Thursday, August 16, 2012

Introducing...The Betty Skirt!

Betty skirt - border print 2
Remember this skirt? Well, here it is in full. It is a super simple construction: two lengths of fabric, sewn selvage-t0-selvage, and then gathered the heck out of to fit a waistband. Super easy. So easy I felt confident enough to tackle it with a border print (gasp!). So easy...I made a whole bunch more!

Betty skirt - Innocent Crush voile 3
Here's my second version, out of Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush voile. I'd had this in my stash for a long time and just didn't know what to do with it. Proof positive that sometimes holding onto something until the right project comes along is important. I wear this skirt all the time now!

Betty skirt - Innocent Crush voile 2
This one has a few improvements over the first. Namely: pockets. Not as awesome of an addition but even more necessary: underskirt. (This one is made from a dark gray Bemberg rayon.) Because these skirts are made from cotton lawn or voile and are floaty. All it takes is one little breeze to pick up any bit of that 100"+ hem circumference and woosh! the skirt is around your shoulders. Yep, the built-in underskirt is a necessity, which means my border print is relegated to having a slip and / or heavy tights underneath.

Betty skirt - leaf lawn 4
And my third and, arguably, best version: the leaf skirt. This one is made from fabric I picked up at Mood last April. That was actually when I got the idea to make this skirt; it just took me a year to put it into practice!

Betty skirt - leaf lawn 2
Check out that fabulous pattern-matching for the inside of the pocket! Too bad I ran out of fabric and couldn't match as well on the other side...

So, why is this named the "Betty" skirt? Two reasons: 1) The fullness of the skirt totally reminds me of something season 1 Betty Draper would've worn, and 2) Wearing a super full and floaty skirt makes a girl feel like a total Betty.

Amber in Betty skirt
This skirt was so easy to make that I felt confident enough to make one long-distance for my friend Amber in DC! Look how cute she is in it! I love how she styled it with that striped top, too (the two of us are a little obsessed with print-mixing). I was able to use her measurements and make her two skirts that fit perfectly with no alterations! That made me awfully excited.

I want to remind you about my newsletter (which you can sign up for here!) and my Facebook page (here!). New softies revealed and online this weekend; I promise!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

so cute! you picked the best fabrics!!!! love all of 'em :)

Johanna said...

So cute!
I wanted the pictures bigger so I could gawk more efficiently :)
I love the prints you chose :)

two hippos said...

Ooh, fun! And pockets are the best.