A couple weeks ago I saw some blog posts about this new book, Sewing in a Straight Line, including this quick video on making a one hour skirt with a yard or so of fabric and some elastic. I was intrigued, so thought I'd give it a try, especially considering the fact that my sewing skills basically only consist of sewing in a straight line.
I had Chuck pick out a couple different fabrics- she chose a really cool floaty striped madras and a basic quilting cotton in a pretty purple flower print.
The tutorial was super easy to follow and definitely very basic- it doesn't have any of those obscure sewing directions that you find in traditional patterns. Measure, fold, iron, sew... measure, fold, iron, sew. The only change I made was to make the skirt a little bit longer (25 inches of fabric, which ends up with a skirt that's about 21 inches long from the waist), and to add the elastic waistband in after I hemmed the skirt for ease of measurement.
The skirts came out generally pretty cute! We like the way the softer madras fabric hangs- not quite as stiff as the quilting fabric (which will hopefully get softer after some washings). In both cases, however, the skirt was a little full- you could probably make it less than twice your hip measurement and it would still be cute.
I had Chuck pick out a couple different fabrics- she chose a really cool floaty striped madras and a basic quilting cotton in a pretty purple flower print.
The tutorial was super easy to follow and definitely very basic- it doesn't have any of those obscure sewing directions that you find in traditional patterns. Measure, fold, iron, sew... measure, fold, iron, sew. The only change I made was to make the skirt a little bit longer (25 inches of fabric, which ends up with a skirt that's about 21 inches long from the waist), and to add the elastic waistband in after I hemmed the skirt for ease of measurement.
The skirts came out generally pretty cute! We like the way the softer madras fabric hangs- not quite as stiff as the quilting fabric (which will hopefully get softer after some washings). In both cases, however, the skirt was a little full- you could probably make it less than twice your hip measurement and it would still be cute.