Apple Skirt!

I mentioned that I got five yards of the apple fabric, right?  And that was after originally getting two, which went into the disappointing cardigan and a shirt for a friend.  I knew I wanted to use the second cut of it to make a better cardigan, and then I impulsively made the motorcycle jacket (which I have worn several times already, since the weather has been actually properly spring-like.)

That still left a few yards of it, though.  After confirming that The Child didn't want anything made from it (it's the wrong kind of tacky for the kid's tastes), I decided to make the most indulgent--yet simple (in theory)--thing: a circle skirt.

I have probably mentioned before how much I like voluminous skirts made from knit fabrics, but don't make them often because there are so many things that can only be made from knits.  A skirt? Can be made from anything.  A slim fit T-shirt?  That's a job for knits.

However.  I've probably also mentioned that I try not to wear polyester blends in direct contact with my underarms, because of smell issues.  It's not me, it's the polyester.  So, no matter how much I might think a little T-shirt made from the apple print would be adorable, it's not something I would ever wear...and, even if I do break down and make one, it's not going to take much fabric, either.  As mentioned, I had a lot of this fabric.

So, hey! Why not a circle skirt!

I grabbed Simplicity 7210 from the craft thrift store a while ago (that post is mildly amusing because, after sincere reflection on my sewing tastes, I have re-donated some of those patterns back to the craft thrift store) simply so I wouldn't have to recalculate a circle every time I wanted to make a circle skirt.  It's fine that it's a kid size pattern, because I can bring the waist in from another pattern; I used McCall's 7981 this time, along with that pattern's pockets.

...which led to an issue, but I'll get into that under the cut.   Right now: here's the skirt

 Usual disclaimer about all round-hemmed skirts: it really is even, I promise.

 Now: the pockets.

I cut the skirt, front and back half circles, then cut the proper-size waist opening, then the waistband, then the pockets, and it was while cutting the pockets that I realized...wait.  I have cut this skirt so it will need a side seam zipper.

These pockets go into the side seam.

Hmm.

The second pocket went in fine, of course.

It was the figuring out of the first pocket that took a while.

I did try to look up how to do it.  All the results I got were for invisible zippers.  I seldom use invisible zippers, because I don't trust them to be very strong. (This is based purely on disaster stories I have seen from other people.) 

So I thought about what it would take to do a lapped regular zipper, and developed a hazy idea of what to do.  The key was to not have the pocket bags sewn to each other around their outer curved edges yet, although the upper pocket bag was sewn to the front and the lower bag was basted in place to the front of the skirt.  After that, the pocket bags were opened up and the lower bag was treated like it was the front of the skirt.

Yeah, it's not pretty, but I made it work.  I'd say it was as much because this fabric is a medium weight knit as it was because of my vague, bleary idea of what, exactly, I was doing.

Once I figured it out, it was so simple (in retrospect) that surely someone else has shared how to do it.  I managed to poke the search engines enough to find a Reddit post of someone explaining the same process, although they included lining.  This is one of the few skirts I haven't lined, because I plan to wear petticoats under it.

The normal challenge with a non-felt circle skirt is finishing the hem. I first used bias tape to finish a circle skirt hem in 2013 and instantly decided it was The Way.  Granted, I have not made many circle skirts since then, but that's not because the hems are so infuriating, at least.

I considered doing a blind hem stitch at the top oft he bias tape, but, frankly, didn't want to spend that much more time on this project, so a simple straight stitch it is.

I made the rest of the fabric I bought for the bias binding in this jacket to make this bias binding.  I also did not press the edge at all, instead relying on that under stitching to put things where they needed to be.

This knit fabric is sturdy enough to let me sew the waistband the way I prefer, sewing a normal seam to the inside then flipping the pressed edge around and edge stitching along the edge from the outside.

And the back!  Which looks a lot like the front.

I still have just over a yard of this fabric left, and an idea for a project that will not use all of it.  I genuinely thought that I would make the second version of the cardigan, then put the rest of this fabric into the stash, to wait for future inspiration.  The future is now, I guess.