DIY Galaxy

I bought this fabric a few weeks ago. It is a galaxy-themed quilting fabric that I think is intended for little kids’ bedspreads. It reminded me of the latest Antipodium and Josh Goot collections. Anyway, I sat on it for awhile, mulling over the possibilities and finally settled on a gathered-waist full skirt. I’d also love to make a dress out of it but it’s a bit too expensive.

A gathered skirt is pretty quick and easy to make. I didn’t use a pattern for this skirt, just followed some basic instructions from my Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sewing book. First you just cut two rectangles out of your folded fabric. The big rectangle is for the actual skirt part. You can make this as wide and long as you want. The skinnier rectangle is for the waistband. It should measure your waist circumference plus a couple of inches for seams and overlap for the hook and eye. I interfaced the waistband bit, minus seams.

Then you sew up the ends of the skirt to make the side seam, putting the zip in at the top of the seam. Zippers can be tricky but they should have instructions on the packet.

Next you sew two straight lines of wide stitching along the top, and pull the bobbin threads to gather the fabric. Compare it to the waistband as you do it so you get it to the right length.

Then you just sew the right side of the waistband to the skirt, close to the other line of stitching.

Sew the ends of the waistband together and turn the right way out. Then sew the inside of the waistband in by hand.

Sew a hook and eye closure on to the ends of the waistband. I hate doing these and always have trouble lining them up! Basically I hate doing anything I can’t use my machine for!

Hem the skirt at whatever length you like. I usually just do a 1cm hem with my machine as I can’t be bothered doing a blind hem by hand and I think the machine ones look fine.

Ta-dah! I’m loving wearing high-waist skirts with either bodysuits or loose tees tucked in. Opaques are mandatory for me now, I hate wearing bare legs, probably because I haven’t had a summer in almost 2 years! (I don’t count English summers when they only last 2 days). I wore this outfit to the supermarket in Orange today and got so many stares. You'd think they'd never seen someone wearing a purple beret and a galaxy skirt before!

Beret: Jendi, a present from my mum (bought in Berry - true story!); T-shirt: H&M; Cardy: Urban Outfitters; Skirt: me!; Boots: Topshop; Belt: vintage.