One ruffle skirt completed ...

Finally I finished the ruffle skirt for Samantha.  It took a few late nights and loads of fabric. :)




Nie Nie skirt from Pink Fig Designs

  I changed the pattern slightly as I wanted a flat front, not the full elastised waistband.  (The back is elastised, so that gives a bit of growing room).  This took a bit of fudging from one of Samantha's old skirts and then took one ruffle before I was able to match up the fabric directions with the pattern.  But I think it works quite well.  Now that I have thought about it, I have also figured out how I would make it if I want the back section to easily allow elastic replacement.  Maybe I will try that next time.

Also, I used my ruffling foot, rather than manually gathering the ruffles.  That saved on a lot of time but I wasn't quite sure how much material it would use compared to gathering.  Turns out it used less fabric - I'd hate to think how full this skirt would be if I had manually gathered the full required amount of fabric.

The last two ruffles are 80 inches (2m) in length, so very long.  It adds up!  :)

Things I learnt - don't use a stretch denim.  It adds a lot of weight to the skirt.  Unfortunately, that's all I could get at the time when I bought the fabric and it does look good, but it makes it a heavy skirt. If using denim, go for lightweight denim.  Samantha does like the skirt, but she says it is heavy, so I'm not sure if she's going to wear it as much as she would if it was lighter.




Modelling her new skirt!




Time for a twirl!  It's a skirt made for twirling. :)

I'll make one for Asha, but will use lightweight denim.  That's next on the list ... 

Next project - a ruffle ra-ra skirt

Okay, so I'm on to my next sewing project.  Samantha has her birthday party coming up soon and if I can pull it off, I plan to make her a ruffle skirt for her party.  (As an aside, I can't believe my baby is turning 4!!)

I am going to make a modified version of the Nie Nie Skirt (by Pink Fig Designs).

Pic from Pink Fig website here

Instead of a full elastised waistband, I am making it flat at the front (like a yoke panel) with an elastised back.  The rest I will adapt as necessary - it's just strips of gathered/ruffled material.  This looks like a pattern that would suit an overlocker perfectly.  But it's all good.  It'll just take a bit more time to hem and finish off the seams with a sewing machine, that's all.

Anyway, the fabrics I am going to use for Samantha are

denim and two quilting cottons from Spotlight

And once I make this skirt for Samantha, I'll also make one for Asha.  The fabrics for her skirt are ...

denim and 2 cottons again

I have cut out all the ruffle strips for Samantha's skirt.  Will start hemming them tonight ... this is going to take some time ... wish me luck!