The first overcomplication with this patchwork bias swirl skirt project was probably, technically, deciding to make it patchwork. The next overcomplication ended up being deciding that the bias swirl skirt pattern I already had wouldn't do, because it was for too-small a size and because I wanted the swirls more swirly, so I messed around with modification, eventually getting a nice swirl and realizing that I didn't need to make the pattern width wider--just make more of them instead. So I decided to make a (wearable) muslin! I have a history of just jumping right in, so the "no, actually, you really should do this with every new pattern" step of muslin making seemed like another overcomplication...until it was being finished and I remembered why I dislike hemming scalloped hems, so I made modifications and another wearable muslin and ended up with a great pattern.
Which I didn't use after all.
I went back to the original Simplicity 6261 pattern, assembling a first panel (patchwork, remember) with a tweaked hemline, and proceeded to use that pattern piece to as a guide for assembling and cutting the rest of the patchwork panels. I do still prefer the look of the more extreme swirl, but I thought I would be more likely to run out of the prints I'd chosen for the patchwork if I needed to assemble panels that wide. Enh, well, turns out that probably wouldn't've been a problem, especially since I used very little of the "I have several yards of this print and I'll probably have to use it when I've run out of all of the smaller pieces" cloth. (This may be a recurring issue with me and unplanned patchwork.)
And all of the pieced panels went together surprisingly quickly and all of the panels got assembled surprisingly quickly and the waistband went on with very little fuss and then I remembered that my legs are much shorter than pattern illustration legs and the skirt was much longer than I wanted. "No problem," I thought, "I'll just make an extra deep blind hem." So I started that, and I know deep blind hems can be made on flared skirts, but I always feel like I'm just making a huge mess when I try, so that idea got nixed.
Sh...should I cut it? Cut off all that patchwork work? Well...if I wanted it significantly shorter, then, yes. So I measured 18" down from the waistband all around, marking with a chalk pencil, then running a line of stitching on either side of that marked line and cutting between those (so the stitching would hold the patchwork seams together after they were cut.) I then cut that cut-off piece in half along its length, cut it so it was no longer a loop, then sewed one end of one half to the end of the other half and proceeded with making a ruffle. First I finished what would be the hem edge, then ran the whole thing through the beloved ruffler foot contraption--I made a good guess on where to set the ruffler control screw, and ended up with the ruffled strip being about 8 inches longer than needed, which, if you have experience with these things, you know that "a little longer" is way better than "a little short." I sewed the ruffle to the hem, leaving a bit unsewn at the beginning so that, when it got all the way back around, I could sew a seam and make it look like I was more precise than I am. (That...that might be a good summary of my approach to sewing in general...) Then serged the seam allowance, pressed that hem, and...done?
Oh, yeah, the cloth! It's a fun mix of yardage I thrifted, some pieces that were given to me (thanks again!), a clearance print, and that rarest thing, a print I acquired intentionally (the brick print, which I bought to use for doll diorama backdrops, once upon a time.) I do love mixing things that were never intended to go together...
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