Swing Set Skirt for Small One

If anyone is still awake after the Swing Set top blog...... here is the skirt!(much shorter blog..... promise)

The chosen fabric, City Weekend Cafe Dots pink, cotton rich poplin for the lining and some blue and white striped ribbon for the draw string.

Consider neatening the skirt and lining side seams before construction.

Neatened edge

Sew the side seam of ONE side of the skirt piece. If you like,sew the side seams of both sides of the skirt lining now,rather than later.

Press the seam open on the skirt seam and both the side seams on the lining.

Following the pattern,mark the button holes. I decided to make mine a little larger than the pattern shows. DON'T,the pattern size is fine and it caused me to need narrower elastic later!
 Let me save you this mistake!(Not so sure this was a mistake after all,the different elastic sizes looks cute and it was much easier to thread through the larger buttonhole,so this one best be a personal decision)!

The marked button holes

Following the instructions,apply interfacing over the marked button holes on the wrong side of the fabric

Interfacing to stabilize button holes

Button hole guide

Following the pattern,make your buttonholes. For some tips on cutting buttonholes see here.

Sew the skirts other side seam and press the seam open.

If you are confident with your length consider hemming the skirts now,it is a little easier.
Following the pattern,stitch a row of basting stitches as a hemming guide around the bottom of both skirts.

 

Press along the basted line. You will remove this stitching later.

The skirt

The lining

Fold the raw edge under to make a neat hem,press and pin in position.

Sew both hems taking care not to stretch the curve.

Place skirts RIGHT sides together and pin around the top. The lining will be shorter!

Sew these together and trim the seam as directed by the pattern instructions.

Pull the skirts through and place the WRONG sides together.

Roll the edge so that the lining does not show,it is better to have a little of the skirt showing on the lining side.

Following the pattern,pin the skirts together to stabilize them for the casing stitching.

Following the pattern,topstitch closely to the top of the skirt.

Check your elastic width BEFORE marking your casing lines,not try and find elastic to fit your casing(as I did with my first skirt)!

Stitch your casings using your guide lines on your sewing machine plate. Take your time!

Add caption

I like to use a sticker that I can remove as a stitching guide once I move the fabric past the plate guide lines. Here I use the S as a stitch guide line.

And here again,I have moved the sticker out so I can use the S as a guide.

Check your elastic fits through your casings.

Thread your elastic through the casings,following the pattern instructions. For some tips on threading elastic see here.

The elastic threaded through. Give the waist band a few gentle stretches to distribute the elastic evenly.

Pin the elastic out the way and finish the casings.

The inside view.

The outside view.

I like to add hanging ribbons at this point. This also secures the elastic.

Thread your ribbon through the middle casing,take your time stretching and evenly distributing the ribbon.

Following the pattern,catch a stitch in the side seam to hold the ribbon securely.

Ta-dah!

The inside story!

So,in conclusion,a lovely skirt. I will leave the buttonhole vs casing width up to you-I will probably stick to the bigger buttonhole....




Thanks for reading!
X N