Skirting the Issue

I've been meaning to post about these.  When I heard about Skirting the Issue, I wanted to participate--my uncle was a foster child, you see, so it was important to me that I make up a couple skirts and send them in.  When they asked for skirts for older girls, especially, I knew exactly the pattern I wanted to use.  It's Butterick 4593.  I simply lengthened it to knee length according to the provided size charts and let Grace choose the fabric.  She was insistent that it have pink on it somewhere, and we managed to talk her into a fabric that was a bit more grownup than the fabric she picked first.

I have to admit that it was also the start of my pleat kick!  You might recognize the ribbon from Gracie's scalloped sundress, and the fabric from last year's entry into the vintage contest.  I overbought last year, and used up the leftovers in this project.  The organza from the bottom was bought out of the $1.95 section on fabric.com sometime last year to avoid paying shipping.  Anything $35 and over ships for free, and I will always choose fabric over shipping costs!  I wanted something that was both pretty and feminine, and this was the result.  The pattern reviews were mixed on this one, with most claiming that it was a difficult pattern.  I have to say that I didn't find it to be that way at all--it went together smoothly and easily even for me, who hates installing zippers!

I wasn't so lucky with my second skirt.  This is the main picture for McCall's 6598.  While the circle skirt might be fine, and the leggings pattern certainly is, the tiered skirts pattern is awful!  I wanted to do a tiered skirt, because I've seen a lot of different versions both on kids and in stores lately.  I decided on doing a three-tier skirt in little girl sizes and was disappointed.  Notice how all the tiers look even.  This is just not so in the real pattern.  And as I label all my pattern pieces when they look alike as a matter of course, this isn't seamstress error, either.  (I checked when it didn't work, and I'd cut out the right pieces, too)

On any sort of tiered skirt, the bottom ruffle(s) attach to a top "stay".  On most patterns, they go together without issue but not so on this one!  The circumference of the bottom of the stay is wider than the circumference of the top of the bottom ruffle pieces.  If I make this in Gracie's size, I might try eliminating the stay piece all together because I'm fairly sure it would look closer to the pattern if I did!  The instructions insist you need it, but the finished result just doesn't look like it should.  It's not that it isn't attractive--it's just not what I wanted!


Gracie helped choose fabric for this one, too.  She desperately wanted to help, because she was shocked at the idea of little girls who didn't have families like she has.  My family and my sister-in-law's family have both made the effort to stay close, so Gracie and Nikki have a large extended family around them, too.  And the idea of someone who didn't have that made her want to cry.  So that she could help, we made picture "books" entitled "The Story of Your Skirt".  I know it's really too young for the recipients, but it satisfied my four-year-old and will hopefully make the girls feel more special.

Today is the last day for submissions for the Skirting the Issue project and the Elizabeths have collected triple their goal for skirt donations.  Part of me hopes that this will be an annual event like Make and Mend.  (Which I did participate in, but didn't post about because  nobody wants to see my mended undies!)