DIY Long skirts (Butterick pattern 5851)

I love a long skirt! Just love them. Who doesn’t, right? They are so comfortable.

I have some stretchy cotton ones that I wear around the house and about town, but they aren’t quite dressy enough to wear to a wedding or to a nice dinner. Problem, so I got to rectifying this by making some of these beauties recently.

This gorgeous dress right here is my favourite. I used Butterick 5851 pattern.

Butterick pattern 5851 The material is some nice fabric I found in an op-shop on Brisbane’s northside. Whenever you see an op-shop, duck in for a look because they are the place to find original and amazing material from every decade.

Handmade-long-stripey-skirt

I admit I got a little help here. The top V-piece was a challenge because I just couldn’t get it to sit right, so my mum helped me deal with that. She’s a gem, and a killer seamstress too.

Handmade-long-stripey-skirt-front-close-up

The key to getting the zip right is to pin and iron it flat so it’s sitting right before you sew it. Beats unpicking, believe me.Handmade-long-stripey-skirt-back-zip

Now this skirt below has a story. Did you ever hear it said that ‘you take something good from every relationship’ – well, this material was one of those things. My ex’s grandma gave me the fabric one day as she was showing me her old sewing chest… such a dear. I still LOVE this vintage material.  I made this skirt without using a pattern! I had a vision, knew exactly what I wanted and started measuring, tucking and hacking away…. and it worked.

Handmade-white-and-brown-skirt--front

All that was used to pull the tucks together was a piece of ribbon sewn along the top. If you are good with your basic maths and can work out tuck lengths, this skirt is super simple to make. Measure… make a tuck. Measure… make a tuck. Keep it all in place with a ribbon and put a zip in the back – DONE.

Handmade-long-brown-and-white-skirt-close-up-pleatsI’ve mastered zips these days, but this material was tricky! Moves all the time!

Handmade-long-brown-and-white-skirt-back

Stay tuned for next week guys because there’s some exciting stuff in the pipeline… I have some new beautiful wool designs to show you, and I’m excited to tell you the awesome crew at Undress Runways scored me a VIP double-pass to their exclusive screening of The True Cost, a doco about the bad side of the fashion industry. Can’t wait to tell you all about it next week. Keep creating, my pretties!!

Kris

xx

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