Skip to main content

Skirt Inspiration: Beach-Ready Maxi Skirt

Today is the last day of the Skirts Challenge! We hope you enjoyed all the skirt inspiration in May!

We have a guest blogger today! Justine from Sew Country Chick graciously accepted our invitation to guest blog for us during the Skirts Challenge. This is a new-to-me blog that I'm excited I found and look forward to follow her other handmade makes!



Hello! I’m Justine and I blog about sewing at Sew Country Chick!


I live near the beach in southern California and spend lots of time there in the summertime. I wanted a wrap skirt I could put on over my bathing suit that’s also a little dressy, as I’m taking it on a honeymoon trip to Mexico with my husband for our twenty-fourth anniversary this month. Woah! Where did the time go?


I saw a tulip shaped maxi skirt online that would make a cute beach skirt. But I couldn't find a pattern. 


Urban Outfitters Skirt

I already had a pattern in my stash that would be perfect to hack, New Look 6456, a basic wrap skirt. I also had several pieces of silk charmeuse bought over the years. I’ve been sewing more solids lately, so my bold prints have been languishing in my sewing room. After sewing lots of dark colored solid pieces this past winter and spring, now was a perfect time to go a little crazy with prints! I chose to use a poly charmeuse I bought on one of my downtown LA fabric district shopping trips. 


I have several pieces of bold printed fabrics. They seemed like a great idea at the time when I bought them, but I never could figure out what to do with them. This maxi skirt is a bit of a fabric hog, and I had five yards of this print, so why not cut into it? I ended up using about three and a half yards of this 54 inch wide fabric for this skirt. 


My pattern had a straight edge and I would have to curve the hem and center front to create the tulip shape. I traced the skirt front onto two pieces of tracing paper taped together and re-drew the center front.


The pattern has a center front line which I traced, then measured up ten inches on that line, then measured up twenty inches on the side wrap extension edge. I drew the front edge curve by hand. I followed the pattern instructions for making the dress, which are very good. I sewed a narrow hem. First I serged the edge, then I flipped it over 1/4 inch and topstitched. I flipped it over one more time to enclose the serged edge and topstitched again.

The fit is good, and true to the measurements stated. I could have made a size up, as I could use a bit more room on the extensions. I cut a size 12.



I cut the back on the fold instead of cutting two pieces. My fabric was wide, the skirt fit on the fold. I wanted to avoid a seamline in the center back with this print because, well, who likes pattern matching at seams?


I really like the waistband and tie on this pattern. It was quick to make too. 



Well, that’s all I have for today! But I do have a few more projects planned for this pattern. I like the knee length version with pockets, and I may add a ruffle to another version. I hope you may feel inspired to get out some of those crazy prints you may have bought on a whim. They may be perfect for a summer maxi skirt!

Thank you Fabric Mart, for inviting me to guest post!


~Justine from Sew Country Chick

Share your me-made skirts thru May 31st and be entered to win a $50 gift certificate to Fabric Mart! Share on Facebook or Instagram using #sewcoolskirts. 

Comments

  1. Love the skirt, love the fabric, love the whole thing!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your skirt for all it's experimentation and the final look is perfect for the beach. How much fun to find the perfect fabric and pattern already in your stash!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Paula Brown, ANYONE CAN SEW STUDIOMay 31, 2017 at 10:52 AM

    Love the tulip shape. Have had one in mind for a while. Thanks for the inspiration.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: Why Sew A Muslin

Here it is, my September blog post featuring Newlook N6692 and this pretty rayon challis from Fabric Mart! This pattern style is so in right now. The square neckline, cute puff sleeves and the tiered skirt are all exactly what I was looking for in a summer dress. As always I started with making a muslin first!  Let’s get into why it’s important to start with a muslin.  A muslin is basically a practice garment. It prevents you from cutting into your good fabric prematurely.  I usually use a muslin fabric (natural cotton) but you should also consider using a fabric that is the same weight as your fashion fabric. This will give you a truer gauge of how the garment is going to lay in the final fabric. Anytime I try out a new pattern company I make a muslin. This was my first time using a Newlook pattern so I need to know what the ease would be like for this pattern. Also I need to see how the bust would fit me and where I would need to make adjustments. Plus there were some new techniques

Made By A Fabricista: The Love of Sewing - Basic Pieces for a Beginner

Happy Friday All! It has been a while since I made myself a dress. I am excited to sew after not making anything since my last post (whew) and finally sharing some photos.  This past summer has been a roller coaster journey with plans to release a small collection and then deciding that right before the launch to postpone. Sewing has brought me joy over the past 8 years and the mere fact to sew daily for orders had me in a panic mode. I really don’t want to walk away from my craft due to burn out  and decided that if I do sew for others, it would be only for local clients. Moreover, If next year I decide to launch, it would be seasonal and not year round. I really want to share my talent and love for sewing with others but don’t want it to be a full time job and lose the passion in me.  After a bit of soul searching, teaching and sharing my talent with my community will always be my first love. For the past 2 summers, I was blessed to partner with two nonprofit organizations’ local sum

Made By A Fabricista: End of Summer

Summer is nearing to an end but here where I am in Texas the heat isn’t letting up any time soon!  I still have plenty of time to get a few more summer looks out of the way.  In this blog I will be sharing two separate projects. The first project is this denim set; I had the inspiration saved on my list of makes to make.  For this project I got this gorgeous denim and matching thread to start my project. Yes, Fabric Mart will match the thread to your fabric perfectly and with my favorite thread brand Gutermann.  The denim had a very great weight and wasn’t too stiff.  It was very starchy when it arrived, so I did a prewash before working with it.  I’m so glad I did because it had a lot of dye saturated in which would not have been great for the skin and other clothes. For the first part of the set, I drafted a corset with the scallop edge cups, such a cute detail!   To start I used my bodice sloper to make the corset, I was not worried about the design details and focused more on