Clothing Challenge #5 - Polka Dot Swirl

Polka Dot Swirl

Look at all that fabric and polka dots too! And that swirl effect at the bottom is awesome.  I've sewn a child's skirt for my niece that has that same effect and it is not too hard but it is great to find a skirt with all the work done for you.  If I can find the photos, I'll post the child's skirt later.

Here is my "wheels are turning" photo.  Notice how the eyes are glazed over?  :)  I am thinking it should be fairly easy to just remove some of those strips to fit me.

Maybe shorten it?  Not sure yet.

First I pinned where I want to remove the panels.  Using a highly technical pinch test, I determined that three strips had to go.

Here you can see the basic construction of these types of skirts.  It is basically a  series of "J" shaped strips sewn together.  The bottom of the J gives it the swirl effect. I cut a little away from the line to give myself some fabric to work with while reattaching.

As you can see, this large size gives me plenty of fabric to work with.

I reattached the remaining strips together sewing as close as possible to the previous seam line.  I need the white trim piece to show like it did before, so I am careful to not sew over it. I don't show it here because there is no need to make you suffer through my mistakes, but when I serged over this to finish it, I wasn't as careful.  I encased that white trim the first time and had to remove the serged line and redo it.  Not fun.  Just lucky I only encased it and didn't cut it off...  phew!

After separating the three removed panels, I cut off the J curl off two so I have a straight piece to use for the arm straps.

I sewed those two pieces together.  Then I sewed the long strip into a tube and then flipped it inside out.  In sewing it into a tube, I was careful to not lose the white trim pieces so that it will show on the straps....something interesting.  No need to serge finish any of this on the sleeve part since all the raw edges are encased inside the tube.

I decided to turn the old waistband under so it is not so obviously a skirt.

 The tube was attached right in the middle of two of the white trim pieces and then tied into a knot.

The rest was fooling around with it to make every thing lay properly.  I stitched the turned under waistband on each white trim piece so it is nicely attached to the dress without seeing any stitch-lines.

Then I positioned the straps so that the white trim was evenly distributed and then attached the bottom edge to the waistband.

As you can see, I did a lot of "looking" at it.....does it look right?  Is that laying straight?  Is it obviously a skirt?

I am pretty happy with it but what I am noticing here is how prego I look.  I am not.  Because it has no darts, there is no waist definition.

But how do you add darts on polka dot without messing up the pattern?  And how will the strips look if I play with those trim pieces? Oh well, here goes.  I dart right under each white trim line, just bringing in the waist.

And here is the final result.  It didn't really affect the dot pattern, probably because the scale of the dots was larger.  A smaller scale and you would have been able to see the shifts in fabric by the darts.

I decided I was okay with the longer length because of the swirl effect. Shorten it too much and I would feel that swirl against my thighs with every step and be constantly worried about how high that swirl was flying...if you know what I am saying?  You KNOW what I am  saying.  At this length, the swirl serves to cinch it in below the knees, giving an hourglass shape....VAVAVOOM!

Notice that adding the darts to the waist didn't make it ultra-fitted, it is still a little roomy there.  I just brought it in enough.  Any more fitted and I couldn't have gotten on.....no zipper.  But now I don't have to worry about keeping it sucked in :)

I should have mentioned that the fabric is very gauzy, so I should wear it with a slip.  As a skirt it was full enough to not be see through, but once it is fitted it is too sheer in bright light. Thank goodness it is gauzy with some give to it or adding those darts would have made it too fitted to get over these hips or shoulders.  The give in the gauzy fabric makes it stretch like pulling on a t-shirt.  

I think the polka dots, the swirl, the hourglass shape and the design of the sleeves gives it a very 50's feel....I like that.

And he does too, even though he has no clue what 50's is.