute and made me laugh.)
Thanks! Cats do definitely think they are invaluable!
Absolutely gorgeous skirt. And so are your cats.
Thank you! and they thank you too!
Hi Linda,
The skirt looks great. The blue stretchy waist band is somehow clashing with the other colours. I know you did not have a choice.
I insert the photo into Microsoft Power Point presentation, add whatever text I want to over it, add a border, and save the image separately. Now the photo is saved with the border and the text. You can insert this image in your blog as a jpeg. Quite easy actually.
All the best
Hello, yes I probably could have used a different colour. The client was more particular about comfort than colour though, as she wears long tunic tops over her Boho skirt and they cover the waistband. She sent me a photo of herself wearing it, but I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to publish it or not. I have power point at work and it does manipulate photos well. My iPad and my Mac at home do not have power point so I had to get used to another program. Perhaps you will see in the more recent posts I am not suffering with posting photos anymore! Thanks for reading and commenting! 😃👍